Field of the Invention

The invention relates to firefighting systems, in particular, to unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) used in fighting fires in tall buildings.

Prior Art

Firefighting in tall buildings may be hampered by stair truck inability to reach high enough, obstacles near buildings that might not allow stair truck to park at all, strong winds which do not allow stair truck to rise, firefighter inability or danger to access building from the inside or the long time that it might require. In these cases drones (unmanned aerial vehicles) may help fighting fire in tall buildings.

There are known fire extinguishing systems and methods using airborne vehicles (e.g. US 3759330, RU 2008133066, KR 101566341, ES 2553809). The main drawbacks of the known systems are that drones have to carry all fire hose and the higher the firefighting the heavier the hose becomes until it becomes too heavy to lift the hose higher or the flying time considerably decreases.

There is known a firefighters drone arrangement comprising a firefighting truck, a truck's tank, a set of drones having carrier rings, a hydrant hose (WO 2014080385). The hydrant is extended through the carrier ring of each drone and pulled up while the drones are released up. The drones set according to the invention can either be a set of two or more drones. The leader drone is carrying up the tip of the hydrant, while the supporting drone or drones are carrying the hydrant's extension. The disadvantage of the known drone arrangement is that the higher in a building the fire is, the less likelihood is that the arrangement will be able to effectively fight with the fire, because of the weight of a fire hose with a fluid or other fire extinguishing substance, which increases respectively. Even best currently known heavy lifting drones will have difficulties with carrying more than 100-150 kg of weight of a fire hose. Fighting fire at about 60th floor with 38 mm fire hose with water one drone has to carry of about 200 kg of weight. Even carrying weigh close to maximum payload capacity of a drone, it would considerably decrease operation time of the drone requiring additional solutions for providing power supply to the drone. Disclosure of the Invention

The aim of the invention is to eliminate the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide a firefighting arrangement, which can be used to effectively fight buildings fire, especially skyscraper fire.

The proposed firefighting arrangement comprising: a fire hose with a nozzle; a drone adapted to carry the fire hose tip or nozzle to direct or modify the flow of a fluid or dry chemicals toward the fire; at least one means for supporting the fire hose adapted to hold the fire hose and adapted to be attached to a building (either fixedly or removably). According one embodiment the means for supporting the fire hose further comprises: a pulley; a taut cable (or rope, or belt); a connecting element designed to receive the fire hose and to prevent the fire hose from bending to an acute angle; wherein one end of the taut cable (rope or belt) is connected to the connecting element through the pulley such that by pulling the second end of the taut cable (rope or belt) the connecting element holding the fire hose can be raised to the means for supporting the fire hose attached to a building. The connecting element is preferably designed to prevent the fire hose from bending to an acute angle. Also the connecting element is preferably designed to allow the fire hose to controllably pass through the connecting element thereby allowing to increase or decrease length of the fire hose from the drone carrying the fire hose nozzle and the means for supporting the fire hose. One end of the taut cable (rope or belt) may be rotatably connected to the connecting element thereby allowing the fire hose to be turned to the required side thus eliminating tangling of the taut cable and/or fire hose. Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. 1 - shows the firefighting arrangement according to the invention;

Fig. 2 - shows one embodiment of the means for supporting the fire hose attached to the window;

Fig. 3 - shows another embodiment of the means for supporting the fire hose attached to the wall;

Fig. 4 - shows one embodiment of the connecting element designed to receive the fire hose and to prevent the fire hose from bending to an acute angle. Detailed Description of the Invention

The firefighting arrangement (Fig. 1) comprising: a fire hose 1 with a nozzle; a drone 2 adapted to carry the fire hose 1 tip or nozzle to direct or modify the flow of a fluid or dry chemicals toward the fire; at least one means 3 for supporting the fire hose 1 adapted to hold the fire hose 1 and adapted to be attached to a building (either removably - Fig. 2, or fixedly - Fig. 3). The drone 2 is preferably provided with a camera.

According to one embodiment of the invention the means 3 for supporting the fire hose is/are adapted to be releasably attached to a building's element or elements, such as a wall, a window, a window frame, a door, a door frame, a windowsill, a lintel, or a roof. The means 3 for supporting the fire hose can be a vacuum lifter as shown in Fig. 2 (e.g. air or vacuum powered), a bracket, powder actuated fastener fixed attachment (Fig. 3), instant adhesive, magnetic or other known means.

The means 3 for supporting the fire hose can be attached to a building either by drone 2 adapted to carry the fire hose 1 tip or nozzle, or by another drone. Thus, either the drone 2, which is adapted to carry the fire hose 1 nozzle, or another drone can be also adapted to bring the means 3 for supporting the fire hose up to the necessary height and attach it to a building.

