EP4663253A1

EP4663253A1 - System for anchoring a fire nozzle to a vehicle in particular for an electric vehicle

Info

Publication number: EP4663253A1
Application number: EP25180569.3A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marco Aimo Boot; Jose FRANCIVALDO
Original assignee: Iveco SpA
Current assignee: Iveco SpA
Priority date: 2024-06-12
Filing date: 2025-06-03
Publication date: 2025-12-17

Abstract

Anchoring system for a fire lance to a vehicle, comprising a coupling device (D) comprising a hooked element (6), wherein the coupling device is configured to be reversibly associated with the body (1) of a lance (L) or integral with the body of a lance, a vehicle panel (P) comprising a through opening (A) suitable for being engaged by an end part (3) of the lance body and a seat (S) configured to allow stable engagement of the hooked element.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of fire lances, and in particular to an anchoring system for a fire lance.

STATE OF THE ART

In the fire lance sector, solutions designed to be easily handled by an operator, e.g. a firefighter, during a fire extinguishing operation are widely used. Generally, the fire lances widely available on the market have an elongated shape to satisfy ergonomic and fluid dynamic requirements of the jet. However, these solutions have a significant disadvantage, that is, they are structurally designed in such a way that an operator, e.g. a firefighter, must hold the lance in his hand for the entire duration of the fire extinguishing operation, and this leads to a high exposure time to the flames and consequently to a decrease in safety conditions for the operator, e.g. when a fire occurs on board a vehicle, such as on a bus due for example to an electrical fault.
In the field of vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine, the implementation of a through opening on a vertical wall of the engine compartment is also known in order to be able to spray the engine with extinguishing liquid without the need to open the engine compartment.
However, even in this case it is necessary for the operator to manually hold the lance inserted in the pass-through opening.
In the context of electric vehicles for city transport, the battery pack is generally located on the roof of the vehicle. This means that to spray a damaged battery pack or one undergoing thermal drift, the operator must direct the jet onto the battery pack from below or must get dangerously close to it by climbing on a ladder.
It is therefore an ever-present need to create simple and compact solutions, through which it is possible to minimize the operator's exposure time to danger during an emergency situation, and at the same time keep the operator as far away as possible from the area where the fire occurs during the intervention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The main purpose of the present invention is to minimize the risk to the operator in the event of an emergency in operations where it is necessary to direct a jet of extinguishing liquid towards a part of a vehicle in conditions of thermal drift. This purpose is achieved by means of the anchoring system for a fire lance which is the subject of the present invention.
The basic idea of the invention is to provide a lance, known in itself, with an anchoring system for the lance, wherein the anchoring system comprises a hooking device connectable to the body of the lance, a vertical wall of a vehicle delimiting a part subject to thermal drift, wherein the vertical wall is provided with a through opening for the insertion of the lance and a hooking seat arranged so as to be engaged by the hooking element, wherein the hooking element and the through opening are distinct and mutually separate components.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the coupling device comprises a sleeve sized to fit stably on the body of the lance and a hooked element connected to the sleeve.
The seat made in the vertical wall can be made in the form of a slot oriented radially with respect to the through opening or in the form of an edge of the wall. Advantageously, thanks to the present invention it is possible to reduce the exposure time of an operator, e.g. a firefighter, to the risk of exposure to flames or dangerous evolutionary conditions.
According to the invention, the lance, previously equipped with the coupling device, is inserted into a special opening and the coupling device is inserted into the seat made in the same wall or in an adjacent wall in which the through opening is made.
The dependent claims describe preferred variants of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The constructional and functional characteristics of the fire lance may be better understood from the detailed description that follows, in which reference is made to the attached figures that represent a preferred and non-limiting embodiment thereof, in which:

Fig.1 shows an exploded perspective view of a fire lance according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;
Fig.2-3 show respectively a front view and a cross-sectional view of a portion of a vehicle comprising a protruding perimeter edge on which the fire lance of Fig.1 is anchored;
Fig.4 shows a perspective view of a portion of a vehicle comprising a plurality of panels and protruding perimeter edges on which a corresponding fire lance of Fig.1 is anchored.

