JP7655870B2 - Fire hydrant equipment - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a fire hydrant device, and more specifically, to a fire hydrant device equipped with an indicator light.

Traditionally, fire hydrant devices have been installed in tunnels. These devices were installed by embedding them in the space created by cutting out a box from the tunnel wall. However, in recent years, tunnels have come to be excavated using the shield construction method. In this case, the inner wall of the tunnel is constructed from steel segments at the same time as the excavation, making it difficult to secure the installation space for the fire hydrant device by cutting out a box from the tunnel wall.

Therefore, in tunnels excavated using the shield tunneling method, fire hydrant devices are not embedded in the tunnel walls, but are installed in open spaces within the tunnel, such as guard passages (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2017-56020 A

Fire hydrant devices are equipped with indicator lights to show the location of the fire hydrant device and push-button transmitter so that the location of the fire hydrant device can be quickly confirmed in the event of a fire. In the case of fire hydrant devices installed in tunnels, due to the nature of tunnels, it is expected that the indicator lights will be visible to vehicles passing through the traffic lanes, so visibility from the side is more important than visibility from the front.

On the other hand, because the space in guard passages and the like is relatively limited, fire hydrant devices installed in tunnels are required to be thin so as to take up as little space as possible. To make fire hydrant devices thin, it is also necessary to shape the indicator light installed on the front of the housing of the fire hydrant device so that the display part protrudes as little as possible from the housing. However, reducing the amount that the display part protrudes from the housing causes the problem that it becomes difficult to ensure luminous intensity from the side.

On the other hand, the indicator lights installed in tunnels are primarily visible from the lane, and the closer the fire hydrant device is installed to the lane, the smaller the area of the indicator light that can be seen from the side of the lane. Therefore, the closer the fire hydrant device is installed to the lane, the shorter the lateral distance between the observer and the fire hydrant device at which the indicator light can be seen, making it difficult to ensure visibility.

As a result, when installing a fire hydrant device in a space such as a guard's passage, compared to conventional installations without a box, the device will be installed closer to the lane, and this, combined with the reduced amount of protrusion of the indicator light from the housing, will reduce the luminous intensity from the side, creating a new problem in that it will be more difficult to ensure visibility from the side compared to installations without a box.

The present invention aims to provide a fire hydrant device that improves the visibility of the indicator light from the side compared to conventional fire hydrant devices.

The present invention is a fire hydrant device to be installed in a tunnel, comprising: a housing having an indicator light mounting door ; an indicator light having a display unit attached to the indicator light mounting door ; and a door-opening means for rotating the indicator light mounting door toward one side in the event of a fire, wherein the indicator light mounting door is configured to be opened by the door-opening means at least in the event of a fire and to be held so as to face in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of vehicles traveling through the tunnel, and the door-opening means is configured to automatically open the indicator light mounting door in response to a fire signal, and the display unit is arranged so that at least in the event of a fire, almost the entirety of the display unit is visible from at least one side in the event of a fire and faces in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of vehicles traveling through the tunnel .

The present invention also provides a fire hydrant device comprising a housing having an indicator light mounting door, a first indicator light having a display unit provided on the front side of the indicator light mounting door, and a door-opening means for rotating the indicator light mounting door toward one side in the event of a fire, the display unit being arranged so that almost the entirety of the display unit is visible from at least one side in the event of a fire, and further comprising a second indicator light which is provided on the back side of the indicator light mounting door .

The present invention further comprises a fire extinguisher door, the indicator light mounting door being provided integrally with the fire extinguisher door or connected to the fire extinguisher door, and the door-opening means can be provided for rotating the fire extinguisher door together with the indicator light mounting door toward one of the lateral sides in the event of a fire.

Furthermore , in the present invention, the fire hydrant device is installed in a tunnel, and the display unit can be arranged so as to face in a direction opposite to the direction of travel of vehicles traveling through the tunnel, at least in the event of a fire.

In addition, in this invention, the front, back, left, right, top and bottom directions are defined when the fire hydrant device is installed. In addition, although the expressions "first" and "second" are used in this invention, this is only used to distinguish each configuration, and the order and numbers have no particular meaning.

