Abstract:
Methods and systems are provided for preventing contamination of building regions or zones from unwanted chemical or biological agents during and after a chemical or biological attack. One or more inflatable occlusion devices are preferably provided for occluding or filling selected regions within a building. The occlusion devices can be inflated to, for example, help prevent the building HVAC system or corresponding duct work from delivering a chemical or biological agent from one location to another within a building. The occlusion devices can also be used to occlude or occupy entire building regions or sections, such as entire rooms, hallways, windows, doorways, etc., or parts thereof, to help protect these regions from a harmful agent during an attack, and/or to provide a protective shell over or around selected equipment.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e)(1) to co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/263,331, filed Jan. 22, 2001, entitled “Rapid Agent Prevention to Optimize Recovery (RAPTOR)”.  
       CROSS-REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATIONS  
       [0002]    This invention is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/281,738, filed Mar. 30, 1999, entitled “Method And Apparatus For Sealing Building Ductwork During Chemical Or Biological Attack”, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    This invention generally relates to methods and devices for use during chemical or biological attacks, and more specifically, to methods and devices that help protect a building or other structure from contamination during chemical or biological attacks.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0004]    The recent demise of the cold war and decline in super-power tensions has been accompanied by an increase in concern over the viability of weapons of mass destruction such as chemical and biological (CB) weapons. CB weapons include chemical agents such as phosgene, nerve agents such as Sarin, and biological agents such as anthrax or small pox. CB weapons may be delivered to occupants within a building by releasing the agents within the building or external to the building but close to an air intake of the building. The air intake may be located near the ground, near the roof, or somewhere in between, depending on the building architecture. The building&#39;s heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system may then rapidly deliver the released agent into and/or throughout the building. Agents may also be released within a public space of a building, and be dispersed to other, private areas of the same building via the buildings HVAC system.  
           [0005]    In some situations, the building occupants may be given some warning before the release of an agent, either by prior knowledge or by agent sensors. In other situations, the building occupants may be given little or no warning, such as when the agent is released by a pedestrian held putative asthma inhaler activated near an air intake. In either case, it is desirable to evacuate the human occupants from the building or to a safe room within the building. Even if most inhabitants are able to evacuate, the building itself may very well become contaminated, and require a long time period to decontaminate, or even be permanently unusable. What would be desirable, therefore, are methods and apparatus for preventing or limiting the extent of the initial contamination of a building or parts of buildings.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0006]    The present invention includes systems for preventing or limiting the extent of the contamination of buildings, parts of buildings, equipment, etc., during and/or after an attack. This is preferably accomplished by selectively sealing off one or more building regions using inflatable bladders or other devices when a chemical or biological agent is detected. A harmful agent detector such as a chemical or biological detector (CBD) can be used in a manual mode to activate an alarm and rely on a human to initiate the system or can be used in conjunction with a controller system in an automatic mode to automatically initiate the system. The bladder may include a rapidly reacting chemical composition that rapidly creates a volume of gas sufficient to inflate a gas bag, which then seals off a desired building opening or region.  
           [0007]    One class of expandable bladders includes envelopes formed of resilient material that may stretch slightly under pressure, or not at all. These resilient bags are preferably oversized relative to the building opening or region in which they are placed. The oversized bladders preferably have sufficient surface area to extend into the room region corners and occlude the opening or region. Another class of expandable bladders includes envelopes, preferably shaped envelopes, formed of a resilient material that more easily stretches under pressure. These resilient or elastic envelopes can preferably stretch into the corners of, for example, rectangular air ducts, rooms, or hallways to seal the corners of an opening or region.  
           [0008]    Some inflatable occlusion devices are positioned along one wall of a building region. Other expandable bladders are pre-positioned between two corners of a building region and can be paired with another bladder or bladder portion disposed between two different corners of an opposing internal wall. Pre-positioned bladders can be held in place using mechanical, magnetic, or any other means. Pre-positioning bladders in a building region&#39;s internal corners can provide corner and wall occlusion at the outset, leaving the building region interior either unoccluded or occluded by another inflatable occlusion device.  