It should also be noted that the terms "first", "second", "third", "upper", "lower" and the like may be used herein to distinguish various elements. These terms do not imply a spatial, sequential or hierarchical order for the modified elements unless specifically indicated or inferred from the text.
The elements and features illustrated in the various preferred embodiments, including the drawings, may be combined with each other without departing from the scope of protection of this application as described below.

DETAILED DESCRITPION OF THE INVENTION

The system which is the subject of the present invention comprises a part intended to be associated with the lance and a part intended to be associated with the transport vehicle.
According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Fig.1 shows an exploded perspective view of a fire-fighting lance L, known in itself, equipped with the hooking device D defining the anchoring system of the present invention.
The fire-fighting lance L, as known, comprises a lance body 1, preferably tubular in shape, generally but not necessarily with cylindrical symmetry, which has an inlet port 2 arranged on a first longitudinal end of the lance body and an outlet port 3 associated with a second end opposite the first. The lance can be equipped with a valve and a relative actuation valve (not shown) and a handle 4 through which it is possible to firmly grasp the lance to direct the flow of extinguishing liquid, preferably but not limited to water, liquid foam, etc. The second end of the lance body, where the exit port 3 is located, is shaped so as to create a connection interface with the opening A created in the vehicle wall P that confines the part subject to thermal drift (Fig.2-4). The dimensions of the opening are such as to allow the insertion of the lance. However, as is known, the reaction force exerted by the jet of extinguishing liquid does not allow the lance to remain housed in the opening A, when in operating conditions.
In fact, the lance being only partially inserted in the opening A extends cantilevered out of the compartment being sprayed.
The opening A can be made in the form of a nozzle, preferably equipped with a movable door loaded by a spring or an elastic element.
The coupling device D, designed to be connectable to the body of the lance, comprises a sleeve 7 of tubular shape and shaped to fit onto the body 1 of the lance L, so as to engage an intermediate portion of the body 1 of the lance, leaving the second end on which the exit port is located free and uncovered.
The sleeve 7 can be equipped with a locking element 8, for example a screw that, by threading into an appropriate transverse through opening 9 to the tubular body of the sleeve 7, allows the body 1 of the lance to be compressed and locked inside the sleeve.
A hooked element 6 is fixed to the sleeve 7, designed to hook into a seat made in the wall of the vehicle.
According to a preferred variant of the invention, the hooked element 6 comprises a first end 10 hinged to the sleeve 7 along an axis parallel to an axial plane of the sleeve in a tangent manner to the sleeve, in a movable manner to allow rotation of the hooked element until it engages the seat obtained in the wall of the vehicle.
Obviously, the hinge or joint must allow the hooked element to move in an axial plane with respect to the body of the sleeve or lance, so as to be able to engage the seat S in the vehicle panel P.
Less problematic is the situation in which the hooked element is connected to the lance or sleeve by means of a flexible element.
According to another variant of the invention, the hooked element is not directly connected to the sleeve but indirectly by means of a flexible element, for example a chain, or an inextensible cord or an elastic cord. Preferably, the sleeve 7 has on its external surface the saddle 11, 12 of the hinge or a pin to which the cord or chain can be fixed.
The hooked element 6 has a second end 13 axially opposite to the first end 10, equipped with a through hole 17 to be fixed to the saddle 11, 12 or to a cord or chain.
The seat S for attaching the hooked element, in figure 2 is represented by the free edge and parallel to the ground and facing upwards of a vertical panel P of the vehicle. However, a seat may well be represented by a radial slot with respect to the centre of the through opening A made in the panel P of the vehicle.
Preferably, the slot is arranged according to an operationally vertical radius. Or the free edge is arranged parallel to the ground and oriented upwards, preferably but not limited to a vertical height greater than that at which the through opening A is located. This is advantageous, since the hooked element ensures, in an initial phase, an efficient grip due to the weight force of the lance itself and the pipe connected to it. Subsequently, during the delivery of extinguishing liquid, it is the same reaction force of the liquid that prevents the hooked element from coming loose. Thanks to the present invention, the fire-fighting lance remains stably anchored to the vehicle without falling, and the operator can move away from the area where the fire is located while the fluid is being delivered to put out the fire.
The solution described up to now involves using a lance known in itself and equipping it with the coupling device D. However, the present invention also refers to a lance, the body of which is equipped with a hinge or a ring for connecting a chain or rope.
The present invention also refers to a series of panels P applied on the roof of a city transport vehicle in continuity with the side walls of the vehicle to form a continuous series.
At least one of these panels is equipped with the through opening A and the seat for hooking the hooked element.
This solution is particularly advantageous for the following reasons.
The battery pack mounted on the roof of the vehicle is generally equipped with a closed casing approved together with the entire battery pack. The use of the extinguishing liquid, especially in the early stages of a thermal drift, allows the battery pack to be cooled, limiting or preventing the thermal drift with propagation to the other battery packs.
Well, the series of continuous panels performs a dual function:

