SBIR Phase II: High efficiency nozzles for fire fighting

该奖项全部或部分由2021年美国救援计划法案（公法117-2）资助。该第二阶段小企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛影响是减少美国野火相关的损失，降低消防员受伤的风险，并改善水资源保护。野火正在成为美国的主要环境威胁。2020年，美国西部超过400万英亩的土地被烧毁，数万人流离失所，数百万人被迫呼吸不健康的空气。最近的一项研究估计，美国西部所有宽度为2.5微米或更小的微小颗粒（PM2.5颗粒）中有50%可归因于野火。随着温暖和干燥的季节，在加州等地，野火正在成为全年的风险。更好的灭火技术是非常需要的，以应对这种日益增长的环境威胁。消防水龙带喷嘴是美国消防员使用的关键工具，然而，缺乏改进这些喷嘴的研究。消防员使用的喷嘴是几个世纪前的设计，没有优化灭火。拟议的第二阶段项目旨在优化喷嘴，使抑制速度提高两倍。更快的抑制可以防止每年数十亿美元的财产损失，并挽救生命。到2026年，拟议的技术有可能创造高达5000万美元的收入和40个工作岗位。SBIR二期项目将使用热管理和计算流体动力学模拟的基本原理来设计消防软管喷嘴，可以将灭火效率提高两倍，同时节省50%的水。为了快速设计迭代，3D打印技术将用于创建用于现场测试的喷嘴原型，并进行实验研究的设计。传统的消防喷头分为光孔喷头和组合喷头。光滑孔喷嘴产生低覆盖率的固体流。组合喷嘴可以产生宽流型，但在宽模式下具有明显较小的范围。通过优化流动路径，将产生发散的固体流模式。发散的固体流将在一个系统中结合联合收割机的长射程和穿透力以及组合喷嘴的宽覆盖范围。在第一阶段的工作中，灭火研究表明，这种水流模式可以将植被火灾的灭火率提高三倍，而使用的水不到一半。在拟议的第二阶段工作中，喷嘴将针对结构火灾进行优化。此外，作为第二阶段工作的一部分，将开发一种可调节的光滑孔喷嘴。这些可调喷嘴将进一步提高灭火效率，使消防员能够适应不同的火灾场景。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).The broader impact of this Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project is reducing wildfire-related damage in the US, reducing the risk of injury for firefighters, and improving water conservation. Wildfires are becoming major environmental threats in the US. In 2020, over 4 million acres of land were burned in the Western US, displacing tens of thousands of people and forcing millions to breathe unhealthy air. A recent study estimated that 50% of all tiny particles that are two and one half microns or less in width (PM2.5 particles) in the Western US could be attributed to wildfires. With warmer and drier seasons, in places like California, wildfires are becoming a year-round risk. Better fire suppression technologies are highly desired to counter this increasing environmental threat. Fire hose nozzles are the key instrument used by firefighters in the US; However, research improving these nozzles is lacking. The nozzles used by firefighters are centuries old designs that were not optimized for fire-suppression. The proposed Phase II project aims to optimize the nozzles to enable up to two times faster suppression. Faster suppression can prevent billions in dollars of property damage each year and save lives. The proposed technology has the potential to generate up to $50 million in revenue and 40 jobs by 2026. This SBIR Phase II Project will use the fundamentals of thermal management and computational fluid dynamic simulations to design fire-hose nozzles that can increase fire-suppression efficiency by two times while saving 50% of the water. For rapid design iteration, 3D printing techniques will be used to create nozzle prototypes for field testing and conduct the design of experiment studies. Traditional fire-fighting nozzles are classified as smooth-bore nozzles or combination nozzles. Smooth-bore nozzles create solid streams with low coverage. Combination nozzles can generate wide stream patterns but have a significantly smaller ranges in wide mode. By optimizing the flow pathways, a diverging solid stream pattern will be created. The diverging solid stream will combine the long-range and penetration of smooth-bore nozzles and wide coverage of combination nozzles in one system. In the Phase I work, fire-suppression studies showed that such water stream patterns increase suppression rates by three times for vegetation fires while using less than half the water. In the proposed Phase II work, the nozzles will be optimized for structural fires. Additionally, as part of the Phase II work, an adjustable smooth-bore nozzle will be developed. These adjustable nozzles will further increase the suppression efficiency and allow the firefighters to adapt to different fire scenarios.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.