Patent Application
20130147621
This invention is generally related to training in preparation of fire drills. More specifically, this invention is related to training firefighters in order to help them identify locations of victim, exits and dangerous areas.
Numerous types of equipment have been provided to firefighters. Such equipment usually entails special garments intended to withstand the very high temperatures that are usually encountered during a real fire. Occasionally, firefighters may sometimes be present at the scene of a fire for an extended period of time. Thus, numerous developments have been made regarding equipment or tools that can provide oxygen to the firefighter for extended periods of time. Moreover, in order to reduce firefighters' time inside buildings with burning fires, numerous communications systems have been introduced.
However, none of these communications systems are sophisticated enough to facilitate a firefighter to make educated and informed decisions as to how to proceed through a building to rescue victims. None of these systems provide instructions to a firefighter in view of the floor plan that is currently being traversed by the firefighter. Moreover, none of these systems have been customized to assess real-time conditions of the particular building that is experiencing a fire drill.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for novel systems and methods of facilitating a faster and safer means for a firefighter to locate victims and bring them to safety during a fire drill.
According to embodiments of the invention, a system for helping a firefighter to identify dangerous areas, locations of victim, and routes of egress during a fire drill is provided. The system's components include a fire jacket, a fire goggle, a communications device with earpiece, a locator, a compass, a temperature sensor, a smoke sensor, a processor and memory. Also provided is a life saving device associated with each of one or more victims. Each of the life saving devices includes a locator for locating each of the victims. The temperature and smoke sensors are disposed within a building in which the fire drill is to be executed. There may be more than one of each so as to cover all of the important hallways and passages throughout the building. The memory comprises instructions that cause the processor to execute a method.
The method comprises the following the following steps. The first step involves detecting that a firefighter has put on the fire goggle, so that the fire drill is initiated. The second step involves detecting the location of a victim, wherein the detection is based on the life saving device that the victim is wearing. The next step involves determining a direct route between the firefighter and the victim. Then, an assessment is made as to whether the direct route is dangerous. The assessment is based on a number of factors. The factors include the average temperature and average amount of smoke along the direct route, as measured by the temperature and smoke sensors, respectively. If, based on the assessment, it is determined that the direct route is dangerous, then a safer indirect route is calculated in consideration of the average temperature and amount of smoke along the indirect route. For the purpose of this specification and claims, the route which is chosen to be the safest, regardless of whether it is the direct or indirect route, will be considered the target route.
Upon determining a target route, the firefighter is guided to advance along the route until the victim is reached. Upon reaching the victim, an assessment is made as to whether the direct exit route is dangerous. The assessment is based upon the same factors which were assessed with regard to the ingress route to find the victim. Once again, based on the assessment of average temperature and amount of smoke it is determined if the direct exit route is dangerous. If the direct exit route is found to be dangerous, an indirect route is calculated which takes into account the temperature and amount of smoke. Upon determination of the indirect route, the firefighter is guided along the target exit route.
In a further embodiment of the disclosed invention, the guiding of the firefighter along the target route entails periodically alerting the firefighter regarding distance and time until the victim and/or exit is reached. It also entails checking whether the current path being taken is correct, and alerts the firefighter as to the correct path if the current one is incorrect.
In still a further embodiment of the disclosed invention, the guiding involves digitally displaying the target route on the lens of firefighter's goggles. Furthermore, the alerting of the firefighter may be carried out via voice commands transmitted through the firefighter's earpiece. Finally, an additional step may be provided of using the compassing device to detect whether the firefighters procession along the target route is correct.
