EP0913171A1

EP0913171A1 - Fire-fighting robot

Info

Publication number: EP0913171A1
Application number: EP98120398A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Thomas Zawadke
Original assignee: Iveco Magirus AG
Current assignee: Iveco Magirus AG
Priority date: 1997-11-03
Filing date: 1998-10-28
Publication date: 1999-05-06
Anticipated expiration: 2018-10-28
Also published as: EP0913171B1; JP4209516B2; JPH11197263A; ATE407726T1; DE69839987D1; DE19748453A1; DE19748453B4; ES2313742T3

Abstract

A fire-fighting robot with a drive unit, a water cannon (44) and a hose connected to the water cannon for supplying the water cannon with extinguishing medium from a location situated outside the site of the fire, is divided into a towing vehicle (12) and a trailer (14) which carries the water cannon and which can be coupled to the towing vehicle.

Description

The invention relates to a fire-fighting robot with a drive unit, a water cannon and a hose connected to the water cannon for supplying water to the water cannon from a location situated outside the site of the fire.
Various embodiments of fire-fighting robots of this type are known. Access to burning buildings by firefighters generally entails considerable danger. Firstly, the building may collapse or at the very least heavy building parts can fall. Secondly, there is a build up of toxic or corrosive gases and, in any case, very high temperatures prevail. Therefore, fire brigades are instructed to attempt to extinguish the burning building from the outside using water cannon and large hose nozzles. However, this is generally not very effective. It requires large amounts of extinguishing water so that large amounts of contaminated extinguishing water are also produced, which give rise to environmental problems.
For these reasons, various fire-fighting robots have been developed having chain or stepping drives, which carry a water cannon and can be moved up to the site of the fire by remote control. As a rule, these fire-fighting robots pull behind them a hose for the water supply to the water cannon. Robots of this type are illustrated, for example, in DE-AS 14 09 740, US-PS 5 249 631 or DE 195 28 858 C2 of the Applicant.
Fire-fighting robots of this type are very costly in view of their expensive technology. Since in many cases, in which a fire cannot be extinguished relatively quickly, they cannot be recovered undamaged, their use often cannot be justified on economic grounds on account of their price which may attain several hundred thousand DM.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to devise a fire-fighting robot which requires lower production costs and which can be used in a particularly versatile manner.
According to the present invention, this object is achieved in that the fire-fighting robot is divided into a towing vehicle and a trailer which carries the water cannon and which can be coupled to the towing vehicle.
A fire-fighting robot of this type can be used in such a way that the trailer is towed with the water cannon to the site of fire by the towing vehicle and is then uncoupled there.
Subsequently, the towing vehicle can be moved back and, for example, can tow further water cannons to the site of the fire. The trailer with the water cannon can be produced at much lower cost than the substantially more expensive towing vehicle, so that the loss of a trailer when used for fire-fighting is acceptable taking economic factors into account. A considerable advantage is that a single towing vehicle can be used to bring a plurality of fire-fighting units into place. Moreover, the fire-fighting units formed by the trailers can also be brought up to the place of use in other ways, for example by means of trolleys provided and even by persons wearing heat-proof clothing. On the other hand, the towing vehicle can also be used in other ways, for example for searching the site using a video camera, or for opening or closing doors, windows or valves using a suitable manipulator arm.
Since as a rule only a limited hose length can be towed behind a fire-fighting robot on the way to the deployment site, the trailer according to the invention preferably carries a hose reel, from which the hose can be unreeled, after the hose towing phase or also from the outset, while travelling.
DIN 14 826.02 describes a hose reel which could be used at least in principle. Since hose reels of the type described therein already have two relatively large bogie wheels, they are basically suitable as the core of a trailer according to the invention. Moreover, it is necessary to have a centre shaft with a coupling, for example a ball-and-socket joint at the end of the centre shaft. Furthermore, the water cannon is mounted on the trailer. The water is directed from the hose to the water cannon via a rotary duct in the reel and a tubular frame of the trailer.
The exposed surfaces of the trailer and its components are suitably protected against heat, for example hot galvanised. A sprinkler nozzle can also be provided, which moistens with water and thus cools the hose reel, the water cannon and the coiled hose. Preferably, control and power-supply leads for the remote control of the water cannon are provided in the wall material of the hose, i.e. for pivoting the cannon tube and, optionally, for actuating a valve. Alternatively, at least some functions can be operated via radio. For example, the wheels of the trailer can also be driven electrically, hydraulically or pneumatically and thus make possible a certain degree of alignment and repositioning of the trailer after uncoupling. Hydraulic drive can also be provided by way of the prevailing extinguishing water pressure. The trailer may be equipped with a searchlight to illuminate the site of the fire, optionally also with a camera to observe deployment or also with a microphone and loudspeaker for sound recording and for relaying directions to the fire-fighting personnel. A suitable supply and operating unit for controlling the trailer in accordance with the foregoing is disposed at the outer end of the hose.
A preferred example of embodiment of the invention will be illustrated in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1: is a schematic side view, partly in section, of a fire-fighting robot according to the invention;
Fig. 2: shows in a corresponding view the trailer set down in the position adopted during water cannon operation;
Fig. 3: illustrates the possibility of coupling a plurality of trailers with reels to a towing vehicle;
Fig. 4: shows the fire-fighting robot according to the invention with a fire-fighting vehicle for conveying the robot and a control console for controlling the robot, to be set up at the site of the fire.

