CA2054974A1 - Method of and apparatus for putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells - Google Patents

Method of and apparatus for putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells

Info

Publication number
CA2054974A1
CA2054974A1 CA002054974A CA2054974A CA2054974A1 CA 2054974 A1 CA2054974 A1 CA 2054974A1 CA 002054974 A CA002054974 A CA 002054974A CA 2054974 A CA2054974 A CA 2054974A CA 2054974 A1 CA2054974 A1 CA 2054974A1
Authority
CA
Canada
Prior art keywords
fire
container
extinguishing
fires
compositions
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Abandoned
Application number
CA002054974A
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Tommaso Candelieri
Antonio Gerardi
Angelo Marino
Olindo Nifosi
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Agenzia Nazionale per le Nuove Tecnologie lEnergia e lo Sviluppo Economico Sostenibile ENEA
Original Assignee
Tommaso Candelieri
Antonio Gerardi
Angelo Marino
Olindo Nifosi
Ente Per Le Nuove Tecnologie, L'energia E L'ambiente Enea
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Tommaso Candelieri, Antonio Gerardi, Angelo Marino, Olindo Nifosi, Ente Per Le Nuove Tecnologie, L'energia E L'ambiente Enea filed Critical Tommaso Candelieri
Publication of CA2054974A1 publication Critical patent/CA2054974A1/en
Abandoned legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • EFIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21BEARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
    • E21B35/00Methods or apparatus for preventing or extinguishing fires
    • AHUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A62LIFE-SAVING; FIRE-FIGHTING
    • A62CFIRE-FIGHTING
    • A62C35/00Permanently-installed equipment
    • A62C35/02Permanently-installed equipment with containers for delivering the extinguishing substance
    • A62C35/10Containers destroyed or opened by flames or heat

Landscapes

  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Emergency Management (AREA)
  • Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Public Health (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Fire-Extinguishing Compositions (AREA)
  • Fire-Extinguishing By Fire Departments, And Fire-Extinguishing Equipment And Control Thereof (AREA)
  • Fats And Perfumes (AREA)

Abstract

ABSTRACT
A method of putting out fires under pressure is disclosed, in particular fires of oil wells, which method is based upon the use of an apparatus having a suitable geometry and containing a composition or a mixture of liquefied extinguishing and/or inert compositions, which apparatus is placed at a distance from the hole of the burning oil well and collapses because of the internal pressure so that pressure vapours burst out and hit at once and homogeneously the whole front of the fire so as to put fire out.

