WO1996005887A1

WO1996005887A1 - Fire block material

Info

Publication number: WO1996005887A1
Application number: PCT/GB1995/001931
Authority: WO
Inventors: Neil Saville
Original assignee: Ipt (Uk) Limited
Priority date: 1994-08-24
Filing date: 1995-08-15
Publication date: 1996-02-29
Also published as: AU3188495A

Abstract

A fire block material (311) adapted to be deployed against a fire (312) to be doused with water (314) and comprising a super absorbent material so as to be capable of absorbing substantial quantities of water and adapted to be capable of being fashioned into personnel clothing and having a component adapted to cope with the disposal of perspiration.

Description

FT E BLOCK MATERIAL

This invention relates to fire block materials.

In areas where prolonged dry weather carries risk of forest or brush fires, lives and property are at risk, and there is often simply no way of saving homes and outbuildings if such a fire sweeps by. The present invention provides a fire break material that will provide at least temporary protection, enabling or at least improving the chances of escape or rescue of occupants and animals, and quite possibly providing protection while the fire consumes all surrounding combustible material and moves on.

The invention comprises a fire block material comprising a super absorbent material.

In one particular aspect, the invention comprises a fire block material adapted to be deployed between a fire and a place to be protected there to be doused with water and comprising a super absorbent material so as to be capable of absorbing ten or more times its weight of water.

The material may comprise fire resistant fibre, which may be comprised as a supportive textile structure for the super absorbent material.

The super absorbent material may itself comprise a fibre (in which case it may form a textile structure without any additional fibre) and it may itself be fire resistant, of course, but in any event it may be comprised as a textile material with another e.g. a fire resistant fibre.

The super absorbent material may however be comprised as a powder or granular material which may be held in a textile structure e.g. of fire resistant fibre.

The super absorbent material may be comprised as a core between cover materials which may for example be woven fabrics such as open weave natural fibre, e.g. jute fabrics or sackings. Metal or plastic mesh could be used, of course.

The core may be a non-woven fabric, and the whole may be quilted.

The material may be adapted for deployment as by having eyelet, hook or like means by which it may be suspended.

The invention also comprises a material as described in combination with support means such as stakes by or on which it may be deployed.

In another aspect, the invention comprises a fire block material adapted to be deployed against a fire to be doused with water and comprising a super absorbent material so as to be capable of absorbing substantial quantities of water and adapted to be capable of being fashioned into personnel clothing and having a component adapted to cope with the disposal of perspiration.

Materials are known comprising high temperature resistant and flame-proof fabrics which are fashioned into protective clothing e.g. for emergency services and those engaged in high-fire-risk occupations and sports such as motor racing. Such materials usually comprise exotic polymers such as para aramid, meta aramid which have high melting/charring points and which can withstand high temperatures.

Such fabrics are expensive and do not necessarily have low thermal conductivity, so that in high temperature ambient conditions, the wearer of a suit of such fabric is as likely to suffer from the high temperature as if he was not wearing the protective clothing.

The present invention proves a low-cost, high-efficiency fabric for use as a fire block material.

The material may comprise a wicking material layer adapted to be placed internally of the fire suit or other clothing. The material may comprise a semi-permeable membrane adapted for the passage of water vapour but to block liquid water flow.

Fabrics according to the invention can also be adapted for action clothing, whether or not they are fire resistant.

By "action clothing" is meant clothing in which activities are pursued that cause perspiration. Not infrequently such activities are carried out in all weather, which, in many places, including Great Britain, means in bad weather so that the clothing has to protect against cold, wind and rain. A problem in the past has been to provide effective protection against the elements yet allow the body to "breathe", by which is meant preventing the build-up of perspiration and body heat raising the temperature and humidity within the clothing reaching levels which are intolerable in regard to the activity being pursued.

Solutions to this problems have involved the provision of so-called poromerics - fabrics which have pores adequately sized to permit egress of water vapour, but too small to permit ingress of liquid water - and semi-permeable fabrics such as polyurethanes or polyurethane-coated textile fabrics which have no pores but which permit the chemical diffusion of water vapour.

The present invention provides an alternative - or enhancing - solution to the problem of comfort action clothing.

The invention comprises a fabric adapted for use in action clothing comprising an impermeable or poorly permeable outer layer, a super absorbent intermediate layer and a permeable inner layer.

The outer layer may comprise a plastics or a plastic coated material, which may be a poromeric or a semi-permeable material but which may also be a totally impermeable material.

The inner layer may be knitted, e.g. a single jersey knit fabric.

The intermediate layer may comprise activated carbon and or an anti- bacterial fibre.

The invention also comprises fire resistant and/or action clothing made of such fabrics.

