WO2014128383A2

WO2014128383A2 - Firefighting installation including a network of vacuum sprinklers, including at least one open head for the flow of water

Info

Publication number: WO2014128383A2
Application number: PCT/FR2014/050279
Authority: WO
Inventors: Maurice Kadoche
Original assignee: Vactec
Priority date: 2013-02-21
Filing date: 2014-02-13
Publication date: 2014-08-28
Also published as: WO2014128383A3; FR3002153A1; FR3002153B1

Abstract

The invention relates to a firefighting installation including a network of sprinklers (S) kept under vacuum when on standby and filled with water if the installation has tripped for a fire, characterized in that the vacuum network is coupled to at least one pipe (4) having at least one head (40) that is open for the flow of water, said pipe (4) being connected to the vacuum network by isolation means (5) that can move between two positions: - a closed position when on standby; - an open position when tripped.

Description

Fire fighting facility, including a vacuum sprinkler system, including at least one open water flow head.

The field of the invention is that of the design and manufacture of fire fighting equipment and installations. More specifically, the invention relates to firefighting facilities called "vacuum".

The role of an automatic fire extinguishing system using sprinklers is to detect, as soon as possible, a fire and then automatically trigger the extinguishing system, at least locally, while emitting an alarm. The purpose of the installation is to contain as much as possible the fire, before the arrival of the firefighters who then take over the installation to extinguish the fire.

In the field of the invention, the fire-fighting installations are classified in three categories, namely:

- underwater systems;

- "under the air" systems;

- "vacuum" systems.

In these three systems, the sprinklers are networked so as to be regularly distributed on the site to be protected. Classically, sprinklers include:

- A fixing connection, for connecting the sprinkler to a pipe, this fastener having a conduit for the passage of the water to be released to extinguish the fire;

- a fuse;

- A sealing cap of the duct, held in the closed position by the fuse.

The fuse is calibrated to burst when a certain temperature is exceeded, thus freeing the conduit from the fitting. In "underwater" systems, all the piping in the installation is filled with water, right down to the sprinklers. The water is therefore waiting behind the sealing means and when the fuse bursts, the water flows through the conduit of the sprinkler fitting whose fuse has burst.

The time of release of water is immediate, which is particularly advantageous. In contrast, "underwater" systems are not suitable for sites with frost risks. Indeed, in case of frost, the water can not flow. In addition, the gel can cause damage to the piping of the installation (deformation or burst pipes). In some cases, the installation is then put out of water. In other cases, the site to be protected is heated to avoid any risk of frost. For sites to protect with a relatively large area, energy consumption, and therefore the heating bill, can be considerable, even prohibitive. Another way to fight against freezing is to add an antifreeze to the water of the installation, such as glycol, which is a toxic and carcinogenic product.

In "under air" systems, the whole installation is out of water. All the piping of the installation is kept under pressure. When the fuses burst, the air pressure is released by the sprinkler (s) in question and the water, also under pressure, tends to "push" the air out of the installation until it reaches the orifice or to the orifices released so as to escape through them.

With such a system, the water can in some cases take up to 60 seconds to reach the sprinkler whose fuse is burst, which is certainly in line with the standard in force but may be too long vis-à-vis vis of some fire starts.

In addition, the "under air" systems do not completely overcome the problems related to freezing. Indeed, condensation can occur in the pipes of an installation "under air", which can harm some components of the installation. In general, underwater and underwater systems have the following disadvantages:

- they are subject to sludging and, consequently, clogging;

- they are subject to corrosion, which can obviously lead to an installation out of order in whole or in part;

- they may be subject to water leaks not visible;

- They allow the development of micro-organisms in the pipes of the installation.

As a result, they require, inter alia, anti-freeze and anti-corrosion treatments.

Moreover, they require rinsing operations after use.

In addition, they involve relatively long commissioning times, depending on the extent of the installation, which can range from one to four hours for "underwater" systems and two hours or more for "wet" systems. under the air.

To overcome all these drawbacks, the "vacuum" systems have been designed. In "vacuum" systems, a vacuum is created in the pipes extending between a general valve (closed by default) and all the sprinklers. In other words, all the pipes separating the valve from the sprinklers are under vacuum.

If a fuse from one of the sprinklers bursts, the atmospheric pressure gains the whole installation, which causes the change of state of an actuator which, in turn, opens the general water supply valve. . It follows that the water invades the entire installation to the sprinklers, the water flowing through the sprinkler (s) where the fuse has burst.

The tripping time of the actuator is very short, since when a fuse bursts, the "vacuum" installation immediately generates a phenomenon of suction of the air outside the installation. It should be noted that this suction can be beneficial, the suction effect on the fire focus to reduce the intensity of it. The water inlet time of the sprinkler with the fuse blown is less than 60 seconds.

It is therefore understood that, due to the absence of water or condensation in an installation of a "vacuum" system, the following results are obtained:

- no corrosion, so no fogging or clogging;

- no development of micro-organisms;

- no water leaks possible (water is by default absent in the pipes of the installation leading to the sprinklers);

no need for antifreeze or anticorrosive treatment;

- no rinsing necessary before commissioning the installation.

