CONTINUOUS MIXING DEVICE, PARTICULARLY SUITABLE FOR PREPARING AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS OF FOAM EXTINGUISHER FOR FIREFIGHTING SYSTEMS

Abstract: Device for continuously preparing constant-­ proportions solutions with variable flow rates, particularly suitable for preparing foam-extinguisher solutions for fire-fighting systems, comprising a motor device (21), operated by the energy supplied by the same pressure of fire-fighting water network, constituted by a volumetric screw-pump (24), which is made to work in reverse mode, and in its turn is mechanically connected with one or more volumetric pump(s) which meter the fire-fighting foam-extinguisher liquid into the network water.

Description: The object of the present invention is a device for continuously preparing constant-proportions solutions with variable, and anyway large, flowrates. The device according to the present invention is particularly suitable for preparing foam-extinguisher solutions for industrial fire-fighting systems, and therefore it will be disclosed in the following, for illustrative and non-limitative purposes, with reference to such an application. The fire-fighting systems of industrial factories, e.g., chemical plants, petrochemical plants, petroleum refineries and well-drilling plants, require that to water of the fire-fighting network, supplied by suitable pumps, a foam-extinguisher additive be mixed at a constant percentage in order to obtain a foam-extinguisher solution which, when delivered, e.g., by means of the spreaders, generates a foam which extinguishes the flames, while maintaining, under any operating conditions, its fire-extinguishing characteristics. Many foam-extinguishers are known in the prior art, which are suitable for use in fire extinguishing. They perform their effect to the maximum extent when they are used in the prescribed proportion between fire-fighting water and foam-extinguisher liquid. In the following, such "foam-extinguisher liquid" is also denominated as "additive" or "concentrate". When an excessive amount of foam-extinguisher liquid is used, a lower fire-extinguishing quality is obtained, because with increasing proportions, beyond certain limits undesirable or negative results are likely to be obtained on the characteristics of the generated foam, such as, e.g., an excessive increase in foam viscosity, which hinders the flowing of the same foam. Besides that, further disadvantages exist, such as an increase in the specific cost of the foam-extinguisher per unit of fire-fighting solution, a shorter autonomy of operation of the fire-fighting system, and the need for the operators to take more frequent actions in order to handle and replenish the foam-extinguisher liquid consumed. These two latter drawbacks, under the emergency situation of a fire, may prove very critic and crucial. When, on the contrary, an insufficient amount of foam-extinguisher is used, the foam produced loses its fire-extinguishing properties very rapidly with decreasing percentages of foam-extinguisher. In any case, the accuracy of the proportioning of the foam-extinguisher additive should be maintained within limits not higher than + 20%, or even less, in order to attain the best effect. In the present fire-fighting systems, the most commonly used foam-extinguishers are used in aqueous solutions at concentrations at 6%, but the most recent additives are designed for use at 3%, or even at 1%, so as to reduce the amount of foam-extinguisher additive to be kept in store, or to be purchased under emergency situations, with the autonomy of operation being the same; or, on the contrary, so as to increase the autonomy of operation with the stored volume of additive being the same. Such a problem proves to be very important, because the flowrates required for fire extinguishing are in any case very high, and the amounts of foam-extinguisher - even when used at low percentages - are always considerable. According to the number of fire-fighting nozzles used, the delivered flowrate of the fire-fighting solution varies within a very wide range, and inside the whole range the precision in additive addition should be maintained, also during such an emergency siuation as a fire. A further requirement which must be made due allowance for - as regards the preparation of the solutions - is the possibility that the stored amounts of a type of additive - e.g., of a foam-extinguisher to be used at 6% - may end, and that a different foam-extinguisher has to be used, which should be used at a different concentration; in such case, the device should be easily adaptable in order to cope with such an occurrence, in order to prepare the new fire-extinguishing solutions with the proper concentration of foam-extinguisher. A further, and extremely important requirement imposed to the fire-fighting systems derives from the fact that the mixing devices must preferably operate in stand-alone mode - without energy being supplied from the external environment as, under emergency conditions, such supply could lack - apart from the connection to the fire-fighting network, inside which pressurized water is always present. In the prior art, many devices for continuous mixing were proposed, but, from a general standpoint, the mixing devices which are mostly used, are based on the use of ejectors driven