Description

The current unmet need with firefighting is the delay between fire detection and fire extinguishing. In the textile industry where materials may be fast-burning, time is important and fast response is critical. FRFF is a smart firefighting robot with WiFi connection that is portable and serves as an on-site fire detection and firefighting system. With this single unit robot, a fire is not only detected but it is also subsequently extinguished which avoids delays associated with remote first responders. The primary body of the proposed FRFF is enclosed in a thermal-shield, it is equipped with temperature sensitive equipment such as: (1) Powertrain (2) Fuel (3) Controllers, batteries and electrical system (4) Sensors, cameras, GPS / Map, WiFi, etc. peripherals. External of the thermal shield is equipped with thermal tolerable equipment such as: (5) Water jet cannon with high-pressure cache tank (6) Water reservoir (7) High-pressure gas generating combustion chamber (8) Track belts, drive train for moving and target aiming. When the FRFF robot detects fire, smoke or receives network alarm through the WiFi, it moves to the fire area and ejects water or fire retarding chemical to extinguish the fire before it spreads. Proposed robot speed is about 60 Km/hr. to cover a 3 Km radius area (27 sq. Km), it would take 3 minutes to reach the fire in the worst case. The water cannon is proposed to eject 20 liters per shot (about 20 Kg) at 10 to 25 meters distance. Strength of the water jet is programmable by fuel injection amount. The weight of water reservoir is proposed to be 250 Kg and good for at least 10 water jet ejections. Width of FRFF would be under 1m so it may punch through average doors or passing through walkways inside the building. Tall and length would be around 1.5m. Dry weight around 500 Kg. For established fire, the software would conduct a strategy to drive FREE dash into the fire core, destroy the fire structure and air supply funnel then extinguish the rest of scattered fires. FREE has the capability to pull itself out of collapsed building debris. Functional descriptions (see attachment). (1) FRFF could use an engine for its powerplant which powers the drive train and enables the mobility. Powerplant empowers track belts through a differential drive train which provides turning capability. Additionally, the powerplant generates electricity to self-charge battery without dependence on the grid. For firefighting under harsh environment, an AIP (air independent propulsion) powerplant is recommended. (2) Fuel and oxidizer (OECA – Oxygen Enriched Compressed Air) cylinders are stored within the thermal shield. Fuel and OECA are used to empower the engine and water jet cannon. (3) The controller is equipped with artificial intelligent software, GPS and Map to enable self-guiding, safe-driving and firefighting capability, it may also be remote controlled through the internet. (4) FRFF is equipped with video and infrared (IR) cameras to detect smoke and flames. It also receives alarms through the WiFi. (5) Each water ejection pulse uses a complete tank of water in the cache water tank, a water pump is then refill the cache tank from the main water reservoir tank for the next ejection. (6) Water reservoir tank sources water to the cache tank for multiple ejections. (7) The combustion chamber is located atop of the cache tank and responsible to generate high-pressure gas to drive the water jet cannon. Low pressure propane is metered and injected into the chamber before the high pressure OECA injection, then a spark ignites the fuel-oxygen mixture. The controller measures direction, distance, angle, wind speed, etc. to the target and decides proper fuel amount for the ejection. (8) Track belts are differentially driven by the drive train which is power by the powerplant. After camera identifies the fire, FRFF moves toward it and aligns to the target. Left and right direction is managed by the differential drive train. Up and down of the water jet cannon is managed by an electrical actuator.

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