In addition, as will be explained in more detail later, the commissioning time of an installation with a "vacuum" system operates extremely quickly, under a minute or so.

Moreover, on sites to be protected, it is common to find areas or premises closed by fire doors. By their design, these fire doors are intended to prevent the fire spreads outside the room or the area closed by said door.

However, during the intervention of a team of firefighters, these doors have the following drawbacks:

- they constitute visual screens preventing the intervention team from assessing the dangerousness of the events in the immediate vicinity of the door, with the risk of being put immediately at risk after opening the door;

- The opening of the door automatically causes a call for air likely to activate, and therefore aggravate, the fire.

- a fire door prevents the flames from passing on the other side, but it does not prevent the heat transfer, which can reach high temperatures from 800 to more than 1000 C °; this temperature excludes any attempt by people seeking to flee the area burned by the fire doors, because no one will be able to push doors that can weigh several hundred kilograms at very high temperatures.

- fire doors do not prevent the transmission of toxic gases and fumes.

In some cases, sites to be protected also contain reservoirs of toxic products that may be degraded when exposed to excessive heat, or to risk explosion when subjected to high temperatures. high.

However, the temperatures from which these tanks are at risk can be reached before the sprinkler fuses in the vicinity of these tanks burst. There is therefore a danger in such situations.

The invention aims to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art.

More specifically, the object of the invention is to propose a "vacuum-type" installation, in which a flow of water may be provided in certain areas of the site, even if the sprinkler fuses would not have broken out in these areas. areas.

These objectives, as well as others that will emerge later, are achieved with the help of a firefighting facility, including a network of sprinklers held under vacuum in a standby position and put under water in the event of a fire. fire initiation of the installation.

This installation is characterized according to the invention in that the vacuum network is coupled to at least one pipe having at least one open head of water flow, said pipe being connected to the vacuum network by mobile isolation means between two positions:

- a closed position in the waiting position;

- an open position in the trigger situation. Thus, thanks to the invention, it is possible to obtain a flow of water, in this case through open heads, in one or more areas of the site to be protected where the fuse of a sprinkler would not bursts.

Indeed, according to the principle of operation of the "vacuum" installations, after the installation fire, the water invades the entire network of sprinklers.

Of course, sprinklers whose fuse has not burst do not allow the flow of water.

However, the pipeline provided according to the invention having one or more open heads will allow this flow, since open heads, by definition, do not hinder the flow of water.

However, if the open heads do not interfere with the flow of water, they do not impede the ambient air, and therefore the atmospheric pressure. The pipe carrying one or more open heads is therefore also at atmospheric pressure.

By definition, such a pipe at atmospheric pressure is therefore a priori incompatible with a network of sprinklers "under vacuum".

The invention thus resolves this antagonism by the implementation of specific isolation means.

According to an advantageous solution, the isolation means are able to be brought into the open position by a water inlet.

Thus, the mere arrival of water will result in a flow of water through the open heads. However, this water supply is implicit after triggering of the installation, since this trigger generates the sprinkler system underwater, and therefore that of the pipe carrying the open head (s).

Preferably, the isolation means comprise at least one unidirectional valve. Thus, the flow of water through the open head (s) is obtained by a particularly reliable and effective means.

In this case, the unidirectional valve comprises a body communicating with a water inlet pipe and a shutter movable between a closed position and a release position of the water inlet pipe, elastically deformable means tending to maintain the shutter in the closed position.

The shutter is then advantageously carried by an axis guided in translation on the water inlet duct.

In addition, according to another advantageous characteristic, wherein the body comprises a water outlet duct, the shutter is carried by an axis guided in translation at the water outlet duct.

Advantageously, the body comprises a water outlet duct and the elastically deformable means comprise a spring mounted in compression between the shutter and the water outlet duct.

According to a preferred solution, the spring has at least one mounted coil gripped on the axis.

In this way, the spring is held in position, thus ensuring that it functions properly in the event of tripping.

According to a first advantageous embodiment of the invention, said pipe comprises a series of open heads designed to create a water curtain over a passage.

According to a second advantageous embodiment of the invention, said pipe comprises a series of open heads mounted above equipment to be protected from excessive heat.

Other features and advantages of the invention will appear more clearly on reading the following description of a preferred embodiment of the invention, and several of its application variants, given as simple illustrative examples and non-limiting, and appended drawings among which: FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of a fire-fighting installation according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a detailed view of the installation according to the invention, showing a pipe having open heads;

- Figure 3 illustrates schematically, sectional view, a unidirectional valve for integration in an installation according to the invention.

