Fire suppression systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10039945-B2
Application number	US-201314430188-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 23, 2013
Priority date	Sep 23, 2012
Publication date	Aug 7, 2018
Grant date	Aug 7, 2018

Abstract

Fire suppression systems for vehicles and industrial applications including arrangements of an input bus and output bus coupled to a centralized controller to provide for automatic and manual detection of a fire and manual and automatic system actuation in response to the fire. The arrangements further provide for system information regarding the status and operation of the system components. Additionally, the arrangement of system components provide for expandability and programmability to configure the system for the protection of multiple and variable hazards using customized or programmed detection and/or actuation. The systems include configured connectors and color coded schemes to facilitate system installation.

First claim

We claim:

1. A vehicle fire suppression system comprising:
a centralized controller;
at least one input bus coupled to the centralized controller;
at least one output bus coupled to the centralized controller;
at least one fire detection circuit including a plurality of fire detection devices and at least one manual actuating device, the at least one fire detection circuit being coupled to the at least one input bus for monitoring of the at least one fire detection circuit;
at least one releasing circuit having at least one actuating device for electric and pneumatic release of an extinguishment, the at least one releasing circuit being coupled to the at least one output bus for monitoring of the at least one releasing circuit;
an alarm coupled to the centralized controller for providing an audio signal indicating the status of the system along any one of the at least one fire detection circuit and the at least one releasing circuit; and
at least one user interface device coupled to the centralized controller to program at least one of the plurality of fire detection devices or the at least one actuating device to define operational parameters including any one of threshold levels, tune delays, or discharge sequences and patterns, wherein the at least one user interface includes at least one LED indicator to indicate the status of the system including a normal status, a fire detection condition, and a release condition, and wherein the at least one user interface includes a plurality of toggle buttons to any one of input, select, edit, or reset the operational parameters of the plurality of fire detection devices and the at least one actuating device, the plurality of toggle buttons including a manual actuating button for sending a manual actuating signal to the at least one actuating device and a silence button for the audio signal,
wherein the plurality of toggle buttons program the centralized controller to define a release time delay defining the time duration between the fire detection condition and a release of the extinguishment in response to the fire detection condition, the at least one LED indicator including an LED indicator configured to pulse at a first frequency for a first portion of the release time delay and a second frequency different than the first frequency for a second portion of the release time delay, and wherein the plurality of toggle buttons program the centralized controller to reset the release time delay for a limited number of times following the fire detection condition.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one LED indicator includes a first LED indicator in combination with the manual actuating button to indicate a manual release condition.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one LED indicator includes a second LED indicator in combination with the manual actuating button to indicate the fire detection condition.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the at least one LED indicator includes a second LED indicator in combination with the silence button, and wherein the second LED indicator in combination with the silence button programs the centralized controller to define the sequence of release of extinguishment following an alarm condition.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the second LED indicator in combination with the silence button is configured to reset the centralized controller after one of the alarm condition and the release condition.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the silence button is configured to isolate the centralized controller from the at least one fire detection circuit for programming the centralized controller.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the silence button is configured to program the centralized controller to set the release time delay.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the release time delay is defined by a duration of time the silence button is depressed and held down.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the second LED indicator pulses corresponding to the duration of time the silence button is depressed and held down, the second LED indicator pulsing a first number of pulses to define a first release time delay and pulsing at a second number of pulses to define a second release time delay different than the first release time delay.

Assignees

• Tyco Fire Products Lp

Inventors

• Sandahl Derek M
• Counts Brian L
• Fernstrum Marvin B
• Ryczek Chad L
• Escalante-Ortiz Saul
• Werth John T
• Lilley Gregory J
• Strehlow David R
• Kreft Anthony J
• Myers Thomas John
• Bushert John S
• Hackl Richard J
• Thorell Marvin D

Classifications

• A62C3/07 Primary

  in vehicles, e.g. in road vehicles · CPC title

• G05D7/0635

  by action on throttling means (G05D7/0688, G05D7/0694 take precedence) · CPC title

• B60R16/02

  electric {constitutive elements} · CPC title

• A62C35/023 Primary

  the extinguishing material being expelled by compressed gas, taken from storage tanks, or by generating a pressure gas (for foam generation A62C5/02) · CPC title

• G05B15/02

  electric · CPC title