Patent Application
20230278059
The present disclosure is generally related to fluid spray systems for protecting structures from wildfires.
Homes and other structures can suffer significant damage or destruction from wildfires. As discussed below, currently available systems designed to protect structures from wildfire damage are inadequate. One conventional method of stopping a grassfire or a wildfire is to create a fire break, a gap in vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to slow or stop the progress of a bushfire or wildfire. However, fires often create winds that blow embers through the air over long distances and across fire breaks. A fire break can be easily jumped by blowing embers, leaving structures vulnerable to ignition from these embers.
Within the industry, some conventional devices are available to help prevent blowing embers moving past a fire break. One such device, called a water curtain, uses a conventional hose that has many simple holes that are placed close together along the length of the hose. As water is pumped through the hose, it exits each hole and is directed straight up in a vertical column. The resulting overall spray shape is that of a thin curtain, in that, the spraying water is positioned along the length of the hose, but it is only a very thin wall of water. These water curtains are rarely used because they are too thin to significantly reduce radiant heat from a fire, and because the available water is better used to wet the nearby fuels to prevent their ignition.
One technique to protect a structure, such as a building, from a wildfire is to place permanent sprinklers on the roofs or walls of the structures. However, this equipment needs to be manually activated, which is problematic for situations in which evacuation has been ordered. If a homeowner happens to have a spray system available and starts the spray system before leaving, the water supply can quickly be depleted before the fire arrives. Water sprayed before the fire arrives can have some value in wetting the ground and walls of the home, but is not an efficient use of fluid. Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies in current firefighting technologies.
The spray nozzle (Shoap U.S. Pat. No. 11,203,023)) can be used to protect a home or infrastructure from wildfire. The spray nozzle has two ends and a sidewall and at least one hole formed in the sidewall. The spray nozzle can be connected to adjacent spray nozzles by lengths of hose or other types of conduit. A hose with attached spray nozzles can be stored on a reel and deployed around the home when a wildfire is approaching.
In this patent application we propose that the spray nozzles and associated fluid transporting conduits can be buried underground in a trench. This will remove the need to deploy a hose with spray nozzles when a fire is approaching. However, the spray nozzle holes must be at ground level to allow for a full range of angles of spray. If the spray nozzles are to be connected by underground lengths of PVC pipe, the PVC pipe is typically buried 8 to 12 inches deep in the ground. A solution to this problem will be shown to be the use of PVC elbows to connect the spray nozzle and the PVC pipe that connects to it.
A hinged lid is attached to a three-sided structure which holds the spray nozzle. It is used to prevent dirt from clogging the holes in the top of the spray nozzle.
The lid is wider than the bottom of the cradle so that a closed lid will rest on top of the side opposite to the hinge. This will prevent the lid from damaging the cradle if a heavy vehicle presses down on the cradle and lid.
The spray nozzle is placed in the cradle so that the spray nozzle is protected from a vehicle weight when the hinged lid is flat on top of the spray nozzle. When the spray nozzle is spraying, the water pressure will force the hinged lid to fly open and out of the way of the spray.
The present disclosure and figures are directed toward a cradle 100 device that will protect a spray nozzle 110 that has been buried in the ground.
It also shows the cradle 100 that spray nozzle 110 that will be placed inside. The cradle has a front wall 101 and a rear wall 102 and a bottom 103. Other materials can be used to form the cradle, but stainless steel is a good choice because of its strength and resistance to attack by the elements.
The cradle 100 cannot have a fixed top section because the spray must not be impeded. While other shapes are possible, the cradle 100 as described gives a desired amount of strength.
The holes 120 in the spray nozzle 100 are shown.
The two brackets 210 are shown near the ends of the cradle 100.
The brackets 210 are attached to the walls of the cradle 100 by welding, riveting, gluing or other bonding methods. The brackets 210 strengthen the cradle 100 by using the strength of both the front wall 101 and the rear wall 102 to resist deformation. A stainless steel zip tie 220 is shown pulling on the walls of the cradle and pushing on the top of the spray nozzle 110.
It is important that the spray nozzle 110 can be placed in a desired angle inside the cradle. Different locations of a spray nozzle 110 may call for different directions to spray. The zip tie 220 with a moderate amount of tension will allow a spray nozzle 110 to be rotated in a cradle 100 by hand. When the spray nozzle 110 has been rotated into the desired angle, the zip tie 220 can be tightened as much as possible before the cradle 100 and spray nozzle 110 are buried in the ground. The excess metal on the zip tie can then be removed.
A stainless steel lid 310 is shown connected to the real wall 102 by hinges 320. The hinges 320 are attached to rear wall 102 and the lid 310 by welds, rivets, glue or other bonding methods. The lid 310 is opened when a spray nozzle 110 is going to be placed inside.
A system pump takes water from a water tank or swimming pool or cistern and pumps the water through fluid transporting conduits to the nozzles. The force of the water coming out of each nozzle will flip the lid 310 upward and out of the way of the water spray.
The top of cradle 100 must be at ground level to insure that the possible angle of spray is maximized and not interfered with by walls of the ground they are buried in. The top of the cradle 100 should not be higher than the ground.
