| CLAIMS What is claimed: 1) Telescopic hydrant (1) used as fire control system or anti-pollution system, consists of concentric and straight elements (fig. 12), constructed so that the outermost element contains the internal elements (fig. 13 and 14), equipped with a sealing system (fig.5 and 6), equipped with components that limit the travel of the elements (fig. 6) and other components that support the structure (fig. 9 and 11). 2) Telescopic hydrant (1), made by components that deviates the inner flow (fig. 11, particular 26) and other components that address the outlet flow (fig. 3, particular 7). 3) Telescopic hydrant (1), where the anti-rotation wings (2), with an wide surface, are connected to the outer case (21) (fig. 1, 2, 11, 12 and 15). 4) Telescopic hydrant (1) assembled through the use of threaded fasteners (particular 9, 12 and 18). 5) Telescopic hydrant (1) made by a sealing system between the elements, represented by the particular 12, where the seal (16) is compressed by the vanes (13a), (14) and (14a), (see fig. 6, 13, 14 and 15). 6) Telescopic hydrant (1) with the closure system of the outer case (21), represented by particular 18 that includes the vanes (20) and (20b) build on the component not integral with the outer case (21), and the thread (19), build on the outer case (21) which is screwed to the thread (20a), build on the item that is not integral with the outer case (21) (see Fig. 7 and 8). 7) Telescopic hydrant (1) with the internal support system of the hydrant elements consists of the supporting surface (22), provided with holes (25), which is placed on the supports (23) (see Fig 9, 11, 12 and 13). 8) Telescopic hydrant (1) has the flow diverter (26), positioned on the bottom (24) of the telescopic hydrant (1) in front of the entry point of water (3), consists of two vertical walls (27) and a curved floor (28) (see Fig. 10 and 11). 9) Telescopic hydrant (1): the operating condition in which the sum of the sections of the openings (8), made on the head (5) of the telescopic hydrant (1), is less than the section of the pipeline water network that supplies water to the telescopic hydrant (1) at the entry point (3) (see Fig. 3 and 11). 10) Telescopic hydrant (1) the construction of the water drain (4) on the side wall of the outer case (21) in the section delimited by the bottom (24) of the outer case (21) and the supporting surface 22 (see Fig. 1, 2, 11, 12 and 15). |
DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The fire-extinguishing procedure foresees to limit the property and people damages, first of all trying to circumscribe and prevent it from spreading and making k more difficult to extinguish.
To have a fire you must have a fuel, a comburent (oxygen) and something which initiates the combustion. Normally, you can extinguish a fire by completely removing the fuel or the comburent from the ambient: if one of the two components are down then the fire is extinguished automatically. Unfortunately in the major fires that occur in open spaces, the comburent can not be removed completely from fire, therefore you have to circumscribe the fire, trying to operate on the fuel or waiting all the fuel burns down. For example in a fuel depot, a thousands cubic meters capacity tank involved in a major fire could burn for a long time (the complete combustion could takes hours and at the worst days). The economic damage will be very significant and the pollution consequences will impact on the environment and on the population and animal health.
Obviously, the fuel depots or refineries are equipped with a fire-fighting system, but the blast caused by the fire explosion could put them out of use. If in a fuel depots there is also installed an additional fire-fighting system, consisting in a telescopic hydrant, in case of fire it is possible to fight the flames inside the same fire, because the explosion cannot put out of use the telescopic hydrants: during explosion they are in the rest position below the ground level. After the initial explosion Shockwave, acting on the valve that supply the telescopic hydrant piping, the water or the fire fighting liquid causes the up thrust of the telescopic hydrant (1), which begins to rise up and extinguish the fire inside the flames. Meantime other telescopic hydrant (1) can be used for cooling the tanks walls that has not yet been affected by the flames.
Another dangerous situation where you can appreciate the quality of this invention can be identified in the airports facilities. The planes must move in an environment free of obstacles: the apron, the airstrip and the land surrounding the airstrip should be free of obstructions fixed to the ground. By installing an adequate system of telescopic hydrants you can ensure a fire protection to all accessible areas to aircraft without creating barriers that can hinder the aircraft movement. One of the main characteristics of the telescopic hydrant (1) is represented by the at rest position: when it is out of service, it is enclosed in its own underground container without any component of the device creating any depressions, relieves and not affecting its installation area.