According to one aspect of the present invention, an indicator light is provided on a side panel attached to the side of the housing, and the display portion of the indicator light is arranged so that it can be seen almost entirely from at least one side at least in the event of a fire, thereby improving the visibility of the indicator light from the side compared to conventional fire hydrant devices.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the indicator light mounting door on which the indicator light is mounted is rotatable toward one side in the event of a fire, and the display portion of the indicator light is arranged so that it is substantially entirely visible from at least one side in the event of a fire, thereby improving the visibility of the indicator light from the side compared to conventional fire hydrant devices.

FIG. 1 is a front view of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a left side view of the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a plan view of a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the indicator lamp according to the first embodiment of the present invention. 11A and 11B are front perspective views of a second embodiment of the present invention, in which FIG. 11A shows a normal state and FIG. FIG. 13 is a left side perspective view showing a second embodiment of the present invention when a fire occurs.

The first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4, taking as an example a fire hydrant device 1A that is installed in an open space such as a guard passage in a tunnel. Note that this embodiment is an example assuming that vehicles passing through the tunnel drive on the left side of the road. If vehicles pass through the tunnel on the right side of the road, the device can be installed with the left and right sides reversed.

The terms "front," "left," "back," and other terms used to describe this invention that indicate position or direction are used according to the position or direction of the fire hydrant device 1A when it is installed. Additionally, side and lateral refer to the left and right sides of the fire hydrant 1A when it is installed.

The fire hydrant device 1A includes a housing 2 and an indicator light 3A. The housing 2 has a side panel 20 on at least one side. In this embodiment, the housing 2 has a front panel 21, which is a front plate constituting the front side, and a main body 22 provided on the rear side of the front panel 21, and various fire hydrant devices (not shown), a fire hose (not shown) with a fire nozzle attached to its tip, and a fire extinguisher (not shown) are housed inside.

The front panel 21 is provided with a fire hydrant door 23 for removing the fire hose from the housing 2, a work door 24 for installing and inspecting the fire hydrant device, and a fire extinguisher door 25 for removing the fire extinguisher from the housing 2, and is equipped with a push-button transmitter 4 for reporting. The main body 22 is substantially box-shaped, with the front side closed by the front panel 21, and in this embodiment, the side on the left side is the side panel 20.

The indicator light 3A has a display unit 30A and a light-emitting unit (not shown) provided inside the display unit 30A and equipped with LEDs (light-emitting diodes) or the like, and is attached to the side panel 20. The display unit 30A is provided so that it is substantially entirely visible from one side, in this embodiment, the left side, at least in the event of a fire. In this embodiment, the fire hydrant device 1A is not installed by cutting out a box from the wall of the tunnel, so the side panel 20 is exposed to the outside, and by providing the indicator light 3A on the side panel 20, it is possible to make the display unit 30A substantially entirely visible from one side, at least in the event of a fire.

In addition, when the fire hydrant device 1A is installed in the tunnel, the display unit 30A is preferably arranged so that, at least in the event of a fire, it faces in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of vehicles traveling through the tunnel, that is, to the left if the vehicle drives on the left side as in this embodiment, and to the right if the vehicle drives on the right side. By doing so, in the event of a fire in the tunnel, the indicator light 3A is easily visible to drivers and others in vehicles traveling in the lane who may be looking for the fire hydrant device 1A.

In this embodiment, the display unit 30A is formed in a streamlined shape, for example, in a roughly conical shape. This reduces the air resistance of the display unit 30A, prevents dust and other contaminants floating in the tunnel from adhering to the display unit 30A, and maintains the luminosity of the indicator light 3A. The shape of the display unit 30A can be changed as needed, but when a so-called convex streamlined shape is used as the display unit 30A, the visibility of the indicator light from the side can be maintained by providing it on the top panel 26 of the main body 22 instead of on one side.

Therefore, in the fire hydrant device 1A of this embodiment, the indicator light 3A is provided on the side panel 20, and at least in the event of a fire, the indicator light 3A's display portion 30A is substantially entirely visible from one side, improving the visibility of the indicator light from the side.