by the energy supplied by the pressure of fire-fighting system water, which intake from the tank of the foaming additive a flowrate of said additive, due to the effect of the depressure generated by the same ejector. A typical form of practical embodiment of such a device known from the prior art is described by referring to Figure 1, in order to be able to discuss the operating characteristics thereof. The characterizing portion of the mixing device depicted in the diagram of Figure 1 is constituted by one or more pressurized storage tanks 1, inside which a second container is contained, which is constituted by a bag 2 made from a flexible material. The foam-extinguisher additive is contained inside the flexible bag container 2 and the hollow space A between said container 2 and the wall of the tank 1 is occupied by the same water of the fire-fighting system. The fire-fighting network water is delivered under pressure by means of the duct 3, in which a Venturi device 4 is installed. Upstream the Venturi device 4, water is branched off, which fills the hollow space A between the tank 1 and the container 2, and pressurizes such a tank, through the pipe 5, which can be closed by means of the valve 6. Said valve 6 is of the on-off type, and is only closed when operations of replenishment of the foam-extinguisher additive, or of device shut-down have to be carried out. Near the narrowest section of the Venturi device 4 - inside which, due to the effect of water flow, an area B of relative depressure is formed - the pipe 7 is inserted, which connects said area of relative depressure with the flexible container 2, which is completely filled by the foam-extinguisher additive. Piping 7 is cut off by a valve, 8, similar to valve 6. Downstream the Venturi device 4, the water/foam-extinguisher additive solution is distributed to the user devices by means of the duct 9. When water is not flowing inside the Venturi device 4 no depressure is generated, and therefore both the pipes 5 and 7, the hollow space A and the interior of the container 2, thereto, are under the same pressure. Let's look now into the operation of the apparatus, when inside the duct 3 and the Venturi device 4 a water flow exists, as a function of the drawing carried out downstream. The water flow generates a depressure in the area B, relatively to the pressure existing inside the duct 5 and in the area A, and therefore the pressure difference generated inside A compresses the flexible container 2 and the foam-extinguisher additive contained inside it leaves it and through the pipe 7 is mixed with fire-fighting water in B. The larger the fire-fighting water flowrate inside the Venturi device 4, the higher the depressure in the area B, and the larger the flowrate of the foam-extinguisher additive. The added percentage remains fairly close to the prefixed average value with variable flow-rates. For stationary fire-fighting installations, the practical embodiment according to the diagram of Figure 1 is the one which is at present the most used one for variable-flowrate fire-fighting installations. According to a widely diffused alternative, the functions of the container 2 and of the hollow space A can be inverted, with the foam-extinguisher additive being contained inside the hollow space A, and driving water being contained inside the container 2. Of course, in that case the conncections with the Venturi device 4 must be inverted. Said technical solution shows some advantages relatively to other solutions known from the prior art. A considerable advantage of such a solution is its structural simpleness and the absence of moving parts. Furthermore, such a device results not very affected by the changes in absolute pressure, and does not require a sophisticated control instrumentation. However, some drawbacks and limitations thereof have to be reminded; one of them consists in that the mixing precision which can be obtained by means of such an apparatus decreases with decreasing values of the prescribed added percentages. The apparatuses according to the diagram of Figure 1 show hence considerable difficulties of adaptation to the most recent foam fire-extinguishers, for which addition levels of 3%, and even of 1%, are prescribed. A weak point is furthermore the membrane container 2, which is susceptible of undergoing sudden breakages, which often occur when an emergency situation is in course. In order to obviate such drawbacks, proposals were made in the prior art, of replacing the membrane container 2 with a water-tight piston sliding in the the axial direction and separating fire-fighting water from fire-extinguisher additive. Also this solution suffers from a number of operating drawbacks, and of size limitations Some size and replenishment limitations also exist, which are discussed in the following. In order to clarify the context of fire-fighting systems, one should keep in his mind that the rated flowrates required for such systems may have values of up to 500-1,000 m³/hour, and that with the conventional foaming additives to be metered at a 6% rate, the hourly consumption of additive may be as high as 30-60 m³/hour. The tanks with membrane-container have size limits, dictated by practical reasons concerning the operations and the maintenance, which are of round 10 m³ of useful capacity, which correspond - e.g., for a fire-fighting system with an added rate of 6%, and a rated flowrate of 500 m³/hour - to an autonomy of operation of 20 minutes in case of full flowrate. The tank 1 must be designed for operating under a pressure at least equal to the maximum pressure envisaged for the fire-fighting network, which can be considerably high, of the order of 10-15 bar. Under such operating conditions, a tank 1 must be put out of service at short time intervals, and replaced by another, ready, tank 1. The replenishment procedure must be carried out by closing the valves 6 and 8, opening the valve 10 of replenishment of the foam-extinguisher additive which is delivered by the service pump 11 through the line 12, and letting the pressurizing water contained inside the hollow space A drain by means of the valve 13. As one can easily deduce, for a fire-fighting system of industrial size, the number of operators to be assigned to the management of the mixing devices, replenishing the many emptied tanks, when a fire emergency occurs, is considerably high. A further drawback affecting the apparatus according to the diagram depicted in Figure 1, is its poor adaptability to receive, during a fire quenching, additives to be used at a different concentration, when, e.g., the additive stored in the factory is finished and other immediately available materials have to be resorted to, because this would require a new calibration of the Venturi device 4. The device according to the present invention makes it possible the above-discussed drawbacks and the limitations of the devices known from the prior art to be overcome, with the characteristics of an extreme simpleness and a complete autonomy of operation from external sources of energy being simultaneously maintained. The device according to the present invention is essentially constituted by a volumetric hydraulic motor rigidly coupled with a volumetric pump for foaming agent injection. Such a volumetric hydraulic motor revolves at a revolution speed which is directly proportional to the flowrate of water flowing through it. It is constituted by a rotary volumetric pump, which is made operate in reverse mode, i.e., as a motor. The adoption of a pump as a hydraulic motor, making it operate in reverse mode, is already known in the art. It is disclosed, e.g., in US-A-2,543,941 and in FR-A-1,150,489, with reference to reversed positive displacement pump acting as a hydraulic motor coupled with a gear pump acting as a metering pump. In practical applications, such a combination proves to be affected by many drawbacks. The positive displacement pump, owing to structural reasons, cannot revolve at too high revolution speeds. In case the maximum design flowrate thereof must be increased, the revolution speed must be furthermore decreased, and its displacement - and therefore its size - rapidly reach impossible values. The structural limit of the positive displacement pumps results to be of the order of 200 m³/hour, and such a value is extremely reductive in fire-fighting installation industry, wherein flowrates of the order of 1,000 m³/hour may be required. A second drawback of the above cited coupling consists in the limited ratio of maximum flowrate/minimum flowrate within which an acceptable mixing of the foam-extinguisher is obtained. Such further limitation is due to the volumetric efficiency of the gear pump, which rapidly collapses with decreasing revolution speeds, i.e., with reducing values of the flowrate required by the fire-fighting system. It happens thus that the combination of the reversed positive displacement pump - acting as a motor - with the gear pump - acting as the injection pump - does not result to be suitable for following the due changes in delivery, which are a peculiarity demanded to the fire-fighting service. In order to obviate the drawbacks deriving from the poor adaptability of the metering gear punmps to operate at low revolution speeds, further improvements have been proposed in the prior art. In US-A-4,448,256, the interposition is required of a revolution speed overgear between the hydraulic motor - still constituted by a reversed positive displacement pump - and the injection gear pump. Such a contrivance increases the revolution speed of the gear pump, increasing to a more acceptable range in terms of efficiency, but does not overcome the drawbacks of the poor flexibility of the system to the requirements of wide changes in flowrate, and of the limitation in the flowrate values useable by the hydraulic motor. FR-A-1,150,489 also proposes to interpose between the foam-extinguisher additive tank and the injection pump a booster pump, which pressurizes the injection pump - still a gear pump -, minimizing its inner recycle and increasing again the volumetric efficiency thereof to acceptable values. Such a contrivance makes it possible the injection pump to be used for the purpose of metering only, and not for true injection purposes. However, such a technical solution is affected by a considerable structural complexity. The booster pump can be driven by an external motor, which renders the system depending on other energy sources, or by the same hydraulic motor, which further reduces the residual pressure downstream the hydraulic motor, owing to the larger energy amount required. DE-A-31 31 522 proposes to use, as the