FIRE EXTINGUISHER SYSTEM

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a fire extinguishing system with a fire extinguishing device that has three side walls and a closable narrow side that define an interior area, and multiple connections for introducing and / or discharging coolant and / or extinguishing agent into the interior area. Such fire extinguishing systems are used in particular for extinguishing accident-damaged and burning electric, hybrid, or internal combustion engine vehicles. The invention further relates to a method for extinguishing a burning vehicle using such a system.

[0002] As electric vehicles are increasingly being used on German roads, fire departments and rescue services are faced with difficult technical tasks in the event of accidents and incidents involving electric or hybrid vehicles. These vehicles are known to be equipped with high-voltage batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries, which can be damaged after a collision. The collision may cause the separators in individual cells, which protect the electrodes from direct contact, to fail. This can lead to a short circuit and / or a chemical reaction in the batteries, causing them to heat up. Due to this heat development, a battery fire may break out with a delay. After just a few minutes above a critical ignition temperature of around 800°C, the battery can begin to burn itself down. The battery itself feeds the fire.Due to the enormous heat generated by such a fire, rescue and extinguishing operations are extremely difficult for rescue teams. While extinguishing with water is generally possible, a large amount of water is required, as not only must the fire itself be extinguished, but the accumulator must also be cooled until its temperature falls below the critical ignition temperature.

[0003] Previously, the quick, safe, and effective extinguishing and recovery of crashed and burning electric, hybrid, or combustion engine vehicles involved lowering them into a basin or container filled with coolant and / or extinguishing agent using a crane. This extinguished the fire and sufficiently cooled the electric or hybrid vehicle, including any defective batteries, to prevent spontaneous combustion.

[0004] DE 10 2016 211854 B3 proposes a container for recovering damaged electric or hybrid vehicles. It is designed as a swap body, a so-called roll-off container. This roll-off container can be accommodated by a swap-body vehicle and transported to the scene. A burning vehicle can be pulled into the roll-off container via a side opening using a cable winch. After the opening is closed, a coolant or extinguishing agent is introduced into the roll-off container, flooding the vehicle, extinguishing the fire, and cooling the defective battery until spontaneous combustion is no longer possible. Normal extinguishing water is used as the coolant and / or extinguishing agent.

[0005] However, such a roll-off container is very bulky and requires a lot of space for parking using a swap body vehicle, so it cannot be used everywhere, especially not in buildings such as parking garages or workshops.

[0006] DE 10 2017 010 960 A1 discloses a similar container for damaged transport equipment, which can be independently relocated via a relocation device. Here, too, the damaged vehicle is pulled into the container via loading and unloading devices. DE 10 2017 010 960 A1 discloses all features of the preambles of patent claims 1 and 11.

[0007] US 4,392,662 A discloses a transport container that can be moved using lifting and lowering rollers.

[0008] US 3,788,683 A discloses a transport vehicle for transporting containers, wherein the containers have hydraulically liftable and lowerable rollers in their floor.

[0009] The invention is based on the object of designing a known system and a known method of the type mentioned at the outset for extinguishing a burning vehicle in such a way that extinguishing water can remain in the device for as long as possible.

[0010] The object is achieved according to the invention for a system of the type mentioned above by the features specified in patent claim 1. Advantageous embodiments are specified in the dependent patent claims.

[0011] The object is achieved according to the invention in that the wheels are designed to be lowerable and liftable; and in that the fire extinguishing device (3) is sealed at the bottom of the side walls (4) and the door (6) with a closed hollow chamber seal (12) running all the way around.

[0012] It has proven effective to attach the wheels to spindle lifting motors using lifting rods for easy lifting and lowering.

[0013] It's worth emulating that the fire extinguishing device is covered with a fireproof top cover. It's advantageous that the side walls and door are also made of fireproof material.

[0014] Advantageously, at least areas of the side walls and / or the cover and / or the door can be double-walled to accommodate cooling and / or extinguishing agents

[0015] It is noteworthy that the fire extinguishing system is assigned a control cabinet, which advantageously houses a control device for controlling the functions of the fire extinguishing system. The control cabinet also serves as protection for the operating personnel, especially against heat.

[0016] In order to enable rapid flooding of the interior, it is recommended that a pump is arranged in the control cabinet that can be connected to the connections and that a fan is provided in the control cabinet.

[0017] It has proven useful to assign a lifting truck to the fire extinguishing device so that the fire extinguishing device can be positioned simply and easily.