In another embodiment of the disclosed technology, a method for helping a firefighter to identify dangerous areas, locations of victims, and routes of egress during a fire drill is provided. The method begins by providing a fire jacket to a firefighter. The fire jacket has an associated fire goggle, a communicator with earpiece, a locator and a compass. Next, a plurality of potential victims is provided a life saving device. Each life saving device has a locator. The locator may use GPS or some other wireless system to enable detection of location accurate to within a few feet. Next, one or more temperature and smoke sensors are installed throughout a building. The building to be the location where the fire drill will occur and where the victims are located. The method proceeds when the fire jacket is initiated or powered on upon detection that the jacket has been equipped or vested by the firefighter. Next, the location of the victim or victims is determined by detecting the locator of the victim's life saving device. Upon detection, a target route is calculated to the pinpointed location of the victim. The calculation of the target route takes into account data received from the temperature and smoke sensors in order to calculate the safest, yet most direct route to the victim. Then, the firefighter is guided to the victim along the target route. Once the victim is discovered, an exit route is calculated. Once again, the calculation incorporates data from the temperature and smoke sensors in order to determine the shortest, least dangerous path to the exit along the exit route.
In further variations of this embodiment, the guiding of the firefighter along the target route entails periodically alerting the firefighter regarding distance and time until the victim and/or exit is reached. It also entails checking whether the current path being taken is correct, and alerts the firefighter as to the correct path if the current one is incorrect.
In still further variations of this embodiment, the guiding involves digitally displaying the target route on the lens of firefighter's goggles. Furthermore, the alerting of the firefighter may be carried out via voice commands transmitted through the firefighter's earpiece. Finally, an additional step may be provided of using the compassing device to detect whether the firefighters procession along the target route is correct.
It is, therefore, an objective of the disclosed invention to provide a system and method for facilitating a more efficient way of locating and rescuing victims during a fire drill, without compromising safety.
In accordance with these and other objects which will become apparent hereinafter, the invention will now be described with particular reference to the drawing.
Referring now to the FIGURE, an exemplary overview of a fire victim location and rescue system according to embodiments of the present invention is shown. A firefighter 100 is shown outside the building 300 in which the fire drill will occur. Two routes (110 and 120) are shown leading to one or more victims 200. The direct route 110 is the shortest and fastest way to the victims, as calculated by the presently disclosed system. The indirect route 120 is the alternative safe route that is calculated in the event that the direct route is dangerous. The building 300, for the purposes of this invention, may be any building which may be occupied by people and would be susceptible to fire. It is envisioned, that the present invention would be configured with a building 300 and its inhabitants long before the fire drill is performed. This configuration would include the installation of smoke and temperature sensors throughout the most frequently traversed corridors and stairways throughout the building 300. As will be explained in greater detail below, the sensors will operate to assist the rescuing firefighter in the event of a fire drill at some future date.
Referring still to
The temperature and smoke sensors are disposed within a building wherein the fire drill is to be executed. There may be more than one of each so as to cover all of the important hallways and passages throughout the building. They are pre-installed in the building in which the fire drill will be ran. Their placement is strategic in that the sensors should be capable of determining the safety of certain main arteries throughout the building. Thus, if smoke and temperature sensors installed along the direct route 110 return feedback that dense smoke and higher than normal temperatures are present at a particular location, then an alternative route should be calculated. Decisions such as this are carried out by the processor. The processor is programmed with code to automatically determine the safest passage based on GPS data with regard to the position of the firefighter and the victim(s), as well as preconfigured threshold harmful levels of smoke and temperature. For example, suppose the preconfigured threshold for density of smoke is 100 parts per million (ppm). If the density measured by the smoke sensor is above 100 ppm in a certain corridor during a fire, the system will avoid that particular corridor in calculating a route.
Such data, such as threshold levels, may be stored in the memory. The memory may be any type of data storage medium, such as a hard drive or flash drive. The memory comprises instructions that cause the processor to execute a method. The method comprises the following the following steps. The first step involves detecting that a firefighter has put on the fire goggle, so that the fire drill is initiated. The second step involves detecting the location of a victim, wherein the detection is based on the life saving device that the victim is wearing. The next step involves determining a direct route between the firefighter and the victim. Then, an assessment is made as to whether the direct route is dangerous. The assessment is based on a number of factors. The factors include the average temperature and average amount of smoke along the direct route, as measured by the temperature and smoke sensors, respectively. If, based on the assessment, it is determined that the direct route is dangerous, then a safer indirect route is calculated in consideration of the average temperature and amount of smoke along the indirect route. For the purposes of this specification and claims, the route which is chosen to be the safest, regardless of whether it is the direct or indirect route, will be considered the target route.