hydraulic motor, a turbine, which overcomes the drawbacks of the flowrate limitation of the reversed positive displacement pump, coupled with a foam-extinguisher additive metering pump, which can be a reciprocating pump, a gear pump, a peristaltic pump, a membrane pump, a screw pump. However, the turbine suffers from the drawback that it is even less adaptable to the changes in flowrate which are typical of the fire-fighting service, so that the revolution speed of the turbine, and the extracted power are not in linear relationship with the flowrate of fire-fighting water. The metering precision can be only obtained within a small portion of the required flowrate range. Although many types of volumetric pumps are, at least in principle, susceptible of being operated in reverse mode, and are also capable of operating as a hydraulic motor, for the application to the preparation of foam fire-extinguisher solutions, the rotary pumps of screw-pump type have proven to be very suitable for use as hydraulic volumetric motors. In fact, such pumps can be substantially transformed into hydraulic volumetric motors by simply reversing the flow through them, i.e., mutually exchanging their inlet and outlet. On considering the flowrates, the waterheads and the characteristic curves necessary for the application to fire-fighting services, among the rotary pumps of screw-pump type, the double-screw rotary pumps are preferred for the particular use in reverse mode as a volumetric hydraulic motor, also owing to the large water flowrate they can tolerate. Said hydraulic motor is - either directly, or with the interposition of a revolution speed reduction gear/overgear - with a volumetric pump which intakes the foam-extinguisher additive and injects it into the same water duct. The injection of the foam-extinguisher additive can be carried out both upstream and downstream the same hydraulic motor. In the first case, the effect is obtained of a better mixing of the additive with water from the fire-fighting network, in the second case the effect is obtained, on the contrary, that the pressure necessary for the injection is lower. The volumetric pump of injection of the foam-extinguisher additive is also a screw pump, and has a flowrate proportional to the revolution speed, and therefore to the flowrate of motor driving water. The energy necessary for injecting the foam-extinguisher additive into the duct of the fire-fighting network is directly obtained from water flow, at the expense of a moderate pressure drop. A typical diagram of practical embodiment of the device according to the invention, as defined in claim 1, is depicted in Figure 2. The delivery of pressurized water from the fire-fighting network takes place through the duct 20, and water is made flow through the hydraulic volumetric motor 21, constituted by a volumetric screw pump made operate in reverse mode. As hereinabove stated, such a rotary volumetric pump is preferably a double-screw pump. The volumetric motor 21 is protected by a safety valve 22, which is automatically tripped, and causes water not to any longer flow through 21 when, due to possible anomalies, the pressure drop inside the motor exceeds the envisaged values for a correct operation. Fire-fighting water flows through 21, which is run at a revolution speed which is proportinal to water flowrate, which, in its turn, is a function of the amount taken from the network, and is discharged through the duct 23, under a pressure slightly lower than the pressure existing in 20. The pressure drop in water flowing through 21 corresponds to the energy absorbed by the hydraulic motor, which is linked to the volumetric pump 24 by means of the revolving shaft 25, or another equivalent mechanical coupling. In the link represented by the shaft 25, the revolution speed reduction gear/overgear 26 can be installed, in case the two machines 21 and 24 are to be run at proportional speeds different from each other. A safety valve 27, which is analogous for type and installation to valve 22, is also installed to bypass the volumetric pump 24. In principle, the volumetric pump 24 for foam-extinguisher additive addition can be of any type. However, in case of its application to the preparation of foam-extinguisher solutions, on considering its coupling with the particular type of hydraulic motor of the device according to the invention, and the characteristic curves of the two mutually coupled machines, the present Applicant found that the volumetric pumps of screw-pump type are very suitable, and, among these, the three-screw volumetric pumps are preferred. The volumetric pump 24 intakes, through the line 28, the foam-extinguisher additive from the tank 29 and delivers it, through the line 30, to be mixed with fire-fighting water of duct 23. On the line 30 a non-return valve 31 is interposed, in order to prevent water from returning back into the foam-extinguisher injection line, and as a protection against possible water hammers, or other back-pressures. The storage tank 29 can be of atmospheric type, and the foaming additive can be replenished inside it by means of the service pump 32, or other systems, even while machines 21 and 24 are running, with no prejudice. The device according to the present invention makes it furthermore possible, by means of simple structural changes, the ratio