A further application of this device is to the reduction of pollution gases in the atmosphere. In the air pollution reducing mode, the telescopic hydrant (1) allows to clear the air pollutant particles simply by spraying water into the environment surrounding the hydrant. In this way you reach a "rain effect" that "wash" the atmosphere by removing the contaminant particles. The best place where the telescopic hydrant (1) should act as anti-pollution tool may be the buildings roof. This choice is justified by the fact that the roofs are designed to evacuate the water rain through the water exhaust drains, and the ice that could be produced during winter time would not cause roads and persons accidents, and in any case a roof is designed to support the snow or ice weight. The use of the telescopic hydrant (1) avoids the problem of impacting the town skyline because it will be used by night, reducing the visual impact, while during the day the water flow can be stopped and for gravity the hydrant retracts in its own underground container.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE TELESCOPIC HYDRANT
The figure 1 shows the telescopic hydrant (1) in the outside view. The structure looks like a cylinder (in the cylindrical version, but it is also possible to create a polygonal version of the hydrant, that avoids the rotation of the internal components during the extension and allows the water jet to be pointed in a specific direction) that come out from the ground level completely (anti-pollution mode) or partially (fire mode). In the fire mode the top of the structure that emerges from the ground level is made by the outer case lid and by all the inner elements tops.
The Figure 2 shows from the top the telescopic hydrant (1) drawing in the six-elements version of the fire mode. The anti-rotation wings (2) are designed to prevent the outer structure rotation, as this movement would cause instability to the structure and damage the contact point between the hydrant and the pipe that supply water to the structure. In the antipollution mode the anti-rotation wings (2) are not provided because it is sufficient the anchorage of the structure base to the building. The connection (3) indicates the installation point to connect the hydrant flange to the water supply pipe, and the connection (4) indicates the installation point for the flange which connects the valve to the water drain that would remain after its use. It is important to provide a water drain system in order to avoid the water freezing during the at-rest-time that could jam the works. The drainage can also be forced by using a pump.
The Figure 3 shows the cross section of the innermost element top. The detail 7 is positioned under the head (5) of the telescopic hydrant (1) and represents the body that diverts the water flow towards the openings (8) of the head (5), that is attached to the innermost element (6) of the telescopic hydrant (1) through the threads (10) and (11) of the detail 9.
The detail 9, shown in Figure 3, constitutes the area where the threads (10) and (11) are made:
- Thread (10) is positioned on the top element (6) of the telescopic hydrant (1);
- Thread (11) is positioned on the head (5).
Since the telescopic elements of the telescopic hydrant (1) moving on the vertical axis of the structure, all the hydrant threads must have a counterclockwise screwing line to exploit the counterclockwise rotation effect due to the upward thrust, caused by the water pressure during the telescopic hydrant functioning.
The telescopic hydrant consists of several elements , designed with the logic to respect the condition in which the lager diameter element includes all the other ones. As indicated in the detail 12 shown in Figure 5, the outer diameter of each element must be less than the inside diameter of the element that encloses itself, in order to allow the components to slide one within each other.
The detail 12 constitutes the area in which are made the details 13, 13a, 14, 14a, 15, 16 and 17 shown in Figure 6:
- To ensure the tightness of the water pressure, you must install the seals 16, housed in the cavity created by the detail 13, 13a, 14, and 14a;
- the detail 13 shows the thread of the inner element;
- the detail 13a shows the wings that acts as the upper limit for the seal housing (16);
- the detail 14 shows the thread of the component that is not integral with the inner element, that is screwed at the thread (13) placed at the inner element lower part;
- the detail 14a shows the wing of the component that is not integral with the inner element that is screwed to its bottom, the wing (14a) limits inferiorly the volume of the seal (16); - the detail 15 shows the wing of the component that is not integral with the inner element, that is screwed to its bottom part, the wing (15) limits inferiorly the stroke of the inner element and creates a support for the inner element when the telescopic hydrant is at rest;
- the detail 17 shows the wing of the elements' top that limits the stroke of the inner element at the top.
The choice of creating a cavity made by the detail 13a and by the component that is not integral with the element of the thread (14) is to allow the hydrant inspection and to replace the seal (16), which guarantees the tightness, simply by unscrewing the component that is not integral with the element.
The Figure 7 shows the detail 18 that highlights the area where the details 19, 20, 20a and 20b are made and represent the element by which you can extract all the extendable structures of the underground (or aboveground) outer case (21).
The Figure 8 shows the exploded view of the detail 18:
- the detail 19 shows the thread on the outer case (21);
- the detail 20 shows the wings created on the component that is not integral with the outer case (21) and that is screwed to the top of the outer case (21) in order to create continuity of the visible surface when the telescopic hydrant is at rest;
- the detail 20a shows the thread on the component that is not integral with the outer case (21) and that is screwed to the top of the outer case (21);
- the detail 20b shows the wings created on the component that is not integral with the outer case (21) that limits the stroke of the inner element at the top.
