Heat shields and fire shields
Special textiles and films engineered to shield and protect spaces, equipment, and people from a fire.
Description
In 2013, at the Yarnell Hill Fire (a wildfire) in Arizona, 19 firefighters died when a fast moving, wind-fanned fire overran them. The firefighters deployed their emergency fire shelters, they were overwhelmed. But what does a wildfire incident have to do with Allianz's interest in fire protection for textile SMEs? For one, its obvious that Allianz shall take useful fire protection ideas away from this contest, even if not specifically useful in the textile industry context. Secondly, the premises of textile SMEs, especially those involved with synthetic fiber materials, pose some risks similar to that of brush wildfires - plenty of flammable materials might be on the ground, allowing quick lateral spread or "jumping" of flames. My idea is to get Allainz interested in, and potentially sponsoring the development and testing of, various lightweight heat shields that can be deployed manually or automatically in a fire scenario. For example, after the 2013 Yarnell Hill Fire, the US Forest Service and NASA collaborated on fire retardant and heat deflecting shields, as part of CHIEFS or Convective Heating Improvement for Emergency Fire Shelters. Some of those materials and technologies are expected to be deployed in 2018-2019 already, . In NASA's words, "The external aluminum coating reflects 90 percent of radiant heat from a forest fire. Meanwhile, the interior insulation protects the users from hot winds or direct contact with the fire. The exterior temperature of the shelter in forest fire conditions can range between 1,472° and 2,400° Fahrenheit. The interior must stay below 300° Fahrenheit to keep the users safe." Appropriate heat shields (sometimes also called heat blankets or fire blankets) can not only protect equipment, stores of textile materials, bottleneck spaces like doorways, etc, but also be deployed as personal protective equipment to protect SME employees caught in a fire. ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ The contest Brief suggests that Allianz is more interested in business in France, Turkey, etc, but heat shields can be useful and potentially life-saving in textile factories and warehouses elsewhere, too. The Bangladesh textile factory fires come to mind, of which one of the worst had 117 human casualties in the 2012 fire at Tazreen Fashion factory.
References
http://www.latimes.com/science/la-na-nasa-fire-shelters-20151026-story.html https://www.nasa.gov/feature/firefighters-could-be-using-nasa-designed-forest-fire-shelters-in-2017 http://www.coprofire.com/lion-innovations.html I may not be able to respond individually to every comment/feedback. They are appreciated, nevertheless! Thanks.