On-board mixing system for firefighting chemicals

A gel-water mixing system, said mixing system comprising:

• (a) a payload tank, being of a large volumetric capacity suitable for storage of a quantity of gel-water emulsion sufficient for wildfire firefighting purposes, said payload tank having a payload tank fill port through which a flow of water from a water intake can flow into the payload tank;
• (b) a gel reservoir;
• (c) a gel pump for conveying gel via a gel supply line from the gel reservoir to an injection point associated with the water intake and proximal to the payload tank fill port;
• (d) a gel processing unit (GPU);
• (e) a gel flow sensor associated with the gel supply line, for collecting gel flow data at a selected point downstream of the gel pump, said gel flow sensor being in electronic communication with the GPU;
• (f) a water flow sensor associated with the water intake, for collecting water flow data at a selected point upstream of the gel injection point, said water flow sensor being in electronic communication with the GPU;
• (g) a gel control panel (GCP) in electronic communication with the GPU, said GCP having a gel control switch for selecting an operational mode setting;
• (h) a gel select switch associated with the GCP, for setting a desired gel-water mix ratio and for conveying gel-water mix ratio settings to the GPU;
• and
• (i) a pump control module (PCM) in electronic communication with the gel pump;
• such that the GPU, in response to data from the water flow sensor indicating the commencement of water flow, will send a pump speed command to the PCM, which in turn will activate the gel pump so as to initiate a flow of gel to the injection point at a rate that will produce a gel-water mixture flowing through the payload tank fill port into the payload tank with a gel-water mix ratio corresponding to a gel-water mix ratio setting received from the gel control switch;
• whereby said quantity of gel-water emulsion in said payload tank can be applied onto said wildfire.