Patent Application
20240416161
The present invention relates to fire extinguishing system, and more particularly relates to a portable fire extinguishing system that can be positioned near a cooking device such as a kitchen range or stove.
Fire extinguishers installed proximate a cooking device are typically bulky, not aesthetically appealing, and expensive. Such systems often store a fire extinguishing compound in a container remotely located from where the agent is dispersed. Thus, the fire extinguishing compound is then transported from the storage container through a system, such as a piping arrangement, to a spraying device for dispersion of the compound onto the cooking device.
Additionally, such systems typically require a significant amount of time for installation and have significant expense over and above what is required to install the range or stove itself. This is due to the elaborate piping needed to transport the fire extinguishing compound from the storage container to the spraying device. Moreover, these prior art fire extinguishing devices also have the drawback that as the distance between the storage container and the spraying device (e.g. nozzles) is increased, a greater force is required to project the fire extinguishing compound. Therefore, a larger storage container and supply of fire extinguishing compound are needed.
Such systems also tend to detract from a kitchen's appearance. In addition to the unsightly appearance of the storage container and the piping, the spray device (i.e., nozzle) which projects the fire extinguishing compound typically extends downward from the range hood to better direct the fire extinguishing compound. This not only detracts from the appearance of the kitchen but also interferes with the use of the cooktop.
Conventional portable fire extinguishers are generally stored away due to their unattractive appearance. Thus, when needed, a user must retrieve the fire extinguisher and manually activate it to release an extinguishing agent towards a fire.
The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.
According to one example of the present disclosure, a fire extinguishing system is provided. The fire extinguishing system includes: a housing; a hopper provided within the housing, the hopper configured to hold a fire extinguishing agent therein; and an expeller positioned within the housing proximate the hopper, the expeller configured to receive the fire extinguishing agent from the hopper and discharge the fire extinguishing agent through an opening in the expeller.
According to another example of the present disclosure, a fire extinguishing system is provided. The fire extinguishing system includes: a housing having an opening in a sidewall; a movable door coupled to the housing to cover the opening; a hopper configured to store a fire extinguishing agent, the hopper having a hopper outlet; a movable gate coupled to the hopper to cover the hopper outlet; an expeller coupled to the hopper, the expeller having an expeller outlet; a fan coupled to the expeller; and a controller, the controller configured to activate a fire extinguishing sequence, wherein the fire extinguishing sequence includes: moving the door to uncover the opening; moving the gate to uncover the hopper outlet; and activating the fan.
According to another example of the present disclosure, a fire extinguishing system is provided. The fire extinguishing system includes: a fan assembly; an expeller having a first end coupled to the fan assembly and an outlet positioned at a second end, the second end being opposite the fan assembly; a hopper configured to store a fire extinguishing agent, the hopper fluidly connected to the expeller; and a housing, the housing having an opening that corresponds with the outlet of the expeller.
Throughout the drawings and the detailed description, unless otherwise described, the same drawing reference numerals can be understood to refer to the same or similar elements, features, and structures. The relative size and depiction of these elements may be exaggerated for clarity, illustration, and convenience.
The following descriptions of embodiments provides non-limiting representative examples to particularly describe features and teachings of different aspects of the invention. The embodiments described should be recognized as capable of implementation separately, or in combination, with other embodiments. A person of ordinary skill in the art reviewing the description of embodiments should be able to learn and understand the different described aspects of the systems and methods disclosed herein. The description of embodiments should facilitate understanding of the systems and methods to such an extent that other implementations, not specifically covered but within the knowledge of a person of skill in the art having read the description of embodiments, would be understood to be consistent with an application thereof.
The fire extinguishing systems are described herein as being designed for placement proximate a kitchen area, such as a stove, cooktop, or other cooking appliance. In kitchen environments, fires can start in many ways, such as by leaving cooking food unattended, letting cooking oils become too hot, or by leaving combustibles/flammable items too close to the cooking device. More than half of kitchen fires are started due to ignited cooking oil, fat, grease, butter, and other cooking substances. The embodiments shown and described herein are effective to quickly and automatically extinguish such fires, and in particular, grease fires. However, it is to be appreciated that the fire extinguishing systems described herein can be used in any suitable location having an increased risk of fire, such as near a home heating unit, in a garage, and the like.
