Patent Abstract:
Fire hydrants each have a band of lamps strapped around them, the lamps powered by a solar collector battery circuit. An RF signal is transmitted to a receiver in the circuit by a remote responder causing the lamps to light up with a coded color related to the water flow rating of each of the hydrants and with a blink rate related to the water pressure of each of the hydrants. Upon arriving at the fire scene responders are able to select an appropriate hydrant for the location and size of the fire. The circuit is able to transmit flow and pressure information to the responders which information is presented on a display screen for early reconnaissance of the water resources at the fire scene.

Full Description:
BACKGROUND 
     The technical field of this disclosure relates to the general subject of fire-fighting, and more particularly to a reconnaissance apparatus and method for remotely identifying the location, flow rating and water pressure of fire hydrants within a local area. 
     A fire hydrant, also known colloquially as a fire plug in the United States, provides a means for active fire protection as a source of water. Such apparatus are provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighters (responders) to tap into the municipal water supply to assist in extinguishing fires. One of the first challenges that responders face when they arrive at the scene of a fire is finding a suitable water source that provides enough water for the type of fire they face. In each situation, responders use standardized formulas to estimate the amount of water needed to suppress a fire. Fire hydrants are commonly color coded to indicate the maximum water flow rate they can provide in gallons per minute (GPM). Hydrant maximum water output varies from 500 GPM or less to over 2500 GPM depending on the supply system and the type of hydrant. In an effort to make it easier for responders to know what a specific hydrant will supply, the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA) recommends that fire departments and water districts follow a set standard of color-coding. Hydrants using public water supply systems should be painted chrome yellow, and their tops and caps should indicate the available GPM. Recommended code includes: &lt;500 GPM (red), 500-999 GPM (orange), 1000-1499 GPM (green), and ≧1500 GPM (blue). The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) further recommends that a hydrant be painted violet for any source that is non-potable. If a hydrant is inoperable it is recommended that it be painted black. Hydrants are also rated in pressure units such as pounds per square inch (PSI). All hydrants are assumed to provide at least 20 PSI. If a given hydrant does not meet NFPA recommendations, the rated pressure should be stenciled on the top of the hydrant and on its caps. They also recommend this for extremely high pressure hydrants which can cause damage to firefighting equipment if precautions are not taken. 
     Although the locations of fire hydrants are identified on maps, it may be difficult to locate or find a particular hydrant due to darkness, fog, mist, snow or surrounding vegetation. Also, a hydrant may be out of order or actually missing due to recent changes not portrayed on maps. Therefore, there is a need for improving the ability for fire fighters to quickly locate and characterize hydrants in the near vicinity of an existing fire. The presently described apparatus and method of use is an answer to this need providing the ability to locate and identify flow rate and pressure characterization of locally available hydrants quickly prior to arriving on the scene of a fire thereby saving precious moments and potential confusion as to which hydrant(s) to use, especially at night or at other times of low-visibility. 
     It is known in the prior art to provide a fire hydrant strap-on solar powered device having lamps for signaling an emergency situation through selective colored beams and which may be activated by a responder wirelessly, and where color coding indicates the distance and direction of the hydrant from the transmitter and the hydrant flow rate and other hydrant characteristics. When a responder is approaching a fire it is important to enable fast reconnaissance of the vicinity of the fire. Therefore, it is important to know exactly where all fire hydrants are located relative to the fire and to also know the flow and pressure characteristics of the hydrants. The prior art does not provide a complete solution to this need. The present apparatus and method of operation provides an elegant, novel solution. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an example block diagram of the presently described apparatus; 
         FIG. 2  is an example perspective view of an embodiment of a lighting set thereof; 
         FIG. 3A  is an example perspective view of a controller thereof; 
         FIG. 3B  is an example perspective view of an alternate controller thereof; 
         FIG. 4  is an example block diagram of an electrical circuit thereof; 
         FIG. 5  is an example perspective view of the lighting set mounted on a hydrant; 
         FIG. 6  is an example perspective view of an alternate lighting set mounted on a hydrant; and 
         FIG. 7  is an example logic flow diagram of a method of use of the alternate controller of  FIG. 3B . 