           [0009]    A preferred source of expansion gas includes chemical compositions that generate relatively large amounts of gas when a reaction is initiated, often by an electrical spark or rapidly heated wire. Gas may be supplemented or even supplanted by use of an expanding foaming agent. The foaming agent can be used in part to force a bladder into room, hallway, or duct corners to insure corner occlusion. The foaming agent can be used to make the bladder&#39;s expansion at least semi-permanent, insuring that the room region will remain sealed even if gas leaks from the bladder. The foam is preferably rapidly expanding and hardening, and can be similar to foams used for in-place foam packing applications and home and building insulation applications.  
           [0010]    In use, a building can be protected by selecting pre-identified protection zones or regions and disposing expandable occluding gas bladders within the protection zones or regions. Wiring can be extended to the pre-identified protection zones or regions, and may terminate locally through wires to a receiver which can be connected to an antenna. Chemical or biological detectors can be installed in select locations, including locations within rooms, hallways, entryways, ducts, plenums, and within other public areas of the building, and also can be located external to the building. Horizon detectors can be installed external to the building. The detectors can be either hardwired or linked with RF signals to a controller. The controller can either run in a manual mode, requiring a human to initiate bladder inflation, or an automatic mode using the controller to initiate bladder inflation. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0011]    [0011]FIG. 1 is a highly diagrammatic, perspective, cutaway view of a conventional building HVAC system shown delivering a harmful agent from a public area return air duct to private areas in the building interior;  
         [0012]    [0012]FIG. 2 is a highly diagrammatic, perspective, cutaway view of the building HVAC system of FIG. 1 having local harmful agent detectors, a horizon detector, a central controller, and building region occlusion devices;  
         [0013]    [0013]FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a system for occluding a building region including a harmful agent detector, a controller, an initiator and an inflatable occlusion device disposed inside a duct;  
         [0014]    [0014]FIG. 4A is a cutaway perspective view of a room from the building of FIGS. 1 and 2, having four building region inflatable occlusion devices disposed on the room walls, illustrated in an uninflated state;  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 4B is a cutaway perspective view of the room of FIG. 4A, having the inflatable occlusion devices in the inflated state;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 5 is a top, cross-sectional view of an inflatable occlusion device disposed within a wall section;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 6 is a perspective view of an inflatable occlusion device inflated to form barriers in a hall and in an entryway;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an inflatable occlusion device inflated within a duct;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 8A is a cutaway perspective view of an inflatable occlusion device disposed over a desk top computer; and  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 8B is a cutaway, perspective view of the inflated occlusion device of FIG. 8B. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0021]    [0021]FIG. 1 illustrates a building  20  including a public atrium area  23  and having a conventional building heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system  22  not having any duct isolation equipment in place. HVAC system  22  is illustrated transporting harmful agent  46  through return air ducts  34  and dispersing it as externally released cloud  44 . Air intake  24  is connected to a supply duct  28 . Intermediate ducts  30  split off into a series of smaller ducts  32 , which feed a series of room diffusers  38 . Return air vents  36  and return air ducts  34  return air to either be expelled outside the building or be mixed with fresh air intake. Heating, cooling, humidification, and dehumidification functions are often performed in large chambers such as chamber  28 , and in more local intermediate sized chambers  42 . Mixing and/or recirculation can be performed by a return air duct  48 .  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 1 illustrates an internally released harmful agent cloud  46  dispersed in public atrium  23  near return air vents  36 . HVAC system  22  is illustrated transporting harmful agent  46  through return air ducts  34  and dispersing it as externally released cloud  44 . Return air ducts  34  are also connected through return air duct  48 , into intake chamber  28 , and may internally release harmful agent cloud  47  through diffusers  38 . As illustrated, the harmful agent is delivered from a public portion of the building to the private areas of the building by the HVAC system and to the exterior near the building as well.  