of fire-fighting water to foaming additive to be easily modulated. By suitably selecting the values of the displacements of the volumetric hydraulic motor and of the injection pump, the required percentage ratio of water to the additive can be obtained, which remains constant with varying values of the required flowrate of fire-fighting solution. The need for having the possibility of preparing foam-extinguisher solutions with variable percentages of additive, so that foam-extinguishers of different types may be used, can be met by means of the following different forms of practical embodiment. The first of them is realized in case in the motor/pump link the revolution speed reduction gear/overgear 26 is interposed, by changing the transmission ratio between the two machines, which change makes it possible - with the displacement ratio between the two machines being the same - the added percentage of the additive to be modified as a function of the change in revolution speed ratio between the same machines. Such a practical embodiment requires that the revolution speed reduction gear/overgear 26 with a constant ratio of the revolution speed of the hydraulic motor to the revolution speed of the volumetric pump be replaced by a device - or speed gear - which enables such a speed ratio to be selected from a range of different available and alternatively engageable ratios. A considerably interesting form of practical embodiment is constituted, on the contrary, by that structure in which the volumetric motor is linked with a plurality of injection volumetric pumps, according to the exemplifying diagram depicted in Figure 3, which can be engaged or disengaged according to various patterns of combination with one another. Still for exemplifying purposes, if three volumetric pumps are adopted, which are capable of delivering the following flowrates: the first pump, a flowrate equal to 1% of water flowing through the volumetric motor 21; the second pump, a flowrate equal to 2% of water flowing through the volumetric motor 21; the third pump, a flowrate equal to 4% of water flowing through the volumetric motor 21, by means of the graduated engagement of the three pumps, delivering the following metered amounts will be possible: 1% with the first pump only; 2% with the second pump only; 3% with the first pump and the second pump engaged; 4% with the third pump only; 5% with the first pump and the third pump engaged; 6% with the second pump and the third pump engaged; 7% with all pumps engaged. The diagram depicted in Figure 3A schematically represents such a practical embodiment, wherein 24′, 24′′ and 24′′′ are the three different volumetric pumps with their connections and accessories (27′, 27′′ and 27′′′ are the three safety valves; 25′, 25′′ and 25′′′ are the three coupling shafts; 31′, 31′′ and 31′′′ are the three non-return valves). The modulation of the flowrate is carried out by means of the three-way valves 33′, 33′′ and 33′′′ respectively installed downstream 24′, 24′′ and 24′′′. Such three-way valves have two possible positions. The first position allows the flowrate of the volumetric pump to go to duct 30, and the second position recycles the flowrate upstream the same pump, by means of the pipes 34′, 34′′ and 34′′′. As an alternative, the flowrate can be recycled to the tank 29 by means of the pipes shown in short-dash lines. It is clear that the volumetric pumps 24′, 24′′ and 24′′′ are always kept running and that, when one of valves 33 is switched into its recycle position, the water head required from the corresponding volumetric pump is very low, and the power absorbed from the corresponding link 25 is therefore very small. According to the diagram depicted in Figure 3B, the modulation of flowrate is carried out by means of the mechanical couplings 35′, 35′′ and 35′′′, respectively installed in the mechanical links 25′, 25′′ and 25′′′, and can respectively engage or disengage from the power transmission the volumetric pumps 24′, 24′′ and 24′′′. According to this latter form of practical embodiment, the volumetric pumps 24 are kept running only during the time during which their flowrate results necessary for delivering the desired metered amounts of foam-extinguisher additive. From the above, the advantages result evident, which are offered by the device according to the present invention, and are quite important in its application for the preparation of the foam fire-extinguisher solutions for fire-fighting systems. Among such advantages as compared to the apparatuses known from the prior art, the following deserve a special attention. The device according to the present invention makes it possible the additive to be precisely and constantly metered throughout the flowrate range of the fire-fighting system. On the contrary, the ejector - or Venturi - devices known from the prior art show a characteristic curve of flowrate/metered amount which, in its central portion, is very close to a straight line, whilst in its portions corresponding to the low flowrates and to the maximum flowrates, such a characteristic curve substantially departs from the straight line of the central portion, and does not any longer ensure a correct metering. The device according to the present invention is capable of metering precise and constant volumes also in case of additives to be mixed