     
    
    
     Like reference symbols in the drawing figures indicate like elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the presently described reconnaissance system  10  includes one or more lighting sets  20  and a mobile controller  30 . Elements  20  and  30  communicate with each other via digital radio frequency (RF) transmission. The arrows in  FIG. 1  represent wireless transmission channels. In an embodiment, the controller  30  sends RF signals to one or more lighting sets  20  and not signals are sent from sets  20 . 
     In an embodiment shown in  FIG. 2 , each lighting set  20 , may include a first electrical circuit  22 , a mounting band  24  having lamps  52  mounted on it, and a weather-proof enclosure  26  which encloses circuit  22  and has an integrated solar battery charger  40 .  FIG. 5  shows band  24  with lamps  52  encircling hydrant  5 . Band  24  may have a series of mounting holes  25  any one of which may be mechanically secured inside enclosure  26  so as to adjust band  24  to fit tightly around hydrant  5 . Lamps  52  may be light emitting diode types (LEDs) which may be mounted to band  24  through small apertures  53  and may be electrically interconnected as shown using electrical conductors  57  on or within band  24 . 
     In an embodiment shown in  FIG. 6 , the enclosure  26  with circuit  22  and battery charger  40  may be mounted directly to hydrant  5  while band  24  with lamps  52  may be separately secured in place around hydrant  5  by a mechanical means of choice. 
     The electrical block diagram of  FIG. 4  represents the circuit  22  described above. As shown, circuit  22  may include the charger  40 , two rechargeable batteries  42 , and a digital RF transmitter  44 . The term “transmitter” as used herein shall mean not only an RF transmitter, but also an RF receiver or an RF transceiver. A digital microprocessor computer  46  with a digital memory  48  storing a computer process program  49 , a lamp driver  50 , and a plurality of the lamps  52  complete the circuit  22 . Charger  40  maintains batteries  42  at full charge. The several elements of circuit  22  are well known in the art. However, the combination of these elements and the arrangement thereof is considered to be novel and not obvious to one of skill in the art. 
     When transmitter  44  receives an RF signal it provides a digital signal to microprocessor  46  directing it to initiate the process program  49  which then signals lamp driver  50  with a lamp operating code. Driver  50  then delivers voltage to lamps  52  illuminating them in a blink sequence rate according to the code. The program  49  may be pre-set to deliver an instruction to driver  50  to illuminate the lamps  52  in a blinking sequence representing the code as for instance, for hydrants  5  with at least 20 PSI water pressure, the lamps will blink constantly at a rate of two blinks per second. For hydrants  5  with less than 20 PSI water pressure, the lamps will blink more slowly, once per second, for example, and with hydrants  5  with a very high water pressure, the lamps will blink rapidly, for example, four times per second. Therefore, with lamp color and blink rate an appropriate hydrant may be quickly selected by a responder appropriate for a corresponding situation. 
     In an embodiment of the reconnaissance system shown in  FIG. 3A , the mobile controller  30  may include a circuit having a transmitter  44 , a battery  38  and a actuation button  35  for manual actuation of an RF signal. The signal may be received by transmitter  44  of the circuits  22  of one or more lighting sets  20 . The controller  30  may use a visor clip  34  to secure it within a responding vehicle  7 . 
     In an embodiment of the reconnaissance system shown in  FIG. 3B , the mobile controller  30  may be integrated into a commercial vehicular mobile navigator  9  such as the Garmin navigator shown. Such a satellite navigation system typically uses a GPS navigation device to acquire position data to locate the user and a user&#39;s destination on a road map in the unit&#39;s map database. Alternately, the mobile navigator  9  may use coordinates acquired from the cellular phone network to provide user and destination locations on a screen displayed map as illustrated in  FIG. 3B . 