In Fig. 1 a fire-fighting robot is generally denoted by the reference numeral 10. It comprises a towing vehicle 12 and a single-axle trailer 14 which is releasably coupled thereto and which is connected to the towing vehicle 12 via a centre shaft 16 and a ball-and-socket joint 18. The towing vehicle 12 has on both sides a number of supporting and drive wheels 20, on which circulating chains 22 are disposed. The heavily simplified drawing shows, apart from these components, merely a chassis 24 and a multilayer heat shield 26 covering the entire towing vehicle from above. A ball head 28 of the ball-and-socket joint is secured to the chassis 24 on the rear side of the towing vehicle 12 situated on the left in the drawing.
It is also possible to use an inner cooling system with a carbon dioxide shower.
The towing vehicle is remote-controlled via radio or the like and as drive source contains an electric motor and battery (not shown). As already mentioned, the towing vehicle 12 can be remote-controlled from a location away from the site of the fire. The ball-and-socket joint 18 is also remote-controlled so that at the site of deployment the trailer 14 can be detached from the towing vehicle 12 and set down.
The centre shaft 16 of the trailer 14 is securely connected to a frame 30, on which, on the one hand, two wheels 32 are mounted on an axle 34 via a cantilever frame (not designated) and which, on the other hand, carries a hose reel 36, on to which a hose (not separately shown) can be coiled. A chain drive 38 is provided for coiling the hose, which can be operated by means of a crank handle 40. The spindle 42 of the hose reel 36 is arranged offset relative to the axle 34 of the wheels 32. This spindle 42 is hollow and connected to the end of the hose. Via one or two rotary ducts the water arriving through the hose is directed out of the spindle 42 via the frame 30 to a water cannon 44 which is mounted on the centre shaft 16.
The water cannon 44 can be electrically controlled via leads (not shown) which are embedded in the material of the hose, if radio-controlled operation is not possible. The water cannon may have a slip ring assembly which makes power supply possible irrespective of the reel position.
The recoil which occurs during water cannon operation can be accommodated by the relatively high unladen weight of the trailer 14. Furthermore, a claw peg 46 for support on the ground is attached to the underside of the centre shaft.
Fig. 2 shows a trailer with a hose reel 36 and a water cannon 44 in the deployment position of the water cannon. In this position the claw peg 46 on the underside of the centre shaft 16 bears on the ground. The water cannon 44 is thus disposed vertically on the horizontally arranged centre shaft 16. The claw peg 46 prevents the trailer from rolling backwards during cannon operation as a result of the reaction and recoil forces occurring. In Fig. 2 an outwardly directed hose 48 is also indicated.
Fig. 3 shows three consecutively arranged trailers with hose reels towed by the same vehicle. The hoses of the' hose reels can be joined together. While travelling to the site where the cannon is to be erected, starting from the last reel, the hose can be unreeled and the corresponding trailer then automatically uncoupled.
Finally, Fig. 4 shows the fire-fighting robot according to the invention with the towing vehicle 12 and one trailer 14, in combination with the necessary control and power-supply apparatus in the form of a diagrammatically indicated control console 52 and a fire-fighting vehicle 54. A hose 56 runs from the fire-fighting vehicle 54 to the control console 52. The hose 56 may contain a water hose, to which electric, pneumatic and hydraulic supply lines between the fire-fighting vehicle and the control console are suitably connected. However, it may also be a question of a simple hose for the aforementioned supply lines, if the extinguishing water can be taken from a hydrant. Starting from the position shown in Fig. 1, in which the end of the hose 48 is secured to the control console 52, the hose 48 is unreeled from the hose reel 36 as the fire-fighting robot travels.

Claims

A fire-fighting robot with a drive unit, a water cannon (44) and a hose connected to the water cannon for supplying extinguishing medium to the water cannon from a location situated outside the site of the fire, characterised in that the fire-fighting robot is divided into a towing vehicle (12) and a trailer (14) which carries the water cannon and which can be coupled to the towing vehicle.
A fire-fighting robot according to Claim 1, characterised in that a hose reel (36) is mounted in particular on the trailer (14) and receives the hose connected to the water cannon (44).
A fire-fighting robot according to Claim 1 or 2, characterised in that the hose is connected to the water cannon (44) via at least one rotary duct and the frame (30) consisting at least partly of tubular material.
A fire-fighting robot according to any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the trailer (14) is in the form of a single-axle trailer with two wheels (32) and a centre shaft (16).
A fire-fighting robot according to any one of the preceding Claims, characterised in that the towing vehicle (12) is a tracked vehicle.
A fire-fighting robot according to Claim 4 or 5, characterised in that a remote-controllable coupling unit (18,28) is attached to the towing vehicle (12) for releasable connection with the centre shaft (16) of the trailer (14).