Interleaved Burn Containment Skirts for Controlled Ground Fuel Burns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current prescribed burning methods are labor-intensive, risky, costly, and challenging to scale, with limitations in safety, cleanliness, and efficiency, particularly for private landowners and managers, and face constraints in terrain, ecology, and landscape conditions.
Innovation Solution
An automated platform (PB platform) for prescribed burns with a movable platform, burn chamber, and containment arrangement using interleaved plates and rollers to confine burning, expel residual effluent, and perform controlled burns on various terrains, including backburning and blacklining operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional prescribed burning methods are used, then labor intensity and operational complexity are high, but safety and scalability are improved
Solution Approach 1:
The containment system is segmented into multiple skirt sections (front skirt, rear skirt, side skirts) that can be independently positioned and adjusted. Each skirt is divided into multiple plates that can be individually manipulated, allowing the system to handle complex operational requirements while maintaining safety through modular control.
Solution Approach 2:
The skirt assembly incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities through link members connecting the skirts to the platform, allowing real-time repositioning during operation. The interleaved plate structure enables flexible deformation and adaptation to varying operational conditions, resolving the contradiction between safety requirements and operational complexity.
2Reliability
If containment skirts are used to confine burning, then safety is improved, but device complexity and structural requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The containment skirts utilize a flexible structure composed of thin plate elements connected by link members, rather than rigid solid barriers. This flexible shell approach provides effective containment while reducing structural complexity and enabling easier deployment and adaptation to different operational scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The skirt system allows for parameter changes in position, orientation, and configuration through the link member connections. This enables the containment structure to adapt its geometric parameters dynamically, maintaining effective containment while avoiding the need for complex fixed structural designs.
3Adaptability or versatility
If interleaved plates with link members are used, then adaptability to terrain and conditions is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into standardized modular plate units and link member components that can be manufactured independently using standard fabrication processes. This segmentation allows each component to be produced with simpler manufacturing requirements while the assembled system achieves high terrain adaptability through flexible configuration.
Solution Approach 2:
The interleaved plate and link member assembly forms a universal module that can be configured for various terrain conditions and operational requirements. The same basic components serve multiple functions including containment, structural support, and terrain adaptation, reducing overall manufacturing complexity through component standardization.
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 PB platform enables safer, cleaner, and more efficient prescribed burns, scalable for large-scale fuel management, reducing smoke and risk of escape fires, and operational costs, while operating in diverse weather conditions.
Implementation Method 1
The containment arrangement comprises an arrangement of interleaved plates having two or more different shapes and connected together via link members
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus configured to perform a prescribed burn of vegetative ground fuel comprises a movable platform configured to traverse ground that contains the vegetative ground fuel and a burn chamber disposed on the movable platform. A containment arrangement is situated relative to the burn chamber and configured to confine burning of the vegetative ground fuel to a prescribed burn region of the ground. The containment arrangement comprises an arrangement of interleaved plates having two or more different shapes and connected together via link members. A discharge apparatus is configured to expel residual effluent from the burn chamber.