The figure 9 shows the support area (22) which the entire extended structure rests on during its at rest time. The support area (22) is lifted from the bottom (24) of the outer case (21) through the supports (23) (shown in Figure 11); their function is to keep separate the extending structure from the bottom (24) to avoid that any stagnant water can freeze and then jam the bottom elements of the extended structure (24). There are the holes (25) to ensure a lower contact surface between the elements and to allow the water present between the components to be drained more easily both from the support area (22) and from the wings (15), in order to avoid the stagnant water freezing and jamming the hydrant elements and to prevent or delay the telescopic hydrant functioning.
The figure 10 shows the flow diverter (26). To divert the water flow towards the inner part of the hydrant elements, at the bottom (24) there is the element (26) which is the flow diverter made by two vertical walls (27) and a curved plane (28). The use of flow diverter allows to take advantage of all the thrust of the water supplied by the water system connected to the detail 3, the reason is that the detail 26 is positioned at the same axis of the conduct of the detail 3.
WORKING PRINCIPLE
The functioning of the telescopic hydrant (1) requires a source of pressurized water (typically from the municipal waterworks) that supply it. By turning the valve located on the pipe which feeds the telescopic hydrant (1), it is allowed the water to reach the structure, to fill the inner body of the hydrant and to pressurize the occupied volume. As for the pressure is simply the ratio between the force and the surface on which it is applied, in a container under pressure the force due to the pressure acts in all directions and on all the container inner walls. In the hydrant the thrust force due to pressure acts in all directions and on all internal surfaces, and this phenomenon gives the thrust that allows the telescopic hydrant (1) to start functioning; the reason is that the forces acting on the inner ceiling of the elements of the telescopic hydrant (1) must overcome only the weight force of the structure.
Filling the telescopic hydrant (1) with the pressurized water, a continuous balance between the thrust provided by the. liquid and the weight force of the same structure is developed, then the most internal element of the structure will tend to rise itself because it is the smallest and lightest element. The space obtained with the smallest internal element lifting, will be occupied by the water flowing in the structure, restoring the pressure and the internal upward thrust. The telescopic hydrant (1) will tend to grow up until all the telescopic hydrant (1) elements will go out of its position at rest completely. The pressure amount used to extend the telescopic hydrant along its entire length will reduce the static pressure of the water supply, the pressure that remains will provide the thrust of the water jet that come out from the nozzles (8).
In the fire mode, the inner water that flows inside the structure, also chills the structure body because it is in contact with the inner surfaces of the telescopic hydrant (1) walls; the consequence is that the telescopic hydrant (1) can work even if it is wrapped up by the flames or exposed to heat sources.
The thickness of the material used to make the telescopic hydrant (1) is thin and sufficient to enable the structure to stand up; for this reason the energy, transmitted from the fire to the hydrant by radiation and convection, is transmitted to the water by conduction through the hydrant wall. To reduce the energy transmitted to the hydrant, a design feature is applied to polish the exterior surface as a mirror and increase the energy reflecting power; the telescopic hydrant (1) circular cross-section reduces the view factor versus the heat sources.
To allow the structure to rise, the telescopic hydrant (1) uses the thrust provided by the water as a propulsion system, this allows to preserve the structure when there is a pressure drop and hence a loss of flow, that would cause a cooling reduction of the structure. The result is an excessive expansion of the hydrant components that leads to a components deformation in the long run. The pressure drop causes a decrease of the upward pressure; the consequence is that, by gravity effect, the telescopic hydrant (1) retracts and reduces the heat exposure that could damage it. Once the optimum pressure has been restored, the telescopic hydrant (1) comes back to service without any type of damage.
INTERNAL INSPECTION
The internal inspection is facilitated by using the threads of the detail 18 shown in Figure 7, which allows to remove the crown at the hydrant base and the threads of the detail 9 shown in Figure 4, which allow to remove the head of the hydrant shown in Figure 3. Unscrewing them, it is possible to attach the hydrant and to remove it from its seat. For the seals (16) replacement or inspection, at first the elements from the external case should be removed and then the threads of the detail 12 shown in Figure 6 should be used.
DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES
Fig. 1 telescopic hydrant external layout in the anti-pollution mode A) and fire mode B)
Fig. 2 top view of the telescopic hydrant in the fire mode with the six-elements version
Fig. 3 head of the telescopic hydrant
Fig. 4 exploded view of the detail 9
Fig. 5 linkage between elements through the detail 12
Fig. 6 Exploded view of the detail 12
Fig. 7 linkage between the outer case and the elements through the detail 18
Fig. 8 exploded view of the particular 18
Fig. 9 orthogonal projection view of the support area 22
Fig. 10 flow diverter detail 26 Fig. 11 bottom components of the hydrant
Fig. 12 outer case, central and innermost element of the hydrant
Fig. 13 bottom section layout of the telescopic hydrant with six-elements version at rest mode
Fig. 14 upper section layout of the telescopic hydrant with six-elements version at rest mode Fig. 15 connection points and external telescopic hydrant layout in the fire mode with six- elements version at rest