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Firefighting drones in action.
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Previously:
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...362#post142392
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...407#post200520
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...640#post147608
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...779#post118917
https://www.homemadetools.net/forum/...014#post134004
An obvious training exercise, using a training tower, but an excellent use for drones in a real world multi story fire event
This is a better use for drones than stylish selfies! If only buildings burned just on the outside like this! I could see using them for house fires and being very effective but those are really small hoses.
As a concept it is a neat idea but I have to question the validity of practical use.
The weight of the hose and water will severely limit the effective height. Not to mention the thrust required to counter the reaction forces from the nozzle.
Then you get into the practicality of flight time and manpower. The pilot and hose tender could team up and be on a ladder with a much bigger hose in the same time it takes to set up the drones.
That is providing a ladder truck can even get to the scene of the fire.Quote:
Originally Posted by piper184
Drones can be built as large as is required to lift the hose with a column of water and with enough counter active power to hold against the nozzle force.
Think of a purpose-built vehicle as a drone tender the drone would be carried on top of the vehicle with its pods folded back it could be 8 ft wide and 20 ft long in the stowed position the hose and gun already attached the truck would have its own pump. All that would be required to deploy would be to connect to a hydrant spread the pods and take flight. the vehicle it could be mounted on could be about the size of an ambulance and could arrive on scene before even and engine or pumper truck
Good points Frank.
And, thinking this out a little further, if a power cord were run up along side the hose, there would be no need for batteries and larger motors could be used. Maybe they already did that and it was just me jumping to the conclusion that they were battery powered.
And you could connect the controller via wire as well to eliminate any issues with RF controllers. Fly by wire in the true sense.
Yes the fly by wire thing would or could be a nice feature kind of defeats the purpose of it being called a drone then but it is already a tethered fire suppression delivery device as long as it has a hose connected to it. However, any drone powerful enough to carry the weight of a hose and column of water aloft while counteracting the pushback of the nozzle, could just as easily be used to carry a rescue responder and, or a means of transporting persons to the ground from a roof top. Being tethered to an umbilical could be a hinderance in situations like that though. I imagine the size of the conductor to carry enough current to power the pods might weigh nearly as much as a battery pack given the possible heights it could be required to be used. Spare battery packs could be mounted on its service vehicle, disconnected and changed out as easily as a portable hand drill just on a slightly larger scale.Quote:
Originally Posted by piper184
They don't need to be powered by electricity. Why not an internal combustion engine or engines, like many drone helicopters used for crop spraying are powered.
I was thinking that too. However, it almost appears to me they are spraying something other than water, which could be much lighter in weight.Quote:
Originally Posted by piper184
Still, this is a very impressive concept. Drones could be made as big as needed for work like this. Imagine drones built big enough to set large air conditioning units on top of buildings in place of tall cranes and helicopters?
My concern is the practicality of it. How long does it take to set up a drone? Unless there were dedicated vehicles that had the drones fueled and ready to launch from the top of the vehicle, hoses already attached and be instant starting, I don't see the practicality. If they were more quickly deployed than the time it takes to rig hoses and hoist ladders then I could see it but I'm not sure how feasible that would be.