Measuring Water Flow Rate for a Fire Hose Using a Wireless Sensor Network for Smart Fire Fighting

Published

January 2, 2021

Author(s)

Christopher U. Brown, Gregory W. Vogl, Andy Tam

Abstract

A wireless sensor network was created to measure water-flow rate in a fire hose. An integrated electronic piezoelectric accelerometer was chosen as the sensor to measure the flow rate based on the vibrations generated by water flowing through a fire hose close to the hose nozzle. These sensors are small, lightweight, and they can attach to the outside of the hose, not obstructing the water's flow path. A relationship between the dominant-frequency metric and the flow rate was applied and used to determine real-time water flow in a fire hose critical for improving fireground situational awareness. A nearly monotonic relationship of flow rate to the dominant frequency was established and then used in a custom graphical user interface for quick, real-time, visual referencing by fire personnel of flow rate in a fire hose. While more work is needed, such as improved physical robustness of the sensor-node assembly and increased robustness of the signal metric, this preliminary study shows the potential of a ''smart'' fire hose for improved situational awareness during a fire attack.

Citation

Fire Technology

Volume

57

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

DOI Link

Keywords

Accelerometers, Fire hose, Flow rate, Hose vibration, Smart fire fighting, Wireless sensor network

Citation

Brown, C. , Vogl, G. and Tam, A. (2021), Measuring Water Flow Rate for a Fire Hose Using a Wireless Sensor Network for Smart Fire Fighting, Fire Technology, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/s10694-020-01054-1 (Accessed April 19, 2024)