The Social Network & Community JUST for Firefighters
Colorado Professors Receive $917,000 Grant to Improve PPE
FORT COLLINS--The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded a group of Colorado State University engineering professors a $917,000 grant to help reduce the heat stress firefighters experience wearing heavy, fireproof suits.
Professors Thomas Bradley, Wade Troxell and John Williams are working with Niwot Technologies, a northern Colorado company, to develop a breathing apparatus for firefighters and hazardous materials workers that can cool them as they work. Niwot Technologies, LLC under its operations manager, Hal Gier, has developed a prototype product called the SuperCritical Air Mobility Pack, known as SCAMP, for NASA that uses cryogenic or extremely cold air to provide breathing air to firefighters in a thin, compact case.
Colorado State will develop a design to improve the pack’s endurance and cooling function, and to allow its commercial, civilian use.
“The National Fire Protection Association estimates that about 43 percent of line-of-duty deaths by firefighters are the result of cardiovascular failure, which can result from repeated heat stress,” said Bradley, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “Their heavy coats do a great job of isolating firefighters from the high temperatures associated with a fire, but meanwhile they’re roasting on the inside because there’s no way to get the heat out.
“People generate about 600 watts of metabolic heat performing common firefighting tasks like climbing stairs and carrying heavy loads,” Bradley said. “It feels like having 10 60-watt light bulbs under your coat. Firefighters have a dangerous job and their equipment should not make it worse.”
Bradley and his team are developing the next generation of firefighter and HazMat airpacks so that air supply and cooling lasts longer. The development of the SCAMP toward the HazMat application will require research into manufacturing processes for thin-film thermoelectric cooling devices, improved system design, and further development of the firefighter/machine interface.
The project team includes CSU engineering seniors Nikki Dunlap, Joe Kennedy, Chris Record, Jake Renquist and Andy Rodriguez.
“For a small company, the resources available by working with the university are immense,” said Terry Gier, manager of Niwot Technologies. “The students have ideas but don’t have the working world background yet. We can help the university to develop their expertise and to combine this research and development effort with student learning.”
Poudre Fire Authority firefighters will help in the design review and field testing of the airpack.
“We support this research as improvements in the technology of protective systems will result in improved safety for firefighters,” said John Mulligan, chief of the Poudre Fire Authority in Fort Collins. “This is promising technology that addresses the personal protection concerns of the modern firefighter.”
Bradley joined Colorado State in 2008 after obtaining his doctoral degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include automotive and aerospace system design and energy system management.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA © 2008 Colorado State University
Professors Thomas Bradley, Wade Troxell and John Williams are working with Niwot Technologies, a northern Colorado company, to develop a breathing apparatus for firefighters and hazardous materials workers that can cool them as they work. Niwot Technologies, LLC under its operations manager, Hal Gier, has developed a prototype product called the SuperCritical Air Mobility Pack, known as SCAMP, for NASA that uses cryogenic or extremely cold air to provide breathing air to firefighters in a thin, compact case.
“The National Fire Protection Association estimates that about 43 percent of line-of-duty deaths by firefighters are the result of cardiovascular failure, which can result from repeated heat stress,” said Bradley, assistant professor of mechanical engineering. “Their heavy coats do a great job of isolating firefighters from the high temperatures associated with a fire, but meanwhile they’re roasting on the inside because there’s no way to get the heat out.
“People generate about 600 watts of metabolic heat performing common firefighting tasks like climbing stairs and carrying heavy loads,” Bradley said. “It feels like having 10 60-watt light bulbs under your coat. Firefighters have a dangerous job and their equipment should not make it worse.”
Bradley and his team are developing the next generation of firefighter and HazMat airpacks so that air supply and cooling lasts longer. The development of the SCAMP toward the HazMat application will require research into manufacturing processes for thin-film thermoelectric cooling devices, improved system design, and further development of the firefighter/machine interface.
The project team includes CSU engineering seniors Nikki Dunlap, Joe Kennedy, Chris Record, Jake Renquist and Andy Rodriguez.
