Development of Fire Extinguishing in Aerodrome Using UAV

This study investigates the development of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) based fire extinguishing system tailored for aerodrome environments. In addition, the project aims to modifier the drone to solve the challenges that traditional firefighting methods include delays in response time, limited visibility, and restricted access to fire sources. The project proposes a UAV system capable of remote and efficient fire intervention. The project is divided into two designs, each of which is equipped with different systems that are used to fight fires in both horizontal and vertical firefighting scenarios. Furthermore, the designs are explained as follows: The first design is used in horizontal firefighting scenario, which is a drone equipped with a carbon fiber cylinder, a nozzle and an electrically controlled valve. The principle of this design is that when the drone approaches the fire, using the remote control of the drone, the valve releases compressed fire-extinguishing materials towards the flame through the nozzle. Moreover, the purpose of using a cylinder made of carbon fiber instead of Steel, is to contribute to weight reduction and increase strength, allowing high-pressure containment to increase the amount of fire extinguishing material and improve flight performance such as flight time. Finally, in this design, CO2 is the fire-extinguishing material chosen based on the common fire categories encountered in airport environments. The second design is used in vertical firefighting, which includes a UAV equipped with a release system separately controlled and fire-extinguishing balls. The principle of this design is when the drone reaches vertically above the fire zone, using a separate remote sends an order signal to the release system to drop the ball into the fire source, then the fire extinguisher ball explodes after a few seconds, leading to spreading its fire-material contents and firefighting. In addition, the size of the extinguisher ball correlates with the area it can effectively cover. Moreover, the fire extinguisher ball contains specific fire-extinguishing material that can fight all types of fire. Moreover, the prototype has undergone many tests including simulation testing and operational testing to evaluate the effectiveness of the project such as using simulation software such as finite element analysis FEA to confirm the strength and endurance of the materials used (carbon fiber), testing the prototype in real firefighting to ensure verification of the drone’s ability to reach the fire areas, launch the firefighting capsule with the accuracy and efficiency of the fire extinguishing materials used.