at low percentages (3% and 1% for the most recent foam-extinguishers). The Venturi devices according to the prior art, on the contrary, cannot be applied in case of such low percentages. The device according to the present invention makes it possible additives requiring different metering rates to be rapidly interchanged. On the contrary, this is not feasible in case of the devices according to the technique known from the prior art. In practice, the adoption of an additive, reduced amounts of which have to be metered - under emergency conditions -, requires a preliminary dilution of such an additive, to be carried out by means of makeshifts. Such a practice, in addition to the disadvantages of time waste and of additional work, shows the drawback that the advantage of the longer autonomy of operation allowed by the reduced-metering additive gets lost. The device according to the present invention does not require pressurized tanks, and uses atmospheric tanks, which can even just be the normal containers inside which the additive is transported. Non practical limitations exist as to the autonomy of operation of the fire-fighting system, which does not require that different tanks be used, which are alternatively switched into replenishment mode and operating mode at short time intervals, as it occurs in case of the apparatuses known from the prior art. The device of the present invention is not subject to the drawbacks deriving from the flexible membranes, or from the separation pistons provided inside the tanks, which result to be the critic part of the devices known from the prior art. As regards the other solutions proposed in the prior art, such as, e.g., the solution consisting in coupling gear pumps with hydraulic motors constituted by positive displacement pumps operating in reverse mode, or by hydraulic turbines, the present invention shows many advantages. As both the motor and the injection pump are of the screw type, the two machines have congruent speeds and characteristic curves, and in case of direct coupling of both machines with each other, neither any kinds of under-uses, nor any needs for interposing speed limiting devices arise. The screw pumps used as the hydraulic motor can operate at flowrates which can be as high as 1,000 m³/hour and higher, with maximum revolution speeds which can be as high as 3,000 revolutions per minute. The possibility of revolving at high speeds enables machines of small displacement and size to be used, with the incidence of their inner recycles being reduced, and with their use range being expanded to low flowrates also, with the characteristics of a precise metering and high efficiencies being always maintained.

Claims: Device for the continuous preparation of constant-proportion solutions with variable flowrates, particularly suitable for preparing foam fire-extinguisher solutions, without any external supply of energy, apart from the energy supplied by the pressure of fire-extinguishing network water, constituted by a volumetric rotary hydraulic motor (21) which absorbs a portion of the pressure energy of water flowing inside the fire-fighting network, coupled with an additive metering device (24), consisting of one or two rotary volumetric pumps, which delivers said additive to the fire-fighting network water, characterized in that said hydraulic motor consists of a screw rotary pump (21), and preferably a double-screw rotary pump, which is made operate in reverse mode, with the intake and the delivery thereof being mutually exchanged, and that the metering device is constituted by one or more screw rotary pumps (24', 24'', 24'''), and preferably by three-screw pumps. Device according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the mechanical link between the volumetric motor and the metering device is constituted by one or more revolving shafts (25', 25'', 25'''). Device according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the mechanical link a revolution speed reduction gear/overgear (26) is interposed, which makes the volumetric motor and the metering device revolve at different speeds proportional to each other. Device according to claim 3, characterized in that such a revolution speed reduction gear/overgear is provided with a plurality of different available transmission ratios which can be alternatively engaged, thus a speed gear between the volumetric motor and the metering device being realized. Device according to one or more of claims from 1 to 4, characterized by a plurality of screw pumps and in that the mixing proportion of said solutions is effected by engaging or disengaging one or more of said screw pumps. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the disengagement of one or more of the screw pumps is carried out by recycling to an upstream point their own delivery flow. Device according to claim 5, characterized in that the disengagement of one or more of the volumetric pumps is carried out by means of mechanical couplings (35', 35'', 35'''), which individually disengage the mechanical links between the volumetric motor and the screw pumps.

Inventors: BOSONI, MARCO, BRUSONI, ROBERTO, FIORENTINI, CARLO, FRACASSI, PIETRO
Applicants: ALLWEILER ITALIA S.P.A., SNAMPROGETTI S.P.A., TECSA S.R.L.
Application year: 1988
Main classification: A62C5
IPC codes: B01F5, A62C5, B01F15, G05D11