[0018] The object is further achieved by a method according to claim 11 for extinguishing a burning vehicle using a fire extinguishing system according to one of the embodiments described above.

[0019] The invention is explained in more detail below using an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawing. The figure shows a fire extinguishing system according to the invention.

[0020] The figure shows a fire extinguishing system 1 according to the invention for a burning electric or hybrid vehicle 2, which essentially consists of a movable fire extinguishing device 3 positioned above the vehicle 2. The fire extinguishing device 3 is lined on three sides with fireproof, half-height side walls 4 and covered with a fireproof upper cover 5. A mechanically and / or electrically operated high-speed door 6, for example a roller or sectional door, closes off the open narrow side to form an enclosed interior area 7. This door 6 is also made of fireproof material. Visibility areas 8 are left open above the side walls 4 and the door 6, but also allow access for emergency services. These visibility areas 8 can also be closed, for example, using blinds or roller shutters.

[0021] At least sections of the side walls (4) and / or the cover (5) and / or the door (6) can be double-walled to accommodate cooling and / or extinguishing agents, so that extinguishing can begin immediately after the burning vehicle has been enclosed, even without a fire water connection. To accommodate a particularly large amount of cooling and / or extinguishing agent, the visible areas 8 can be omitted, and the walls can be double-walled from the floor to the cover 5.

[0022] By means of wheels 9 attached to at least the four corners of the fire extinguishing device 3, the fire extinguishing device 3 can be pushed over the vehicle 2 in the raised state. The wheels 9 are attached to lifting rods 10 so that they can rotate freely about the vertical axis and can be raised or lowered, for example, by spindle lifting motors 11. A closed, all-round hollow chamber seal 12 is attached to the bottom of the side walls 4 and the door 6. In the lowered case of the fire extinguishing device 3, as shown here, this seal ensures that the fire extinguishing device 3 rests almost liquid-tight on the ground due to the heavy weight of the installed walls, doors, and pipes.

[0023] Once the fire extinguishing device 3 has been positioned as described below, the actual extinguishing process can begin. For this purpose, cooling and / or extinguishing agent, for example extinguishing water, is fed into the now sealed interior area 7. This can be done via the visible areas 8. However, if, for example, the heat build-up is too great, an extinguishing water supply line from a pump can be connected via a connection 13 and / or an extinguishing water supply line from a hydrant can be connected via a connection 14. The extinguishing water introduced into the interior area 7 can later be drained or pumped out again at a connection 15. All connections 13 to 15 are provided with a hose coupling for connecting suction and / or pressure hoses, preferably Storz couplings.

[0024] The fire extinguishing system 1 can be equipped with pipes (not shown) with spray nozzles running inside the side walls 4 and / or inside the upper cover, so that the burning vehicle 2 can be sprayed from all sides. However, the nozzles and pipes can be omitted if it is ensured that the vehicle can be watered and flooded as quickly and comprehensively as possible via the connections 13 and 14.

[0025] A control cabinet 16, which can be locked with doors, is installed in front of the fire extinguishing device 3. This cabinet can either be attached to the fire extinguishing device 3 or, after positioning the fire extinguishing device 3, be placed on the rear wall with the connections 13 to 15. The control cabinet 16 contains a control device 17 for controlling all functions of the fire extinguishing system 1, such as the gate 6 or the spindle lifting motors 11. However, the spindle lifting motors 11 can also be operated directly from their housings.

[0026] An electric pump 18 is also located in the control cabinet 16, which can pump extinguishing agent into the interior area 7 via connection 13, or, after the operation, pump the extinguishing agent out again via connection 15. A fan 19 is also provided, which either blows the smoky air away through the viewing areas 8 or, if the viewing areas 8 are closed, extracts the smoky air. A cable drum 20 attached to the inside of the control cabinet 16 provides the electrical connection to the control cabinet 16. The control cabinet 16 also serves as heat protection for the firefighters and operating personnel.

[0027] Using an electric lift truck 21, e.g., an "ant," both the fire extinguishing device 3 and the control cabinet 16 can be moved into position. The lift truck assists the rescue workers, particularly in positioning the fire extinguishing device 3 and the control cabinet 16. In summary, the present invention is based on the idea of ​​enclosing a crashed and burning electric, hybrid, or combustion engine vehicle with a fire extinguishing device and then flooding it with extinguishing agent so that the vehicle is as completely immersed as possible in the extinguishing agent, thus extinguishing the fire.