Embodiments of fire block materials and methods of deploying them and of action materials according to the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which :-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fire block of fire block material of the invention deployed around a dwelling in a fire zone;

Figure 2 is a face-on, part-cut-away view of a fire block fabric of the invention; and

Figure 3 is a cross-section of an action clothing fabric.

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate a fire block material 11 adapted to be deployed between a fire 12 and a place - house 13 - to be protected, there to be doused with water - as from hose 14 - and comprising a super absorbent material so as to be capable of absorbing ten or more - even up to twenty and more - times its weight of water.

It is readily possible, as will be described below, to produce a fabric which will hold 25.5 times its own weight - thus a 1 kilogramme per square metre fabric would be able to absorb and hold 25.5 kilos of water. As will be seen in Figure 2, the material 11 is adapted to be deployed by means of eyelets 15 along one edge thereof that can be hung on hooks on stakes 16. The material 11 can be left in place on a fence, and may be given suitable cosmetic treatment to that end, or may be deployed on and when necessary on to stakes 16 left in position for such purpose or, since the stakes do not take long to install, kept available for use when danger threatens or for deployment when the dwelling is going to remain empty for any period of time.

When a fire is approaching, the material is doused, preferably with as much water as it will hold. The source of water may be a main, piped supply, a garden pond or swimming pool. For a static source, such as a pool, a pump, portable or possibly permanently installed, would be required. Water may, for the purpose, be held in an elevated tank, of course.

100 m² of material with a weight of 1 k/m², supplied in a 2 m width, would provide a fire block by surrounding an 8 x 8 plot and would absorb 2.5 tonnes of water, or 2.5 m³ - even a small swimming pool holds more than enough water, and the material could be wet out a second and a third time if needs must. A slow feed system, after the fashion of automatic garden water systems, could be left connected.

An automatic dousing system could have piped connections operable in flood and trickle modes. The material could incorporate the necessary tubing.

Instead of deployment as a fence, the material could line the walls of a building and indeed could be held in roll form under the eaves of the building with a suitable release mechanism for deployment when fire threatens.

Moreover, simply laid on the ground, the material, when wetted out, would be an effective fire break, holding water where it is required, rather than leaking away and having to be replaced constantly by fire pumps. At a weight, wet through, of some 25 k/πr, air supply to a ground fire is effectively sealed out.

The fabric illustrated in Figure 2 has a core 11C of non-woven 50% modified acrylic or polyvinyl chloride fire resistant fibre, of which numerous kinds are commercially available, and 50% super absorbent fibre, such as that known commercially as "OASIS", which is cross-linked co-polymer partially neutralised to the sodium salt. Super absorbent material is available in powder or granular form, and as such can be incorporated in a non-woven fabric during or after the production of the fabric, possibly using an adhesive or simply relying on the fabric structure to hold the powder or granules. Such a fabric can be made with a weight of 500 g/m².

Another combination might comprise 60% superabsorber, 40% viscose treated with salicic acid.

Either side of this fabric 11C are attached 250 g/m² open weave jute sacking fabrics 11A, 1 IB, by means of sew quilting 21, using e.g. cotton or a fire resistant thread.

Such a fabric would be effective as a fire barrier at least to some extent even when dry. The limiting oxygen index of the super absorber would be about 40%, that of the modified acrylic or p.v.c. about 37%, and this would serve to keep the outer fabric from burning even after drying out.

Fabrics as described may be adapted to be fashioned into personnel clothing, which may be especially useful in fire fighting.

Even as an ad hoc measure, a fabric intended as a fire break could be fashioned into a cape or simply draped as a blanket, but fabrics may be designed for fashioning into a suit or "drenchcoat".

In use, a suit or other outer clothing made according to the invention may be doused with water prior to the wearer entering a fire zone or a zone where mere is a risk of fire. The clothing will preferably be doused after being donned.

Desirably, the wet weight will not be such as seriously to incapacitate the wearer.

The perspiration disposal layer, whether it allows the passage out of excess water vapour due to perspiration or whether it wicks condensed such water vapour, while not being essential in many instances where exposure time is short, is nevertheless primarily responsible for the fact that the clothing can be worn in hazardous conditions.

Without, or even with, the "perspiration" component, the material could be useful for soaking up spills, e.g. of oil or chemicals and might be made available to fire crews, for example, to cover a potentially flammable or smouldering hazard and doused to minimise risk of further burning or explosion without the need to play hoses on it over extended time periods.

Figure 3 illustrates a fabric 311, shown in cross-section, for use in action clothing, comprising an impermeable or poorly permeable outer layer 312, a super absorbent intermediate layer 313 and a permeable inner layer 314.