Description

~S~5~74 METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PUTTING OUT FIRES UNrjER
PRESSURE, IN PARTICULAR FIRES OF OIL WELLS.
***
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells and the like.
The main feature of such a system is that of using in combination the extinguishing effect of suitable compositions and the pressure wave directed to the fire so as to dispense istantaneously and homogeneously such compositions on the whole area on fire causing fire to extinguish at once.
Techniques and devices for putting fires out are well known and tested. Generally, difficulties and fai-lures are due to the particular conditions of the sup-porter of the combustion (shape and size, pressure in case of a fluid, a.s.o.) rather than to the inefficiency of the used compositions, which extinguishing features in the specific application field are very good.
Putting out a burning oil well, where the favour-able circumstance of the limited extension of the burning area is made useless by the particular violence of the fire fed by a pressure liquid with high degree of inflam-mability, is particularly complex.
Under such conditions putting out systems using extinguishing compositions do not find any application because unlike "extended" fires, (where it is possible to put out fire "progressively" by a continuous, progressi-ve extinguishment of the flames), in case of burning oil wells it is necessary to extinguish fire at once so that the oil continuously fed from the well does no~ fire any '1 974 longer.
Methods and means known at the present status of art for putting out burning oil wells envisage the following three different categories of operations:
1) blowing up the well with dynamite to put out the fire by the explosion shock wave and removing the latticework damaged by the fire;
2) boring the soil up to the oil body and pro-viding a new well through which the oil flow is turned so that the geologic pressure at the fire spot is dropped;
3) pumping baryta or similar solid material and water into a side pipeline reaching the bottom of the oil well so that the well is chocked.
Such techniques, however, are expensive from the economical and operational point of view.
Therefore, the present invention seeks to solve the problem of easily and economically putting out fires under pressure avoiding the drawbacks involved by the present methods. The object is attained by releasing at once a predetermined amount of an extinguishing compo-sition or mixture of compositions at a suitable pressure and in such a position as to be effective against the fire.
Unlike the known systems, the present method is based upon the combination of the extinguishing effect of the used compositions and the homogeneous, effective, instant distribution of said compositions over the whole front of the fire because of a shock wave.
This has been achieved according to the invention through the combined use of a composition or a mixture of liquefied compositions having extinguishing and/or inert ~5~974 capability and a container of such compositions having two peculiar operation features:
a) if the container is suitably placed over the fire spot, it can collapse because of the increase of the internal pressure due to the thermal gradient, thus re-leasing simultaneously the contained compositions; and b) the container is able to dispense at once the above mentioned compositions homogeneously and effecti-vely over the whole solid angle covered by the fire.
In practice, both the shape and size of the con-tainer may be varied and fitted to the characteristics of the fire to be put out provided that the cone of diffu-sion formed as a result of the collapse is able to cover the whole front of the fire.
Further features and advantages of this invention will be made apparent from the following detailed de-scription with reference to the accompanying drawings illustrating, by way of a non-limitative example, two preferred embodiments. In the drawings:
Fig. 1 shows schematically a section view of a container according to the invention having the form of a cone with a hemispherical bowl;
Fig. 2 shows a section of an alternate container having a spherical form.
With reference to Figure 1, the empty container 4 is formed as a hemisphere 8 having walls of thickness d1 and a conical body 6 of thickness d2 overlapped thereto and provided at the top with a hook means 14.
The thicknesses d1 and d2 are designed as a func-tion of the material of which the container is made so that ~he container collapses under the effect of the in-~'S~9~4 creasing pressure generated by the temperature gradient causing the expansion of the compositions contained therein and it releases at once and at a predetermined pressure the extinguishing mixture which is conveyed to the whole front of the fire.
The container may be formed of any material provi-ded that it is uninflammable. By way of example, contai-ners of aluminum and alloys thereof with copper and bronze have been used in the experimental tests.
The loading of the compositions to be used is car-ried out through common sealing input means 10 and 12 which are usually provided under safety conditions.
All of the extinguishing compositions alone or in combination with one another and with inerts may be used.
The best results have been achieved by the use of compo-sitions having a very low boiling point, i.e. under li-quefied form. Among the latter there are the halogen de-rivatives of methane and ethane, in particular C2F5Cl, CHClF2, CC12F2, CHF3, used alone or in combination with one another, at varying relative proportions and with or without liquid nitrogen which besides the extinguishing characteristic has also a propellant effect causing a more effective diffusion of the used compositions.
Also the effectiveness of liquid nitrogen or other inert gas with high expansion capacity alone or in com-bination with said compositions has been tested.
The putting out method according to the present invention is extremely easy and immediate: after having partially filled the container with the composition or mixture of extinguishing compositions, the sealed con-tainer is placed at a distance from the fire by any known ~`s^~9~

means. As a result of the high thermal gradient the inner pressure of the container is quickly increased, and when the value determined by the characteristics of the mate-rial and by the thickness of the thinner walls is reached, the container collapses and spreads vapours of the contained compositions under pressure onto the fire through the rent sheet. The upper part of the container above the predetermined rent remains integral after the collapse of the container and prevents the vapours from dissipating upwards so that the latter are conveyed down-wards to attack the flames and put fire out.
An alternate embodiment of the device of the in-vention is shown in ~igure 2. In such case the container has a spherical geometry without prejudice to the diffe-rence in the thicknesses dl and d2 of the two hemispheres 8 and 8a, respectively.
The present invention has been illustrated and de-scribed with reference to two preferred embodiments but it should be understood that construction modifications directed to achieve the same results of this invention may be made by those skilled in the art without parting from the scope of the present industrial invention.

Claims (13)

