URBAN FIRE Reconnaissance DRONE Final Report

Sean Keppler

2Mission

» Investigate materials and develop systems to protect a small recon-drone from fire and heat damage, so that such a device could be used to help with urban firefighting in the future

3The Future Drone

» Used in searching buildings during firefighting operations

» Enters interior of upper floors by breaking a window

» Complete all primary and secondary searches in less than 73 to 42minutes˃ Grimwood, P. (2009). Fire service Intervention at High-rise Fires: A methodology for

reducing Fire Service intervention times. FireSafetyEngineer.com [Online] Available: www.firetactics.com

4PLAN OF ACTION

» 1. Research materials» 2. Select and test candidates» 3. Address side objectives

5Material Criteria

» Maximum and Average Heat flux during static and dynamic testing regimes

» Maximum temperature reached during tests

6Fabrics Used

» Fire Heavy Duty Fire shelter material, or SW-HD ˃ Aluminized Fiberglass

» AFLPN 1500 ˃ An aramid-carbonized acrylic blend with a

nonwoven aramid outer layer and a woven fiberglass core with an aluminized coating

» AS2400˃ Woven Amorphous Silica

7Goal of testing

» Find the which fabric protected the drone the best

» Find out how much the helicopter could take without protection

» Find any unforeseen complications of trying to put a drone into an incendiary environment

8Testing Procedure

» Test the three fabrics over a grill

» 3 testing Regimes, Static and Dynamic regimes with the fabrics in place, and a final “until failure” regime for the

» Measure the heat flux and the circuit board, fire ambient air temperature

9“Dummy” Drone

10“Cooking” Drone

11Test Rig

12BURNING IT UP

13

14Results

» ALFPN 1500 proved to be the best

» Firezed Heavy Duty came in second

» AS2400 looses rigidity when heated, leading to very poor performance in this test rig

» There is substantial noise in the data

15Results

16Results

Kw/m2 Maximum AverageNo Cloth After shut off 5.18 0.68 Before shut off 7.95 2.29 AFLPN 1500 Static 1.87 0.32AFLPN 1500 Dynamic 0.64 0.05Firezed Static 3.07 0.59Firezed Dynamic 1.55 0.06AS2400 Static 3.29 0.75AS2400 Dynamic 2.12 0.41

Heat Fluxes For the “No Cloth” test and the Static and Dynamic Tests

17Results

18Side Objectives

» Fanning of flames **********» Danger of hitting people in close quarters**********» Smoke agitation**********» Opening doors**********

» Optional objective

» Getting in a window XXXXXXXX

19 Closer look

http://droningskies.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/59068c6d1d920f28d19e6dd03b6659c6_large1-415x260.jpg

20Other Considerations

» Use Nickel metal-hydride batteries, NOT LITHIUM POLYMER BATTERIES

» Aluminum propeller blades would probably suffice for this drone’s needs

» If there is a chance to redo this, do it inside and with a more controllable heat source

» A future test should involve flying helicopter and Quad-copter through gauntlet of fans

21 Closer look

What are your

QuestionsComments

or Concerns?