In addition, even though the indicator light is thin, it is installed on the side panel 20, so it is seen from the front by drivers in vehicles traveling on the roadway in the viewing direction, and visibility is good. Since the indicator light itself does not need to be thin because it is installed on the side panel of the fire hydrant, it is possible to use a conventional indicator light with a protruding shape. The indicator light 3A installed on the side panel 20 emits a straight light when lit, so while it has good lateral visibility, some viewers may find it dazzling. In such cases, a luminance adjustment mechanism is provided to adjust the luminance of the display part 30A of the indicator light 3A. This makes it possible to reduce glare while maintaining visibility.

The second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figures 5 and 6, taking as an example a fire hydrant device 1B installed in a tunnel. As with the first embodiment, this embodiment is also an example assuming that vehicles passing through the tunnel keep to the left. The difference between this embodiment and the first embodiment is that an indicator light mounting door 27 is provided on the housing 2, and instead of providing indicator light 3A on the side panel 20, indicator light 3B is provided on the indicator light mounting door 27. The components with the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, so their description will be omitted.

In the fire hydrant device 1B of this embodiment, the housing 2 is equipped with an indicator light mounting door 27, and the indicator light 3B is provided on the indicator light mounting door 27. In this embodiment, the indicator light 3B has a display unit 30B that has a flat shape and is provided so as to be approximately flush with the front surface of the housing 2 in order to reduce the amount of protrusion from the housing 2. Otherwise, it has the same configuration as the display unit 3A, and is provided on the front side of the indicator light mounting door 27. The amount of protrusion of the display unit 30B from the housing 2 can be changed as necessary, and it is also possible to give the display unit 30B a shape that does not protrude much from the housing 2.

The indicator light mounting door 27 is configured to be opened by a door-opening means (not shown) in the event of a fire and rotated toward one side, in this embodiment, the left side. This makes it possible for the display unit 30B to be viewed almost entirely from at least one side in the event of a fire. In this embodiment, the indicator light mounting door 27 rotates toward the left side for the same reasons as in the first embodiment (see paragraph [0023]).

In this embodiment, the indicator light mounting door 27 is configured to rotate by approximately 90° by the door opening means so that the display unit 30B faces in the direction opposite to the direction of travel of the vehicles traveling through the tunnel at least in the event of a fire, as in the first embodiment, and the door is held in place. In addition, the indicator light mounting door 27 is provided integrally with the fire extinguisher door 25.

As the door-opening means, any known means can be appropriately used. For example, an actuator or the like can be provided as the door-opening means, and the indicator light mounting door 27 can be rotated toward one of the sides by linear or rotary motion of the actuator or the like. It is also possible to manually open the indicator light mounting door 27 by directly operating the handle portion 28 provided on the indicator light mounting door 27. In this embodiment, the indicator light mounting door 27 is integrated with the fire extinguisher door 25, so the fire extinguisher door 25 is also rotated in the same direction by the door-opening means.

In this embodiment, the fire hydrant device 1B is capable of communicating with or connected to an automatic fire alarm system including a detector that detects a fire in the tunnel and a disaster prevention receiving panel (not shown; hereafter also referred to as the receiving panel). After a fire signal is sent to the receiving panel upon activation of the transmitter 4 provided in the fire hydrant device 1B and/or detection of a fire by various devices including detectors provided in the tunnel, the receiving panel sends a signal directly or indirectly to the door opening means, and the door opening means is configured to automatically open the indicator light mounting door 27 in response to the signal.

Therefore, in the fire hydrant device 1B of this embodiment, when the receiving panel receives a fire signal, a signal is sent from the receiving panel to the door-opening means, and the door-opening means rotates the indicator light mounting door 27 toward one of the sides in response to the signal, so that at least in the event of a fire, substantially the entire display section 30B of the indicator light 3B is visible from one of the sides, thereby improving the visibility of the indicator light from the side.

In addition, as in this embodiment, by automatically opening the indicator light mounting door 27 in the event of a fire, the driver and other personnel can more easily detect the abnormality, improving the visibility of the indicator light and enabling early evacuation.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, the indicator light mounting door 27 is provided integrally with the fire extinguisher door 25, so that in the event of a fire, the fire extinguisher door 25 is opened together with the indicator light mounting door 27, making it possible to quickly find or remove the fire extinguisher from the housing 2, and to more quickly begin initial fire-fighting activities.