         [0023]    Referring now to FIG. 2, building  20  and HVAC system  22  have been outfitted with harmful agent detectors or chemical-biological detectors (CBDs) and a ductwork isolation system. In the example illustrated, a CBD  60  is disposed in large chamber  28 , a CBD  62  is disposed near air exhaust  26 , a CBD  64  is disposed in intermediate chamber  40 , and a room air CBD  66  is disposed in public atrium  23 . A horizon CBD  70  can be disposed external to the building, such as on the roof. Horizon CBD  70  can detect more distant harmful agents using spectroscopic techniques including those incorporating LIDAR and laser technologies. Horizon CBDs can be useful for detecting harmful agents released a distance from the building, such as those delivered by missiles. In the embodiment illustrated, the CBDs are in communication with a Contamination Prevention Controller (CPC)  72 , preferably using wires (omitted to simplify the drawing).  
         [0024]    Disposed within the building are a series of inflatable occlusion devices such as inflatable bladders. Several inflatable occlusion devices  97  are disposed about the periphery of a room, for occlusion of the room to prevent contamination. Another inflatable occlusion device  50  is disposed within large duct  28 , inflatable occlusion devices  52  and  54  are disposed within the intermediate sized ducts, and yet another inflatable occlusion device  56  is disposed within a small, local circular duct. Another inflatable occlusion device  51  is disposed within return air duct  48 . It is contemplated that an inflatable occlusion device may also be disposed at selected locations in common returns situated between a true and a false ceilings to help apportion different return zones after a chemical or biological attack.  
         [0025]    The inflatable occlusion devices shown in FIG. 2 are preferably in communication with central Contamination Prevention Controller  72  using hard wiring. In some embodiments, however, radio frequency links are used to link detectors, controllers, and inflatable occlusion devices. In other embodiments, the detector and controller are disposed in close proximity to the inflatable occlusion devices.  
         [0026]    Referring now to FIG. 3, a wireless control system for building region occlusion is further illustrated. A duct  80  is shown having a CBD  82 , which is mounted external to the duct with a probe  83  extending into the duct. CBD  82  is linked to a transmitter  84 , which is in communication with a receiver  86 , which is coupled to the input of a controller  88 . The output of controller  88  is coupled to a transmitter  90  which is in communication with a receiver  92  disposed near an inflatable occlusion device  96 . Inflatable occlusion device  96  includes an inflator  94  coupled to receiver  92 . In use, when CBD  82  detects a harmful agent, the system can be run in automatic mode, using controller  88  to trigger inflator  94  automatically. The system can also be run in manual mode, with controller  88  using an annunciator to signal a human operator who is then required to operate controller  88  to signal inflator  94 . The annunciator may also include means for outputting information about said detector including harmful agent location and/or harmful agent identification.  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 4A illustrates a building region, which is a room  100  having generally an internal volume  102  and an entryway or doorway  110 . Room  100  has a first wall  106 , a second wall  107 , a third wall  108  and a fourth wall  109 . A number of inflatable occlusion devices are disposed on the walls. First wall  106  includes an inflatable occlusion device  114  and an inflatable occlusion device  112 . The third wall  108  includes an inflatable occlusion device  116  and an inflatable occlusion device  118 . The inflatable occlusion devices can be mounted within the wall or on the wall surface. In other embodiments, the inflatable occlusion devices may, in addition, or instead, be disposed within the floor and/or wall and/or other objects within the room. In some embodiments, a room is entirely filled with a single inflatable occlusion device. The inflatable occlusion devices illustrated in FIG. 4A may be linked to a central controller via communication or data link. In one embodiment, inflatable occlusion devices are coupled to a central controller using a radio frequency communication link.  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment for providing an inflatable occlusion device within a wall, for example, a room wall. A wall-mounted inflatable occlusion device  120  is shown disposed between a front panel or wall section  124  and a back wall section  122 . Inflatable occlusion device  120  includes an inflatable bladder or envelope  130  and an inflator  132 , which can include an inflator initiator. In the embodiment shown, inflatable occlusion device  120  is disposed between a first stud  128  and a second stud  126  in the wall. In some embodiments, the inflatable occlusion device is disposed behind a weakened or perforated section of wall. In another embodiment, the inflatable occlusion device is disposed behind a decorative panel which takes the place of the normal wall surface. In yet another embodiment, the inflatable occlusion device is disposed behind a normal building wall material such as sheetrock or paneling. In these embodiments, the inflation and/or pre-inflation motion is sufficiently strong to break the wall panel material away from the wall, allowing the inflatable envelope  130  to expand into the room.  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 4B illustrates room  100  after inflation of the inflatable occlusion devices of FIG. 4A. In the embodiment shown, room volume  102  is filled with multiple inflated bladders or envelopes. In FIG. 4B, room  100  is shown subdivided into four occluded sub regions or cells  132 ,  134 ,  136 , and  138 . The room volume  102  is shown either totally or substantially filled with the inflated occlusion devices. When so provided, harmful agents such as chemical or biological agents will have difficulty contaminating the room as the room volume is already occupied by the inflated occlusion devices.  