On the one hand, they allow the anchoring of at least one lance,
On the other, they retain the extinguishing liquid dispensed, keeping it in contact with the casing of the battery pack, increasing the dissipative effect.

The solution described above can be applied to any vehicle AB (Fig.4) provided with a compartment delimited by a panel that has an opening A and a hooking seat for the hooked element. For example, this seat can be represented by a protruding upper edge, facing at least partially upwards, arranged on the roof of the vehicle, but it can also be a protruding edge of a covering panel defining the body of the vehicle.
Implementation variants to the non-limiting example described are possible, without however departing from the scope of protection of the present invention, including all the equivalent embodiments for a technician in the field, to the content of the claims.
From the description reported above, the technician in the field is able to realize the object of the invention without introducing further construction details.

Claims

Anchoring system for a fire lance to a vehicle, comprising
- a coupling device (D) comprising a hooked element (6), wherein the coupling device is configured to be stably and reversibly associated with a body (1) of a lance (L) or integral with the body of the lance,

- a vehicle panel (P) comprising
. a through opening (A) suitable for being engaged by an end part (3) of the body of the lance and

. a seat (S) configured to allow stable engagement of the hooked element when the body of the lance engages the through opening.
System according to claim 1, wherein when the coupling device is reversibly associable with the body of the lance, it comprises
- a sleeve (7) sized to fit stably on the body (1) of the lance and preferably also

- a fastening element (8) arranged to compress the body of the lance inside the bushing.
System according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hooked element is hinged to the body of the lance or to the sleeve.
System according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hooked element is connected to the body of the lance or to the sleeve by means of a flexible element, such as a chain or an inextensible rope.
System according to claim 3 or 4, wherein said seat (S) is spaced from the opening (A) proportionally to the length of the hooked element or to the overall length given by the hooked element and the flexible element.
System according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hooked element is connected to the body of the lance or to the sleeve by means of an elastic flexible element, such as an elastic cord.
Attachment device (D) for cooperating with a seat (S) of a vehicle panel (P) according to claim 1, comprising a hooked element (7), wherein the attachment device is configured to be reversibly associated with the body (1) of a lance (L) or integral with the body of a lance.
Device according to claim 7, wherein when it is reversibly associable with the body of the lance, it comprises
- a sleeve (7) sized to fit stably on the body (1) of the lance and preferably also

- a fastening element (8) arranged to compress the body of the lance inside the bushing.
Device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the hooked element is hinged to the body of the lance or to the sleeve.
Device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the hooked element is connected to the body of the lance or to the sleeve by means of a flexible element, such as a chain or an inextensible rope.
Vehicle panel (P) shaped to form a non-necessarily flat portion of a vehicle body, the panel comprising
- a through opening (A) suitable for being engaged by an end part (3) of the body of a lance and

- a seat (S) to allow stable engagement of the hooked element (6) of the coupling device (D) according to claim 7, when the coupling device is operatively associated or integral with the body of said lance.
Bus (AB) comprising a panel according to claim 11, wherein the panel is arranged to confine a volume in which a device susceptible to thermal escape is housed.
Bus (AB) according to claim 12, comprising a battery pack arranged on a vehicle roof and comprising a series of panels (P) aligned longitudinally according to a direction of development of the vehicle in continuity with respect to the side walls of the vehicle so as to delimit said battery pack.
Bus (AB) according to claim 13, wherein said series of panels is made so as to retain an extinguishing liquid introduced through said through opening (A).