Referring now to
The housing 20 includes at least one opening 50 that extends through a sidewall of the housing 20. The opening 50 can be closed by a moveable door 60 or cover member when the fire extinguishing system 10 is in its normal state. When a fire is detected, the door 60 moves from a closed position to an open position, which allows a fire extinguishing agent to be discharged from the at least one opening 50 for smothering a fire, such as a grease fire. A wide variety of fire suppression and fire extinguishing compounds may be used as the fire extinguishing agent. For instance, the fire extinguishing agent can include sodium bicarbonate or flour, as both are widely available, environmentally friendly, and non-toxic. However, other suitable materials can be used, for example, clean agent gasses, such as CO2 or fluids designed for cooking fires, such as Ansul LVS NF-40.
The fire extinguishing system 10 is equipped at least one sensor, preferably a plurality of sensors, that can detect flame and smoke. The sensors are positioned at a height sufficient to detect flame and smoke caused by a fire, such as a cooking fire, but will not be triggered by a normal flame height, such as one emitted by a gas burner during a cooking operation. For example, the fire extinguishing system 10 can include at least one optical flame detector 70, such as an infrared (IR) flame sensor, that can detect and respond to the presence of a flame or fire. A first sensor aperture 80 is provided through a top portion of the housing 20 and can be proximate the opening 50. As shown in
As shown in
Turning now to
An exploded view of the hopper 280 and expeller 200 assembly, according to the present embodiment, are shown in
The expeller 200 includes an expeller outlet 400 through which the fire extinguishing agent is discharged. A size and shape of the expeller outlet 400 corresponds with a size and shape of the opening 50 in the housing 20. In the present embodiment, the expeller outlet 400 has an ellipsoidal shape; however, it is to be appreciated that the expeller outlet 400 can be of any suitable shape. At an end of the expeller 200 opposite the expeller outlet 400 is an opening 430 for receiving a fan assembly 410. The fan assembly 410 includes a hub 430 and a plurality of fan blades 440 spaced circumferentially around and extending radially from the hub 430. An electric motor 450 is coupled to a first end of an axis 460, the other end of the axis 460 being couple to the hub 430. The fan assembly 410 is secured to the expeller 200 via a fan housing 420. The motor 450 can be a brushless DC motor or an AC motor and is configured to rotate the fan blades 440 to create a strong current operable to blow the fire extinguishing agent through the expeller 200 and through the opening 50 of the housing 20. The fan assembly 410 can blow the fire extinguishing agent at a desired speed and distance to extinguish a fire, such as to cover a cooktop of a cooking device in order to suppress any flames thereon.
In operation, the fire extinguishing system 10 is positioned proximate a fire hazard, such as a cooktop. For instance, the fire extinguishing system can sit on a countertop next to the cooktop with the opening 50 of the housing 20 facing towards the cooktop. Alternatively, the fire extinguishing system 10 can be configured for mounting to a nearby wall or to an overhead structure, such as a hood. When the fire extinguishing system 10 has its on/off switch 130 in the on position, one or more sensors, such as the optical flame detector 70 and/or the gas detector 110 scans the environment for flames and/or smoke. If detected, an extinguishing sequence is activated. During the extinguishing sequence, the housing door 60 is opened. In its normal closed state, the door 60 can be held in the closed position by a pin 500 (
Once the door 60 is opened, the gate 390 at a bottom portion of the hopper 280 is opened, such as via a servo motor 480, so that the fire extinguishing agent can be released into the expeller 200. At approximately the same time, or prior to the opening of the gate 390, the fan motor 450 is started such that the fan blades 440 are rotated at high speeds. When the fire extinguishing agent enters the expeller 200, the fan assembly 410 operates to expel the fire extinguishing agent from the fire extinguishing system 10 and onto the fire. During testing of the fire extinguishing system 10, the fire extinguishing agent was dispersed about 3-4 feet from the device and shot in intervals of 3 seconds. A 50Ω potentiometer was used to set the speed of the motor. One end of the potentiometer was connected to 5V, while the other end was connected to GND. A wiper was connected to an analog input capable pin. A program mapped the ADC count (voltage) detected at this pin to a pulse width in microseconds for the PWM control pin of the electronic speed controller thus varying the speed of the motor. Due to the power levels involved, spurious operation of the motor is undesirable. Potential solutions include: creating a function that averages multiple ADC readings to produce a more stable output; during setup, retrieving the potentiometer value and storing it in memory; and/or adding a 1 nF or similar valued capacitor between the analog input pin and GND to help reduce voltage fluctuation on the pin. Preferably, all three solutions are applied simultaneously to provide maximum stability.