         [0030]    Referring now to FIG. 6, a hallway  180  is shown. Hallway  180  has generally a volume  181  and a length  184 . An entryway is also illustrated at  182 . Building hallway  180  shows inflatable occlusion devices  190  and  192  in the inflated configuration. Inflatable occlusion devices  190  and  192  may be considered in some embodiments to be two, discreet inflatable occlusion devices. In another embodiment, inflatable occlusion devices  190  and  192  may be considered to be part of a single inflatable occlusion device, having a non-contiguous configuration or a void or hollow interior. In either embodiment, the inflatable occlusion devices  190  and  192  are preferably positioned to prevent contamination of hallway  180  by harmful agents, and/or to help create protection zones or cells within a building to help isolate certain sections of a building from contaminated sections.  
         [0031]    Entryway  182  may also have an inflatable occlusion device  194  disposed near or within the entryway. In the embodiment illustrated, entryway  182  is a doorway. However, it is contemplated that the entryway could be any opening or orifice in a building. Inflatable occlusion device  194  may be disposed along the entryway or hallway side, top or floor surfaces. As was previously illustrated in FIG. 4B, inflatable occlusion device  190  may itself be formed of multiple sub occlusion devices, if desired.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 7 illustrates an inflatable occlusion device that is inflated within an air duct  200 . Duct  200  generally has a volume  204 , and a side wall  202 . An end, cross-sectional plane  206  has been removed to illustrate inflatable bladder or envelope  208  disposed within duct  200 . Inflated bladder or envelope  208  has been inflated by an inflator  210 , disposed on the duct side wall  202 . In some embodiments, the inflator, together with the inflated envelope, are disposed as a package on the interior wall of the duct. In another embodiment, the inflator and envelope package are disposed on the duct side wall, taking the place of a previous portion of duct side wall which has been removed to allow the package access to the vent or the duct interior.  
         [0033]    [0033]FIG. 8A illustrates another building region, now on a desktop  250  having a desktop surface  254  and a piece of equipment  252  placed thereon. In FIG. 8A, equipment piece  252  is a desktop computer. In general, however, any piece of building equipment may be protected using the present invention. An inflatable occlusion device  255  has been inflated to provide an envelope or bladder portion  256  over equipment piece  252 . The illustrative inflatable occlusion device  255  has an interior  258  which forms a cavity to receive equipment piece  252 .  
         [0034]    [0034]FIG. 8B shows inflatable occlusion device  255  of FIG. 8A in a cutaway view showing inflatable occlusion device interior  258 . Inflatable occlusion device  255  has a wall thickness, indicated at  260 . Inflatable envelope  256  may be seen to have sprung from an inflatable occlusion device package  264  which can include the initiator, inflator, and un-inflated envelope or bladder. Upon inflation, inflatable occlusion device  255  may spring from inflatable occlusion device package  264  from out of the desktop or other surface. Upon expansion, inflatable occlusion device  255  may inflate until the pre-configured shape or configuration is achieved. In the embodiment illustrated, the predetermined shape is an elongated hemisphere for receiving the equipment piece. In some embodiments, the inflatable occlusion device is mounted within a wall and covers an equipment piece disposed on the wall. In other embodiments, the inflatable occlusion device is mounted in a floor, ceiling, or other surface.  