1. A method of putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells or the like, characte-rized in that a shock wave is used to dispense an extin-guishing composition at once and homogeneously over the whole front of the fire, thus causing concurrently the fire to be put out.
2. The method of the preceding claims, characte-rized in that a container of an extinguishing composition or a mixture of extinguishing and/or inert compositions alone or in any combination with one another is used, said container being adapted to collapse at a predeter-mined value of pressure according to a predetermined break line relative to the shape of the container as a result of the increase of the internal pressure of the contained composition(s) due to the thermal gradient created by the fire to be put out, whereby a preferential and effective distribution of said composition(s) over the front of the fire to be put out is obtained.
3. The method of the preceding claims characte-rized in that said composition or the percentage ratio of said mixture of compositions included in said container is selected according to the characteristics of the fire to be put out.
4. Apparatus for putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells, characterized in that it includes a container of any form, size and material which is adapted to collapse at a predetermined value of internal pressure, and after collapsing to dispense the extinguishing compositions at once and homogeneously over the whole front of the fire.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, characterized in that said extinguishing compositions belong to the class of halogen derivatives, mainly methane and ethane, having extinguishing features.
6. The apparatus of claims 4 and 5, characterized in that said compositions are used alone or in combi-nation with one another at varying proportions or admixed to liquefied inert compounds such as liquid nitrogen.
7. The apparatus of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that only an amount of nitrogen or other inert gases alone or admixed to one another having high expansion capacity is used as extinguishing composition.
8. The apparatus of claims 4 to 7, characterized in that it is contained in a cage which can be made of metal or other material having a mesh pattern resistant to the operating conditions with the function of avoiding that parts of the rent sheet are thrown all around the place of operation.
9. The apparatus of claim 4, characterized in that it is made of uninflammable material.
10. The apparatus of claims 4 to 9, characterized in that it provides input and sealing means for filling inert and/or extinguishing liquids into the container under safety conditions.
11. The apparatus of claims 4 to 10, characterized in that it consists of a hemisphere to which a conical body is overlapped.
12. The apparatus of the preceding claims, charac-terized in that the collapse occurs at the lower portion of the container as the walls of the hemisphere have a lower thickness than that of the overlapped conical body.
13. The apparatus of claims 4 to 10, characterized in that it has a spherical form with a predetermined break line at the section of largest diameter.
CA002054974A 1991-04-09 1991-11-05 Method of and apparatus for putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells Abandoned CA2054974A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
ITRM910239A IT1245274B (en) 1991-04-09 1991-04-09 METHOD AND DEVICE FOR THE FIRE EXTINGUISHING WITH PRESSURE FLAMES, IN PARTICULAR FROM PETROLEUM WELLS AND SIMILAR
ITRM91A000239 1991-04-09

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
CA2054974A1 true CA2054974A1 (en) 1992-10-10

Family

ID=11400070

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
CA002054974A Abandoned CA2054974A1 (en) 1991-04-09 1991-11-05 Method of and apparatus for putting out fires under pressure, in particular fires of oil wells

Country Status (6)

Country Link
EP (1) EP0508959B1 (en)
AT (1) ATE137561T1 (en)
CA (1) CA2054974A1 (en)
DE (1) DE69210301D1 (en)
IT (1) IT1245274B (en)
MX (1) MX9200454A (en)

Families Citing this family (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
CN112023295B (en) * 2020-07-31 2021-06-29 中国南方电网有限责任公司超高压输电公司检修试验中心 Fire disaster reduction system and method for transformer

Family Cites Families (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3918526A (en) * 1971-12-09 1975-11-11 Kabo Kogyo Co Ltd Fire-extinguishing device
US3833064A (en) * 1972-08-01 1974-09-03 J Ranney Means for extinguishing fires
DK111279A (en) * 1979-03-19 1980-09-20 B P Sperling SELF-EFFECTIVE PRESSURE FIRE EXTENSION
US4337831A (en) * 1980-03-07 1982-07-06 Thaxton Darrel G Fire extinguishing apparatus for oil wells
FR2565495B1 (en) * 1984-06-08 1989-02-17 Abg Semca FAST DISCHARGE EXTINGUISHER
US4830114A (en) * 1987-07-17 1989-05-16 Future Fire Suppression, Inc. Self-activating fire extinguisher
FR2619014B1 (en) * 1987-08-07 1991-08-16 Lemonnier Andre FIRE FIGHTING METHOD USING LIQUID NITROGEN AS EXTINGUISHING AGENT AND FIRE FIGHTING VEHICLE USING THE SAME
DE4000010A1 (en) * 1989-01-06 1990-07-12 Franz Doerr Automatically triggered fire extinguisher - has nozzles sealed with solder that melts in fire to release agent
EP0390384A1 (en) * 1989-03-31 1990-10-03 Kidde-Graviner Limited Fire extinguishers

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE69210301D1 (en) 1996-06-05
ATE137561T1 (en) 1996-05-15
MX9200454A (en) 1992-10-01
EP0508959A1 (en) 1992-10-14
EP0508959B1 (en) 1996-05-01
IT1245274B (en) 1994-09-13
ITRM910239A1 (en) 1992-10-09
ITRM910239A0 (en) 1991-04-09

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Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
FZDE Discontinued