“For a small company, the resources available by working with the university are immense,” said Terry Gier, manager of Niwot Technologies. “The students have ideas but don’t have the working world background yet. We can help the university to develop their expertise and to combine this research and development effort with student learning.”
Poudre Fire Authority firefighters will help in the design review and field testing of the airpack.
“We support this research as improvements in the technology of protective systems will result in improved safety for firefighters,” said John Mulligan, chief of the Poudre Fire Authority in Fort Collins. “This is promising technology that addresses the personal protection concerns of the modern firefighter.”
Bradley joined Colorado State in 2008 after obtaining his doctoral degree at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His research interests include automotive and aerospace system design and energy system management.
Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523 USA © 2008 Colorado State University
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Matthew A Borst on
-
I do not think this is a very good idea. We need to be able to feel the heat so we can tell when things are getting unsafe and to intense for us to be in a burning building. If all we can feel is cold air we might go to far and not realize it before its to late...
-
Permalink Reply by Robert Craig (Chappy) on
-
Matt, I agree! Our bodies are programed to tell us when its to hot. It automatically warns us when enough is enough and to get out. This system sounds good for comfort. But, then we can't rely on our bodies to tell us what we need to know. I like cool, but not at the expense of life.
-
Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
-
I disagree about cooling being a bad thing. As it is, "feeling the heat" used to be an argument to maintain 3/4 length coats and hip waders, Chicago FF's fought that battle quite long while everywhere else, including FDNY went to the turnouts majority of us use today. Not sure if this is it, but I also heard a snippet of a "flat" type of SCBA, comprised of some smaller bottles in an enclosed frame, thus can help reduce possibilty of getting entangled.
Now we don't have a ton of fires either, but I don't just rely on the temperature to understand when to get out either. Understanding building construction, sounding floors, watching conditions etc are also imperative to learn to know when to back out. I've been on plenty of calls, especially in summer, where something to help you keep you core temp lower can help. I beleive in traditions and so forth, but sometimes the old arguments just don't add up anymore. Is this the answer? Maybe not, but it could lead to other safety benefits in the future too. If not for such research and studies, we may still be in 3/4 coats and hip waders...is there any doubt out there the gear we use today is not better than before? I can show you a FF who is alive today because the gear protected her and held up...but there were many before this gear who said the same thing about being able to sense the heat.
-
Permalink Reply by Benjamin on
-
Honestly I think this can be potentially life saving for firefighters. As it said in the article the most common reason for LODD is because of heat exhaustion. This continual heat stress we put our bodies through takes a critical toll on them in the long run. If they can create an air pack that is able to cool our core body temperatures down then I think it can definitely help us as firefighters as well as help our hearts. I do agree with you Matt about the unsafe conditions and being able to realize them, but at the same time I think being able to know specific temperatures in a fire can be critical to combatting this idea that we can go further then we actually can. Possibly having a temperature reading in the system that we could see might be a positive addition to it.
-
Permalink Reply by Fireyladd - Retired Chief Sharp on
-
Good idea that is been needed for some time. Be interesting to see all the manufactures scrambling to be the first to come up with something similar. And the cost of such a SCBA.
-
Permalink Reply by Brandon S. on
-
At least with the new award that they have received, they will improve their service. They will be able to serve more the people especially in times of needs and they will also be able to protect themselves from. Speaking of award, an award that worth following is the Nobel Prizes, and this year's Nobel Prize winner for literature is Herta Müller. Frau Müller was born to German parents in Romania, and studied Romanian Literature and German Studies at university. She lived through the post World War 2 period, in which a communist regime ruled Romania, and was noted for refusing to cooperate with the state secret police. She began novels, eventually moved to Germany, and began publishing more works. She was selected to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature for 2009 – which comes with a hefty grant of quick cash.
-
Permalink Reply by blair4630 on
-
Hey, spammer, peddle your stuff somewhere else, this is a professional discussion forum.
-
-
by Brandon S.
which comes with a hefty grant of quick cash.
Seriously, what is up with you damn posers??? Are you that dense that people will fall for such a moronic ploy??
You idiots seriously need to be hit with a BAN stick.
© 2024 Created by Firefighter Nation WebChief.
Powered by