[0028] For this purpose, the above-described fire extinguishing system 1 according to the invention can be moved over the burning vehicle 2 in a parking garage or workshop using the forklift truck 21. The openings (windows) or viewing areas 8 serve to provide the driver with visibility so that he can correctly move the fire extinguishing device 3 over the vehicle 2. Roller blinds can also be provided for the viewing areas 8 here, if necessary, in order to seal the fire extinguishing device 3 as airtight as possible and to extinguish the fire.

[0029] The wheels 9 on the fire extinguishing device 3 are then raised, so that the fire extinguishing system 1 lowers and rests close to the ground on the all-round, closed hollow chamber seal 12. The gate 6 is lowered so that the fire extinguishing system 1 is also sealed at the front. The fire extinguishing device 3 can be equipped with pipes and / or spray nozzles on the side walls 4 of the cover 5 to extinguish the vehicle. The control cabinet 16 can already be attached to the outside of the fire extinguishing device 3 or can be connected to it once the fire extinguishing device 3 is in place. The control cabinet 16 serves as a connection for the water supply, for example with a B-pipe connection, and as protection for the rescue services (fire brigade) from heat. The burning vehicle 2 can then be submerged so that the fire is at least extinguished by the extinguishing water.Due to its high weight and the all-round closed hollow chamber seal 12 on the bottom, the fire extinguishing device 3 is so tight that the extinguishing water can remain in the fire extinguishing device 3 for as long as possible until the fire is extinguished and the possibly defective and burning accumulator is sufficiently cooled so that spontaneous combustion is prevented. List of reference symbols

[0030] 1 Fire extinguishing system 2 Vehicle 3 Fire extinguishing device 4 Side walls 5 Top cover 6 Gate 7 Interior 8 Visibility areas 9 Wheels 10 Lifting rod 11 Spindle lifting motor 12 Hollow chamber seal 13 Water supply line for pump 14 Water supply line for hydrant 15 Water outlet for extinguishing agent 16 Control cabinet 17 Control device 18 Electric pump 19 Fan 20 Cable drum 21 Lift truck / ant

Claims

1. A fire extinguishing system (1) with a fire extinguishing device (3) that comprises: - three side walls (4) and a narrow side that delimit an interior (7), wherein a closing device formed by a gate (6) is assigned to the narrow side; - multiple connections (13 to 15) for introducing and / or discharging an extinguishing agent and / or a coolant into / from the interior (7); and - freely movable wheels (9), characterized in that the wheels are designed such that they can be raised and lowered; and in that the bottom of the fire extinguishing device (3) is on the side walls (4) and the gate (6) sealed by means of a closed hollow chamber seal (12) extending all around the fire extinguishing device.

2. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the wheels (9) are arranged on spindle-type lifting motors (11) of the fire extinguishing device (3) by means of lifting rods (10) in order to be raised and lowered.

3. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the fire extinguishing device (3) is covered with the fire-resistant upper cover (5).

4. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the side walls (4) and the gate (6) consist of fire-resistant material.

5. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that at least regions of the side walls (4) and / or the cover (5) and / or the gate (6) are realized in a double-walled manner in order to receive a coolant and / or an extinguishing agent.

6. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the fire extinguishing system (1) comprises a control switch box (16) that is assigned to the fire extinguishing device (3).

7. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to claim 6, characterized in that a control device (17) for controlling functions of the fire extinguishing device (3) is arranged in the control switch box (16).

8. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that a pump (18), which can be connected to the connections (13 to 15), is arranged in the control switch box (16).

9. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to one of claims 6 to 8, characterized in that a fan (19) is provided in the control switch box (16) .

10. The fire extinguishing system (1) according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that a lift truck (21) is assigned to the fire extinguishing device (3).

11. A method for extinguishing a burning vehicle by using a fire extinguishing system (1) according to one of claims 1 to 10, with said method comprising the following steps: - transporting the fire extinguishing system (1) to the site of operation, - placing the fire extinguishing device (3) over a burning vehicle (2), closing the interior (7) of the fire extinguishing device (3), which is surrounded by side walls (4), by means of a gate (6) and introducing a coolant and / or an extinguishing agent into the interior (7) of the fire extinguishing device (3), which is surrounded by side parts (4, 6), characterized in that the method comprises - after the placement of the fire extinguishing device (3) over the vehicle (2) - the following step: - raising the wheels (9) on the fire extinguishing device (3) such that the fire extinguishing system (1) is lowered and tightly stands on the ground with the closed hollow chamber seal (12) extending all around the fire extinguishing device.