Keeping shipyards safe and employees injury free
Extinguisher Pro CAD model mounted on mannequin
Project Summary
It all started with a friend of mine from High School who was hired to work at the Bangor, WA Submarine base as a fire watch on the maintenance pier. He is paid to stand with a fire extinguisher in one hand at the ready to extinguish any flame as to prevent catastrophic fires when grinding and welding within the base. I thought that there had to be a better way. I built, with 4 fellow engineering students over a period of 10 weeks, a fire extinguisher backpack. It holds two different extinguisher classes, in an ergonomic streamlined backpack. It has an active data readout display for tank selection and current usage based of an Arduino. Also, the pack features a mechanical ball valve and electronic programmed safety to prevent accidental dispersion as well as an electronic servo based and mechanical sheathed cable activation systems. The pack worked as desired and exceed all agreed upon specifications.
Achievements
Fully functional prototype within 10 weeks
Met or exceeded all design specifications
Followed industry design standards
Industry sponsorship
Led team of 5 multidisciplinary engineering students in close connection with industry professionals
Title: Project Lead
Prototype System
The Handle
Acting as the primary UI, the handle has the computing/system information hardware, both the mechanical and electronic safety devices, the retardent nozzle, and the primary retardant trigger integrated into the design. The user is able to select individual extinguishers and know their current status. The handle is worn in a holster and operates via a single handed point and shoot extinguishing system.
The Apparatus
Using an aluminum backpack frame and custom extinguisher mounting hardwear, the system is adjustable to accommodate twin 5 or 10 lb cylinders of mixed types (5 lb cyclinders shown at left). Attention was made to ensure the system was as streamlined as possible, protruding 8 inches. The pack incorporated ergonomics for 5% size female to 95% size male users decreasing work place stress related injuries.
Testing
From idea to prototype in 10 weeks, we were able to craft a fully operable prototype which met or exceeded all of the agreed upon specifications. The photo at left depicts the manual emergency pull activation system in case the battery goes dead for the electrics. The video at right is a preliminary test of the pack functioning ideally.