Dry Upright Sprinkler Layout for High-Storage Hydraulic Limits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing fire protection systems for storage occupancies face challenges in achieving commercially practical designs with reduced hydraulic demands for storage heights above forty-five feet, requiring an excessive number of design sprinklers to meet industry standards.
Innovation Solution
A ceiling-only dry fire protection system with a grid of upright sprinklers and a network of pipes that includes a mandatory fluid delivery delay period, using a sprinkler-to-sprinkler spacing of 8-20 feet, and a hydraulic design area defined by 6-18 hydraulically remote sprinklers, delivering fluid at 40-65 psi within 20-30 seconds to protect commodities up to sixty-five feet tall.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a ceiling-only dry fire protection system is designed for storage heights above forty-five feet according to known industry standards, then fire protection coverage is provided, but the number of design sprinklers required becomes excessively large and hydraulically impractical
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the storage occupancy into multiple hydraulic zones, each served by separate piping branches from the water supply. This segmentation allows the system to manage hydraulic demands more effectively by distributing water flow across multiple independent paths, reducing the burden on any single sprinkler and enabling practical design for heights exceeding 45 feet without requiring an excessive number of sprinklers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from traditional two-dimensional ceiling mounting to three-dimensional spatial distribution by placing sprinklers at multiple elevations including mid-rack and near-rack positions. This vertical dimensionality allows fire protection coverage to extend deeper into the storage volume, improving reliability for high-storage applications while reducing the horizontal number of sprinklers needed.
2Device complexity
If the sprinkler-to-sprinkler spacing is increased to reduce the number of sprinklers, then device complexity is reduced, but fire protection coverage and reliability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs dynamic sprinkler placement strategies where sprinkler spacing varies by location and storage configuration. Rather than uniform spacing, the design adapts sprinkler distribution to match the actual fire hazard distribution and storage layout, allowing wider spacing in lower-risk areas while maintaining adequate coverage in high-risk zones, thus reducing overall sprinkler count without compromising reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different sprinkler spacing and types to different local areas based on specific fire hazards and storage configurations. High-hazard areas receive denser sprinkler placement while lower-hazard areas use wider spacing, optimizing the balance between coverage reliability and device complexity for the entire system.
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 system provides effective fire protection for storage heights up to sixty-five feet with a reduced number of sprinklers, maintaining hydraulic efficiency and ensuring rapid fire suppression by surrounding and drowning the fire.
Implementation Method 1
a network of pipes including at least one main pipe and a plurality of spaced-apart branch lines interconnecting the grid of upright sprinklers and providing a mandatory fluid delivery delay period ranging of no more than thirty seconds (30 sees.), the network of pipes delivering, upon activation of a first hydraulically remote sprinkler, a minimum operating pressure ranging from forty to sixty-five pounds per square inch (40-65 psi.) of fluid from the fluid source to each of the hydraulically remote sprinklers within the mandatory fluid delivery delay period
Implementation Method 2
the network of pipes being filled with a pressurized gas
Implementation Method 3
ensuring rapid fire suppression by surrounding and drowning the fire
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 1A
Figure 2A~2B
AI summary
Ceiling only dry sprinkler systems and methods for protection of a storage occupancy employing a mandatory fluid delivery delay period. The systems and methods provide for fire protection of stored commodities of forty-five feet or greater with a hydraulic design ranging from six to eighteen design sprinklers. The systems and methods employ an upright sprinkler having a nominal K-factor greater than 28.