An alarm can also be activated to notify a user that the fire extinguishing system 10 has been activated. The alarm can include one or more buzzers and/or lights, such as LED 340. The fire extinguishing system 10 can also include Wi-Fi capabilities in order to transmit the alarm(s) and/or device status to a device, such as a smart phone. After a predetermined period of time, the system resets. A watchdog timer can be included as a failsafe to disable the fire extinguishing system 10 if the software hangs or freezes due to any coding errors or due to any faulty hardware conditions. The watchdog timer can count from zero to a predetermined number. If not reset by the time the predetermined number is reached, the watchdog resets the microcontroller.
It is to be appreciated that the fire extinguishing system 10 can assign weights to one or more of the optical flame detectors and gas detector inputs. If one of the inputs is triggered, it adds to an accumulator. When a specified value is reached, the extinguishing sequence is triggered. This can mitigate false positives, i.e. detections of flames and smoke when extinguishing is not needed.
After the fire extinguishing system 10 has been activated and emptied of the fire extinguishing agent, the hopper 280 can be refilled with fire extinguishing agent such that the fire extinguishing system 10 can be used again. In order to refill the hopper 280, the hopper 280 can be removed from the unit and manually refilled. Alternatively, the housing 20 can be removed and the fill opening 340 at the top of the hopper 280 can be accessible such that the user could simply refill the hopper 280 through the opening 340. Further, the fire extinguishing system 10 may alternatively include pre-filled, disposable hoppers or cartridges filled with the fire extinguishing agent, thereby allowing the user to remove and replace the empty hopper or cartridge during the refill process.
It is to be appreciated that the expeller can be configured in a variety of ways. For instance, the expeller could include a rotatable dish housed within a base. The rotatable dish can be powered by a motor, such as a brushless DC motor to spin the dish at high speeds. The fire extinguishing agent can be dispensed into the dish from the hopper. When the dish spins, the fire extinguishing agent is flung from the dish and towards the fire via an exhaust funnel. The exhaust funnel includes an exhaust opening at a side portion, the exhaust opening being aligned with the opening in the housing such that the fire extinguishing agent is expelled from the fire extinguishing system.
As a result of the present invention, a compact self-contained, reusable, and automatic fire extinguishing system is provided. From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides a useful system for extinguishing fires on cooking surfaces and the like. The fire extinguisher is design to comply with U.S. regulations: the National Fire Protection Association NFPA 10 standard that regulates portable fire extinguishers; the Underwriters Laboratory UL 299-299D standard that regulates the safety of portable fire extinguishers; the Consumer Product Safety Commission; and individual state fire codes, which vary from state to state.
Throughout the specification and the claims, the following terms take at least the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or.” Further, the terms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean one or more unless specified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to a singular form.
In this description, numerous specific details have been set forth. It is to be understood, however, that implementations of the disclosed technology may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description. References to “one example,” “an example,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the implementation(s) of the disclosed technology so described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every implementation necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Further, repeated use of the phrases “in one example,” “in one embodiment,” or “in one implementation” does not necessarily refer to the same example, embodiment, or implementation, although it may.
As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that different instances of like objects are being referred to and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner.
While certain implementations of the disclosed technology have been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and various implementations, it is to be understood that the disclosed technology is not to be limited to the disclosed implementations, but on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the scope of the appended claims. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation. This written description uses examples to disclose certain implementations of the disclosed technology, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice certain implementations of the disclosed technology, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/521,563, filed on Jun. 16, 2023 and entitled Fire Extinguisher, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63521563 | Jun 2023 | US |