Super absorbent material, such as that known commercially as "OASIS", which is a cross-linked co-polymer partially neutralised to the sodium salt, is available in powder or granular form and can be incorporated in a non-woven fabric during or after the production of the fabric, possibly using an adhesive or simply relying on the fabric structure to hold the powder or granules.

The outer layer 312 comprises a plastics material or a plastics-coated material which is impervious to rain, snow, or indeed wind. It could equally well, however, be poromeric or a semi-permeable layer as above referred to.

The inner layer 314 comprises a single jersey knit fabric e.g. of cotton, nylon or any other suitable fibre.

When such a fabric is made up into e.g. a shell suit, a waterproof jacket, waterproof trousers, or a battle dress such as an NBC suit, the outer layer protects against ingress of water, wind or indeed anything borne therein. The inner layer permits the escape from the body of heat and perspiration. The intermediate layer absorbs all of the moisture of the perspiration, which passes through the inner layer, which essentially remains dry. Thus the body feels no discomfort from the wetness usually associated with perspiration, which is all absorbed by the intermediate layer, which can absorb some twenty or more time is own weight. The body, no matter what its activity, does not perspire so much as to saturate such absorbent material within the usual timeframe of the activity in question, whatever it is, and so the humidity level inside the clothing never rises to such as would inconvenience the wearer.

Moreover, the more water is absorbed by the intermediary layer, the higher is its thermal conductivity. Consequently, the material, when used in a clothing context, is at least to some extent self regulating inasmuch as the more water is absorbed (corresponding to higher bodily output) the higher, because of the absorption of water, is the thermal conductivity of the intermediate layer.

Thus a suit made from a material as disclosed herein, whether it be a shell suit, track suit, ski suit, sailing gear, mountaineering wear, combat wear or whatever, will remain comfortable even over extended periods and permit enhanced activity whether of a sporting or military nature.

It would, of course, be desirable to specify dry cleaning for such fabrics and garments.

Claims

C AI S

1. A fire block material comprising a super absorbent material.

2. A fire block material adapted to be deployed between a fire and a place to be protected there to be doused with water and comprising a super absorbent material so as to be capable of absorbing ten or more times it weight of water.

3. A material according to claim 1 or claim 2, comprising fire resistant fibre.

4. A material according to claim 3, in which the fire resistant fibre is comprised as a supportive textile structure for the super absorbent material.

5. A material according to any one of claims 1 to 4, in which the super absorbent material comprises a fibre.

6. A material according to claim 5, in which the fibre is comprised as a textile material.

7. A material according to any one of claims 1 to 6, in which the super absorbent material is comprised as a powder or granular material.

8. A material according to any one claims 1 to 7, in which the super absorbent material is comprised as a core between cover materials.

9. A material according to claim 8, in which the cover fabrics are of woven fabric.

10. A material according to claim 9, in which the woven fabric is an open weave of a natural fibre such as jute.

11. A material according to any one of claim 8 to 10, in which the core is a non- woven fabric.

12. A material according to any one of claims 8 to 11, quilted.

13. A material according to any one claims 1 to 12, adapted for deployment by having eyelet, hook or like means by which it may be suspended.

14. A material according to any one claims 1 to 13, in combination with support means such as stakes by or on which it may be deployed.

15. A fire block material adapted to be deployed against a fire to be doused with water and comprising a super absorbent material so as to be capable of absorbing substantial quantities of water and adapted to be capable of being fashioned into personnel clothing and having a component adapted to cope with the disposal of perspiration.

16. A material according to claim 15, comprising a wicking material layer adapted to be placed internally of clothing.

17. A material according to claim 15 or claim 16, comprising a semi-permeable membrane adapted for the passage of water vapour but to block liquid water flow.

18. A fabric adapted for use in action clothing comprising an impermeable or poorly permeable outer layer, a super absorbent intermediate layer and a permeable inner layer.

19. A fabric according to claim 18, in which the outer layer comprises a plastics material.

20. A fabric according to claim 18, in which the outer layer comprises a plastic coated material.

21. A fibre according to claim 19 or claim 20, in which the plastic is a poromeric.

22. A fibre according to claim 19 or claim 20, in which the plastic is a semi- permeable plastic such as polyurethane.

23. A fabric according to any one of claims 18 to 22, in which the inner layer is a knitted fabric.

24. A fabric according to claim 23, in which the knitted fabric is a single jersey fabric.

25. A fabric according to any one of claims 18 to 24, in which the intermediate layer comprises activated carbon.

26. A fabric according to any one of claims 18 to 25, in which the intermediate layer comprises an anti-bacterial fibre.

27. Clothing made of fabric according to any one of claims 15 to 26.