With reference to FIG. 1, a fire-fighting installation according to the invention comprises:

a network of sprinklers S intended to be kept under vacuum in the waiting position (ie in the "non-fire" configuration of the installation);

a vacuum pump 1 connected to the sprinkler network S;

a regulation tank 10;

a trigger device 2 connected to the vacuum circuit and to the vacuum pump 1 via a trigger bottle 20;

- A general valve 3 known to those skilled in the art by the designation "Inbal" (registered trademark), controlled by the trigger device 2, and intended, in case of fire, to allow the water supply of the network of S. sprinklers According to a known principle of this type of installation, the principle of which has been described in the patent document published under the number FR-2 724 323, the commissioning of such an installation provides for the evacuation of S sprinklers network, the vacuum thus also present in the line 21 leading to the trigger device 2. As the vacuum is present in this line 21, the trigger device 2 maintains under water pressure the control chamber of the valve 3, which keeps it in a closed position. If the fuse of one of the sprinklers bursts, the sprinkler network S starts at atmospheric pressure, which also propagates at the line 21, which switches the state of the trigger device 2, which then allows the pressure drop in the control chamber of the general valve 3, which will cause the opening of the latter and the filling of the water. network of sprinklers S.

As illustrated in Figure 1, the installation further comprises a pipe 4 coupled to the sprinkler network S, the pipe 4 having one or more open heads 40 of water flow.

According to the principle of the invention, the "vacuum" network of sprinklers is coupled to the pipe 4 by the movable isolation means 5 between two positions:

- a closed position in the waiting position of the installation;

an open position in the triggering situation according to the principle recalled above.

With reference to FIG. 2, the mobile isolation means are described between the two positions mentioned above, these isolation means being in this case constituted by a unidirectional valve capable of being brought into the open position by the arrival water, as will be described below.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the unidirectional valve comprises:

a body 50 communicating with a water inlet duct 51;

a shutter 53, movable between a closed position and a release position of the water inlet duct 51; - Elastically deformable means, constituted according to the present embodiment by a spring 54, tending to keep the shutter 53 in the closed position.

As shown in FIG. 2, a part 500 including the water inlet duct 51 is screwed inside the body 50. This part 500 has, inside the body 50, an annular contact surface. 501. The shutter 53 is provided with a seal 530 intended to come in contact on the annular support surface 501 of the part 500, to seal the inlet pipe 51 in a sealed manner.

According to the present embodiment, the shutter 53 is carried by an axis 55, coaxial with the longitudinal axis of the body 50.

This axis 55 is guided in translation as follows:

- In the upper part, inside a central passage of the part 501, at the water inlet duct;

- At a passage 512 formed in the lower part of the body 50, at the outlet pipe 52.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the spring 54 is mounted in compression between the shutter 53 and the mouth of the water outlet duct 52, the spring having at least one turn at its base mounted on axis 55 carrying the shutter.

With such a unidirectional valve, when the sprinkler network and the pipe 4 having the open head or heads 40 are put in water, the water arriving in pressure inside the inlet pipe 51 exerts a pressure on the shutter 53 greater than the force exerted by the spring 54. As a result, the valve, initially in the closed position and then constituting a means for isolating the pipeline from the sprinkler system, moves to the open position and leaves freely move the water to the open heads.

According to an exemplary implementation of the invention, the pipe 4 comprises a series of open heads 40 for creating a water curtain over a passage.

The open heads of such a pipe are dimensioned and spaced from each other so that they are capable of generating together a water curtain shielding the heat smoke and toxic gases.

According to another alternative embodiment illustrated in Figure 2, the pipe 4 comprises a series of open heads mounted above an equipment E to protect from excessive heat. In other words, the open heads let the water flow on the equipment, for example a tank, and allow to cool it or, at least, avoid it to rise in temperature.

Claims

1. A fire-fighting installation, including a sprinkler system (S) kept under vacuum in the standby position and put under water in a fire-fighting situation of the installation, characterized in that the vacuum network is coupled to at least one pipe (4) having at least one open head (40) of water flow, said pipe (4) being connected to the vacuum network by isolation means (5) movable between two positions:

- a closed position in the waiting position;

- an open position in the trigger situation.

2. Fire-fighting installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the isolation means (5) are adapted to be brought into the open position by a water inlet.

3. Fire-fighting installation according to claim 1, characterized in that the isolation means (5) comprise at least one unidirectional valve.

4. fire-fighting installation according to claim 3, characterized in that said unidirectional valve comprises a body (50) communicating with a water inlet duct (51) and a shutter (53) movable between a position of closing and a release position of the water inlet duct (51), elastically deformable means tending to keep the shutter (53) in the closed position.

5. Fire-fighting installation according to claim 4, characterized in that the shutter (53) is carried by an axis (55) guided in translation at the water inlet duct.

6. Fire-fighting installation according to claim 4, in which the body (50) comprises a water outlet duct (52), characterized in that the shutter (53) is carried by an axis (55). guided in translation at the water outlet duct.

7. Fire-fighting installation according to claim 4, characterized in that the body (50) comprises a water outlet duct (52) and in that the elastically deformable means comprise a spring (54) mounted in compression between the shutter (53) and the water outlet duct (52).

8. Fire-fighting installation according to claims 6 and 7, characterized in that the spring (54) has at least one mounted coil clamped on the axis (55).

9. fire-fighting installation according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said pipe (4) comprises a series of open heads (40) for creating a water curtain above a passage.

10. Fire-fighting installation according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that said pipe (4) comprises a series of open heads (40) mounted above an equipment (E) to protect excessive heat.