An automatic fire searching and suppression system for large spaces

ARTICLE IN PRESS
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T. Chen et al. / Fire Safety Journal 39 (2004) 297–307
searching time varied with fire position, fire strength and computation depth of our
detection algorithm, which will not be further discussed here.
Calculated distance and the actual distance are fairly accordant. The deviation is
mainly due to the low precision of the pivot angle fed back to the computer. The
angle measuring device in the fire monitor is quite simple and the motor gears also
have mechanical errors. Extinguishing time T is usually smaller than 6 s because the
fire strength in our tests is very small while the water flux is relatively large.
Generally, larger e caused longer extinguishing time. Usually, if the water stream
dose not hit the fire spot initially, it will cover the fire spot while the fire monitor is
swinging.
4. Conclusion
Fire searching and suppression were combined together and realized automatically
in the automatic fire monitor system. Displacement and pivot angle of the CCD
camera in fire searching process are the essential parameters to calculate the space
coordinates of fire. Once the direction and the distance of the fire are obtained, the
horizontal pivot angle and the vertical elevation of the fire monitor can be calculated
according to water pressure. The fire searching precision is enough for practical use
and the suppression effect is also satisfactory.
Remote and automatic control of the fire monitor improves its efficiency and
adaptability. Moreover, it provides more safety in fire fighting and is very
economical when incorporated with fire protection system for large spaces use.
Instead of installing multiple layers of sprinklers, the application of the fire monitor
will not influence the inside sight of the buildings. It can be very useful to apply this
technology in large spaces such as large museums, palaestras, showplaces and
storehouses.
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