The present invention has been described above based on the above embodiment, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention.

(1) The above embodiment has been described using fire hydrant device 1A and fire hydrant device 1B installed in a tunnel as examples, but the present invention can also be applied to fire hydrant devices installed in places other than tunnels.

(2) It is also possible to provide multiple indicator lights on the fire hydrant device 1A or the fire hydrant device 1B. For example, in the first embodiment, a second indicator light (not shown), for example an indicator light of the same form as indicator light 3A, can be provided on the side panel 29 on the other side of the main body 22. Also, in the second embodiment, a second indicator light can be provided on the back side of the indicator light mounting door 27.

In this way, at least in the event of a fire, substantially the entirety of at least one of display unit 30A or 30B or the display unit of the second indicator light can be seen from both sides, and it is possible to ensure visibility of the indicator light, for example, even for evacuees who get off the vehicle and are evacuating in the opposite direction to the vehicle's travel direction through a guard passage or the like.

In the above embodiment, as in conventional fire hydrant devices, it is of course possible to further provide an indicator light (not shown) on the front panel 21, for example an indicator light of the same form as indicator light 3B.

(3) In the second embodiment, the indicator light mounting door 27 can be provided separately from the fire extinguisher door 25. In this case, the indicator light mounting door 27 and the fire extinguisher door 25 can be connected and the fire extinguisher door 25 can be opened together with the indicator light mounting door 27 by the door opening means, but it is also possible to open only the indicator light mounting door 27 by the door opening means.

(4) In the second embodiment, the indicator light mounting door 27 opens to the left or right, but for example, in a fire hydrant device embedded in a guard passage, the indicator light mounting door may open upward toward one of the sides, or, if necessary, downward toward the same direction.

(5) In the event of a fire, the display units 30A and 30B may be configured to light up or flash, for example, when triggered by a signal from the receiving panel of the automatic fire alarm system or the activation of the transmitter 4. This, combined with the improved visibility of the display units 30A and 30B from the side, makes it easier for the driver, etc. to detect abnormalities, and can further improve the visibility of the indicator lights 3A and 3B.

1A Fire hydrant device 1B Fire hydrant device 2 Housing
20 Side plate 21 Front panel 22 Main body
23 Fire hydrant door 24 Work door 25 Fire extinguisher door
26 Top panel 27 Indicator light mounting door 28 Handle
29 Side plate 3A Indicator light 3B Indicator light
30A Display unit 30B Display unit 4 Transmitter

Claims (4)

A fire hydrant device installed in a tunnel,
A housing having an indicator light mounting door;
An indicator light provided on the indicator light mounting door and having a display portion;
and a door-opening means for rotating the indicator light mounting door toward one side in the event of a fire.
the indicator light mounting door is configured to be opened by the door-opening means and held so as to face in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of vehicles traveling through the tunnel at least in the event of a fire,
The door opening means is configured to automatically open the indicator light mounting door in response to a fire signal,
The fire hydrant device is characterized in that the display unit is arranged so that, at least in the event of a fire, almost the entire display unit can be seen from at least one of the sides and faces in a direction opposite to the direction of travel of vehicles traveling through the tunnel . A housing having an indicator light mounting door;
A first indicator light provided on a front surface side of the indicator light mounting door and having a display portion ;
and a door-opening means for rotating the indicator light mounting door toward one side in the event of a fire.
The display unit is arranged so that the display unit can be visually recognized substantially in its entirety from at least one of the lateral sides at least in the event of a fire.
Further comprising a second indicator light ,
A fire hydrant apparatus characterized in that the second indicator light is provided on the back side of the indicator light mounting door. Further equipped with a fire extinguisher door,
The indicator light mounting door is integral with the fire extinguisher door or is connected to the fire extinguisher door,
3. The fire hydrant device according to claim 1 , wherein the door-opening means is provided for rotating the fire extinguisher door together with the indicator light mounting door toward one of the lateral sides in the event of a fire. The fire hydrant device is installed in a tunnel,
The fire hydrant device according to claim 2 or claim 3 which derives from claim 2, characterized in that the display unit is arranged to face in a direction opposite to the traveling direction of vehicles traveling through the tunnel at least in the event of a fire.

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