The means 3 for supporting the fire hose 1 can also be attached to a building by a human. For instance, one group of fire fighters can enter a room one or two levels below the level where the fire is and attach the means 3 to the wall or window of the building there.

Also according to one embodiment of the invention the means 3 for supporting the fire hose 1 can be fixedly mounted to the building in advance, e.g. as a part of the building own fire safety system.

Depending on the payload and the level of a building where the fire is, the firefighting arrangement may comprise more than one means 3 for supporting the fire hose, which can be attached or located at different levels of a building.

According to one embodiment the means 3 for supporting the fire hose 1 further comprises: a taut cable 4 (or rope, or belt); a pulley 5 designed to support movement and change of direction of a taut cable 4 (rope or belt) along its circumference; a connecting element 6 designed to receive the fire hose 1 and to prevent the fire hose 1 from bending to an acute angle. One end of the taut cable 4 (rope or belt) is connected to the connecting element 6 through the pulley 5 such that by pulling the second end of the taut cable 4 (rope or belt) the connecting element 6 holding the fire hose 1 can be raised to the means 3 for supporting the fire hose attached to a building.

The connecting element 6 may have a shape of 90 degree pipe elbow (Fig. 2). It can be either connecting part of the fire hose 1 segments (Fig. 4), allowing the liquid or fire suppressing substance to pass through, or be a sleeve receiving and accommodating the fire hose 1. The connecting element 6 may also comprise a guide designed to allow the fire hose 1 to freely bend up to the right angle, however preventing the fire hose 1 from bending to an acute angle. This prevents decreasing or blocking the flow of water or other fire suppressing substance.

According to the preferred embodiment the connecting element 6 is designed to allow the fire hose 1 to controllably pass through the connecting element 6 thereby allowing increasing or decreasing length of the fire hose 1 from the drone 2 carrying the fire hose 1 nozzle and the means 3 for supporting the fire hose 1. This provides advantage during the firefighting as changing the length of the fire hose 1 from the means 3 for supporting the fire hose to the drone 2 allows increasing the room for the drone's 2 manoeuvre, or decreasing the weight of the fire hose 1, which drone 2 carries.

According to one embodiment one end of the taut cable 4 (rope or belt) is rotatably connected to the connecting element 6 thereby allowing the fire hose 1 to be turned to the required side thus eliminating of or at least decreasing of tangling of the taut cable 4 (rope or belt) and/or the fire hose 1.

The firefighting arrangement may operate as follows. A fire hose 1 with a tip or a nozzle is attached to a drone 2 (preferably - heavy lifting, e.g. having payload of about 100 kg). The second end of the fire hose 1 is attached to a fire hydrant or other source of fire suppressing substance. According to one embodiment the drone 2 is taking off carrying one end of the fire hose 1 and the means 3 for supporting the fire hose. Approaching the required (optimal) place, e.g. level of the building below the level where the fire is (not exactly under the fire and taking into account possible spread of fire), the drone 2 attaches the means 3 for supporting the fire hose to the building (e.g. to a window). As the drone 2 approaches the level where fire is (or immediately after the drone 2 attaches the means 3 to the building) the fire suppressing substance is supplied to the fire hose 1. As a result the drone 2 has to rise the weight of empty fire hose 1 and the means 3. Afterwards the drone 2 is caused to direct the flow of the fire suppressing substance toward the fire.

According to another embodiment a second drone is taking off carrying the means 3 for supporting the fire hose. Approaching the required place the drone attaches the means 3 for supporting the fire hose to the building (e.g. to a wall). The same can be done by a human. According to these embodiments the means 3 comprises the taut cable 4, the pulley 5 and the connecting element 6. One end of the taut cable 4 is fixed to the connecting element 6 and the other end is free and used for pulling up the fire hose 1 to the means 3 for supporting the fire hose attached to a building. The drone 2 carrying the end of the fire hose 1 with a tip or a nozzle is also rising to allow the fire hose 1 to be delivered to the required level. In this case the drone 2 has to carry only the weight of part of the fire hose 1 (e.g. 10-30 m). This provides practical possibility for effective using drones in skyscraper firefighting and prolongs maximal flight time of a drone without need to use additional solutions for providing power supply to the drone.

As part of own fire safety system a building may contain the means 3 for supporting the fire hose, which are fixedly mounted to the building. These means 3 may comprise one or more brackets fixed to a wall, provided with the pulleys 5, taut cable 4, both ends of which are accessible to the firefighters (e.g. located at the ground level). In this case the taut cable 4 is used to raise the fire hose 1 to the required level. The drone 2 carrying the end of the fire hose 1 with a tip or a nozzle is also rising to allow the fire hose 1 to be delivered to the required level. In this case the drone 2 also has to carry only the weight of part of the fire hose 1 (e.g. 10-30 m).