Upon determining a target route, the firefighter is guided to advance along the route until the victim is reached. Upon reaching the victim, an assessment is made as to whether the direct exit route is dangerous. The assessment is based upon the same factors which were assessed with regard to the ingress route to find the victim. Once again, based on the assessment of average temperature and amount of smoke it is determined if the direct exit route is dangerous. If the direct exit route is found to be dangerous, an indirect route is calculated which takes into account the temperature and amount of smoke. Upon determination of the indirect route, the firefighter is guided along the target exit route.
In a further embodiment of the disclosed invention, the guiding of the firefighter along the target route entails periodically alerting the firefighter regarding distance and time until the victim and/or exit is reached. It also entails checking whether the current path being taken is correct, and alerts the firefighter as to the correct path if the current one is incorrect.
In still a further embodiment of the disclosed invention, the guiding involves digitally displaying the target route on the lens of firefighter's goggles. This may be carried out using a Heads-Up Display (“HUD”) component on the fire goggles. HUD systems are designed to digitally project an image on a transparent display, such as a goggles lens. Text and diagrams may be digitally projected on a HUD. In the present application, a diagram of the target route may be digitally displayed on the lens of the goggles. Furthermore, data regarding distance and direction may also be displayed. The alerting of the firefighter may be carried out via voice commands transmitted through the firefighter's earpiece. The voice commands may contain audio directions from the processor, similar to how a navigation system reads directions to a vehicle driver. Finally, an additional step may be provided of using the compassing device to detect whether the firefighters procession along the target route is correct. It is envision that such a compassing device would by synchronized with the processor and the locator such that the processor would recognize if the current compass direction matches the direction that the locator is suggesting.
In another embodiment of the disclosed technology, a method for helping a firefighter to identify dangerous areas, locations of victims, and routes of egress during a fire drill is provided. The method begins by providing a fire jacket to a firefighter. The fire jacket has an associated fire goggle, a communicator with earpiece, a locator and a compass. Next, a plurality of potential victims is provided a life saving device. Each life saving device has a locator. The locator may use GPS or some other wireless system to enable detection of location within a few feet. Next, one or more temperature and smoke sensors are installed throughout a building. The building to be the location where the fire drill will occur and where the victims are located. The method proceeds when the fire jacket is initiated or powered on upon detection that the jacket has been equipped or vested by the firefighter. Next, the location of the victim or victims is determined by detecting the locator of the victim's life saving device. Upon detection, a target route is calculated to the pinpointed location of the victim. The calculation of the target route takes into account data received from the temperature and smoke sensors in order to the calculate the safest, yet still the most direct route to the victim. Then, the firefighter is guided to the victim along the target route. Once the victim is discovered, an exit route is calculated. Once again, the calculation incorporates data from the temperature and smoke sensors in order to determine the shortest, least dangerous path to the exit along the exit route.
In further variations of this embodiment, the guiding of the firefighter along the target route entails periodically alerting the firefighter regarding distance and time until the victim and/or exit is reached. It also entails checking whether the current path being taken is correct, and alerts the firefighter as to the correct path if the current one is incorrect.
In still further variations of this embodiment, the guiding involves digitally displaying the target route on the lens of firefighter's goggles. Furthermore, the alerting of the firefighter may be carried out via voice commands transmitted through the firefighter's earpiece. Finally, an additional step may be provided of using the compassing device to detect whether the firefighters procession along the target route is correct.
While the disclosed invention has been taught with specific reference to the above embodiments, a person having ordinary skill in the art will recognize that changes can be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. The described embodiments are to be considered in all respects only as illustrative and not restrictive. All changes that come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. Combinations of any of the methods, systems, and devices described hereinabove are also contemplated and within the scope of the invention.
