CFIC Tote Supply Chain for Fire-Protected Lumber
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Solution Overview
Problem
Multi-story wood-framed buildings constructed with untreated lumber and OSB sheathing are prone to rapid fire spread during construction, leading to catastrophic losses due to the flammability of modern engineered wood products, which compromise fire safety and pose risks to firefighters and occupants.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system that includes treating all lumber and engineered wood products with a clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) liquid, combined with heat-resistant metal truss connector plates and joist hangers, to create Class-A fire-protected structures, and using an on-site spray coating method to ensure comprehensive fire protection before gypsum and wall board installation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If untreated lumber and OSB sheathing are used in wood-framed buildings, then construction cost and ease of manufacture are improved, but fire safety and resistance to fire spread deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by treating all lumber and engineered wood products with clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) liquid before the building is constructed. This pre-treatment ensures fire protection is built into the materials themselves, allowing untreated lumber to be used while maintaining fire safety through chemical treatment applied in advance during the manufacturing or preparation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the chemical parameters of the wood products by applying CFIC liquid treatment, which modifies the flammability and fire resistance properties of the lumber and OSB sheathing. This chemical parameter change enables the materials to maintain their ease of manufacture characteristics while gaining Class-A fire protection rating.
2Device complexity
If fire treated lumber is applied only to exterior walls, then manufacturing complexity is reduced, but fire protection coverage is insufficient for interior structures
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by extending fire treatment to all lumber and engineered wood products throughout the entire building structure, including interior walls, floors, ceilings, and structural elements. This multi-functional approach ensures that every wood component provides fire protection, eliminating the limitation of treating only exterior walls and ensuring comprehensive fire safety coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses preliminary action by incorporating fire treatment into the manufacturing process of all wood products before they are installed in the building. This ensures that every component, from interior to exterior, receives fire protection treatment in advance, simplifying the overall process while maximizing fire safety coverage.
3Productivity
If modern engineered wood products are used, then construction speed and productivity are improved, but fire flammability and structural failure risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the fire resistance parameters of modern engineered wood products by applying CFIC liquid treatment. This chemical modification maintains the high productivity and construction speed benefits of engineered wood while fundamentally altering its flammability characteristics to achieve Class-A fire protection rating.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by treating all engineered wood products with fire inhibiting chemical before construction begins. This pre-treatment preserves the speed and efficiency advantages of using modern engineered wood products while preventing the fire flammability issues that would otherwise occur during rapid construction.
4Reliability
If 100% of lumber is treated with Class-A fire-suppression rating, then fire safety and protection against total fire destruction are improved, but treatment cost and process complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes by applying CFIC liquid treatment to achieve Class-A fire protection rating across all lumber and engineered wood products. This chemical treatment approach provides comprehensive fire safety while maintaining relatively simple application processes that can be integrated into existing construction workflows.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies preliminary action by incorporating fire treatment into the manufacturing or preparation stage of all wood products before installation. This timing strategy ensures 100% coverage for maximum fire safety while simplifying the overall construction process, as the treatment is completed in advance rather than requiring complex on-site application procedures.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution significantly reduces the risk of fire spread and structural failure in wood-framed buildings, providing enhanced fire protection and safety for occupants and firefighters by ensuring that 100% of lumber is treated with a Class-A fire-suppression rating, thereby mitigating the risk of total fire destruction during construction.
Implementation Method 1
using an on-site spray coating method to ensure comprehensive fire protection
Implementation Method 2
combined with heat-resistant metal truss connector plates and joist hangers
Data Source
AI summary
A cloud-based system network for managing the supply chain management operations associated with shipping clean fire inhibiting chemical (CFIC) totes from a chemical factory or warehouse to a network of lumber factories producing Class-A fire-protected lumber, and/or wood-framed building construction job sites with interior wood surfaces being spray-treated with Class-A fire protection during the construction phase. The system network includes a data center with web, application and database servers for supporting one or more mobile applications running on mobile computing devices (e.g. smart-phones and tablet computers). The mobile applications were configured for (i) scanning barcode symbols and/or RFID-tags on CFIC totes, measuring the weight of such CFIC totes at the chemical factory and/or warehouse, capturing GPS coordinates of the CFIC totes and recording such data within the centralized supply chain management database, and also for (ii) scanning barcode symbols and/or RFID-tags on CFIC totes at the destination factory, warehouse and/or construction job site, measuring the weight of such CFIC totes, detecting GPS coordinates, comparing recorded weights, and enabling automated inventory replenishment.