         [0035]    In general, the inflatable occlusion devices previously described may be inflated by an inflator. The inflator can include, for example, gas generating compounds, foam generating compounds, compressed gas sources, etc. An initiator may be provided for initiating the inflation of the bladder or envelope. A controller may also be provided for generating commands to the initiator to initiate the inflation. Finally, a communication link may be provided for linking the commands generated by the controller to the inflatable occlusion devices. In one embodiment, the communication link includes radio frequency communication links. In another embodiment, the communication link may be hard wired electrical links.  
         [0036]    In one example, the communication link is a direct wired 210-volt circuit from the controller to the inflatable occlusion devices. The controller may include microprocessors and/or a general purpose computer. The building protection system preferably includes harmful agent detectors as well. In one embodiment, the harmful agent detectors are coupled automatically through the controller to the inflatable occlusion device initiators. In this embodiment, detection of the harmful agent immediately triggers the inflatable occlusion devices. In some embodiments, the controller includes suitable filtering algorithms for reducing or eliminating false alarms. Furthermore, the controller may automatically determine which inflatable occlusion devices to inflate, based on the location and extent of the attack. This may be desirable to create artificial zones to, for example, seal off certain parts of a building and/or refine pressurization control of multiple zones within the building. Also, sensors that detect the presence of humans, such as motion sensors, IR sensors, or the like, may be used to prevent the controller from activating certain inflatable bladders that may potentially come into contact and harm humans.  
         [0037]    In another embodiment, the building protection system requires a human being to be in the control loop. In this embodiment, a chemical/biological detector may detect a harmful agent, and signal a human operator via an enunciator that a harmful agent has been detected. The human operator may then decide whether or not to initiate inflation of the inflatable occlusion devices to the controller.  
         [0038]    After inflation of the inflatable occlusion devices, the devices may be deflated or otherwise reduced in size or removed after the threat or perceived threat has passed. The building regions occupied by the inflatable occlusion devices may have substantially less contamination even after a successful harmful agent attack. The protected regions may be put to use relatively soon after an attack, as compared to regions which are contaminated by a harmful agent. In some embodiments, the inflators can include gas sources where the gas may be vented after the inflation. In some of these embodiments, the envelope may be used more than once.  
         [0039]    Various methods for expanding inflatable devices are suitable for use with the present invention. One class of inflators includes compressed gas sources such as air cylinders. Another class of inflators includes chemical compositions that react to generate gas, such as those used in automobile air bags. Such inflators are rapid, relatively compact, and relatively stable when properly handled. Gas generating compositions and devices are well known to those skilled in the art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,131 to Hurley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,585 to Hendrickson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,904,221 to Shiki et al, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,876 to Jorgensen et al., hereby incorporated by reference.  
         [0040]    While inflators using gas can be rapidly acting, it may sometimes be desirable to occlude a building region with something even longer lasting. In such cases, the use of expandable, hardening foam may be desirable, as discussed above. In general, the foam may be less rapidly expanding than an inflator such as those used in automobile air bag technology. If the slower speed is acceptable, the foam itself may be used as the expansion media. If the slower speed is not acceptable, then a rapidly expanding gas may be used to expand the bladder outwardly, followed by an expanding foam material within the bladder. The rapidly expanding gas filled bladder will occlude the building region and the hardening foam will make the occlusion more permanent. Foamed plastics and foaming or foam blowing agents, well known to those skilled in the polymer art, are often used in foam-in-place packing applications. Polyurethane foams and phenolic foams are believed suitable for occlusion applications. The foam containing bladder or bladders may be difficult to remove, but it may be easier to remove them relative to the effort required to decontaminate the space occupied by the inflated occlusion device. In use, the building region occlusion devices can be installed with varying degrees of speed, coverage, and permanence.  
         [0041]    Numerous advantages of the invention covered by this document have been set forth in the foregoing description. It will be understood, however, that this disclosure is, in many respects, only illustrative. Changes may be made in details, particularly in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts without exceeding the scope of the invention. The invention&#39;s scope is, of course, defined in the language in which the appended claims are expressed.