     As previously discussed, the mobile controller  30  may include an RF digital transmitter  44  capable of transmitting an RF signal that is able to be received by an RF digital receiver  44  in lighting set  20 . Controller  30  may also include information in digital form concerning the GPS location, maximum flow rate, and water pressure, of every fire hydrant  5  within the geographical area served by a responder. This information may also include, for each hydrant  5 , a hydrant lamp color related to water flow rate and a lamp blink rate related to hydrant water pressure. When this information is integrated into the database of navigator  9  the navigator&#39;s microprocessor is able to display hydrant locations, color, and blink rate on screen, overlaying a street map of the destination (location of the fire).  FIG. 7  shows the steps taken to achieve the hydrant display on the navigator&#39;s street map. In  FIG. 7  we see that with the navigator  9  powered on, the user may enter a destination address whereupon the destination&#39;s GPS coordinates are retrieved from the navigator&#39;s database. The street map with the destination displayed at center is positioned. Next, the user enters a distance “d” that hydrants may located from the destination. This distance depends on the water pressure generally available to hydrants in the vicinity of the destination. There may be several hundred or even thousands of hydrants  5  in the geographical service area of a specific responder but there may be as few as only one hydrant  5  near enough to the destination to be useful. It is critically important for the responders to determine which hydrants  5  are available to the destination. As discussed, the hydrants within the geographical service area are stored in the navigator&#39;s database. As shown in  FIG. 7 , each hydrant in the database is considered in sequence. The GPS location of each hydrant is compared with the GPS location of the destination and only hydrants having a distance “D” less than “d” are imaged on screen at their respective positions. In  FIG. 3B  there are six hydrants  5  shown. The hydrants  5  are shown as dots on screen and the dots are presented in a color representing the hydrant&#39;s maximum water flow rate. The dots are also presented with a blink rate representing water pressure as previously described. 
     Such a navigator  9  typically is capable of displaying a selected area  3  of a city from data stored in its built-in or on-line digital memory. Also, a selected destination  8 , for instance a fire scene, may be displayed on screen by a mark as a circle with a dot at its center, for instance, as well as the present location of the responding vehicle  7  in which the navigator  9  is mounted. In an embodiment, fire hydrant location information is also stored in the memory of the navigator  9  and this information may be displayed on the screen as well. In an assigned response area of a given responder the locations of all fire hydrants  5  are known and are stored in the navigator&#39;s memory. The retrieval program is capable of displaying all hydrants  5  within a selected distance from a chosen fire scene  8 , for instance within 1000 feet. If the location is a building, the fire hydrants  5  along the frontal street and possibly the rear street may be displayed. If the fire scene is in a grass or wooded area, the hydrants  5  in surrounding streets are displayed. The data stored in memory, beside hydrant location  5 , may include hydrant operating characteristics such as flow-rate and water pressure rating. When a hydrant  5  is displayed on the screen of navigator  9 , the location may be identified by a dot ( 5 ) as shown, the water pressure by a blank rate of the dot ( 5 ), and the water pressure by the color of the dot ( 5 ). Other means for identifying hydrant characteristics may be employed as the foregoing is exemplary only. The important aspect is that, while in route to a fire scene, a preliminary reconnaissance may be completed so that entry to the scene and selection of a hydrant(s) may be made very quickly saving time, property, and potentially lives. 
     In an embodiment, hydrant characteristics such as water pressure and flow rate may be stored in memory  48  of light set  20 , but may not be stored in the database of navigator  9 . Assuming that both controller  30  and lighting set  20  are equipped with RF transceivers  44 , when controller  30  transmits an RF signal, a response signal from set  20  will carry the hydrant characterizing information which is then received by controller  30  and displayed on the navigator&#39;s screen. In this approach, each hydrant  5  has a unique identification number. The responder transmits an RF signal with the identification number of a specific hydrant  5 . Only that hydrant responds. The responder has information of the hydrants  5  in the vicinity of the destination and is able to load each hydrant&#39;s identification number in each outgoing RF signal of a sequence of such signals. 
     Embodiments of the subject apparatus and method have been described herein. Nevertheless, it will be understood that modifications by those of skill in the art may be made without departing from the spirit and understanding of this disclosure. Accordingly, other embodiments and approaches are within the scope of the following claims.

Technology Classification (CPC): 4