Hyperbaric hypoxic fire escape and suppression systems for multilevel buildings, transportation tunnels and other human-occupied environments

A fire escape and suppression system for buildings, said system comprising:

• a pressurized staircase compartment having an internal hyperbaric atmosphere therein at an absolute pressure in the range from 1 to 2 atmospheres;
• said internal atmosphere consisting of a hypoxic air having oxygen content below 14%;
• said hyperbaric compartment selectively communicating through airlock means with multiple normobaric human-occupied compartments containing an ambient air at standard atmospheric pressure and, when needed, releasing said hypoxic air into selected normobaric compartment(s) in order to create a fire-extinguishing atmosphere inside by mixing with and replacing said ambient air;
• a hypoxic air generation device supplying said hyperbaric compartment with the hypoxic air and constantly maintaining a hyperbaric pressure inside;
• said hypoxic air generation device producing the hypoxic air from ambient atmospheric air by means of extracting from it a part of oxygen;
• said hyperbaric atmosphere being a breathable fire-extinguishing composition having an oxygen partial pressure at a safe human-respiration level;
• said staircase compartment being accessible at any time for normal staircase operation or for maintenance work;
• an emergency ventilation conduit for transmitting said fire-extinguishing composition into a normobaric compartment affected by a fire;
• said ventilation conduit being closed during normal operation by a closing means that can be released by a signal from a fire detection system;
• said fire detection system comprising multiple fire and smoke detectors installed in each room of the building and a main control panel communicating with the detectors, said closing means, airlock doors locking devices, said hypoxic air generation device and a back-up power supply unit.

A hyperbaric hypoxic fire escape and suppression system for buildings, said system comprising:

• a building and an external hyperbaric hypoxic fire escape staircase shaft;
• said staircase shaft having an internal atmosphere of a breathable fire-extinguishing composition at a hyperbaric pressure and pressurized doors that, when open, communicate with the building's floors through escape bridges, each having an entry door on the building's side;
• said pressurized doors being normally closed and inaccessible due to a hyperbaric pressure applied from inside of said staircase shaft and release automatically by a spring-type device installed in a door frame when said pressure drops to near standard;
• said staircase shaft communicating with a building's floor and/or floor unit through an emergency ventilation conduit for releasing said fire-extinguishing composition from said shaft in case of a fire;
• a device supplying said composition into the staircase shaft under said hyperbaric pressure;
• said device having an oxygen-extraction apparatus processing ambient air filtered from biological and chemical contaminants;
• said device communicating with said hyperbaric staircase shaft via preinstalled piping;
• said device with the oxygen-extraction apparatus reducing oxygen content in the processed ambient air in a range between 8% and 14% and transmitting the oxygen-reduced product, being said breathable fire-extinguishing composition, into said staircase shaft.

A hyperbaric hypoxic fire escape and suppression system for transportation and communication tunnels and mines, said system comprising:

• a normobaric tunnel or tunnel network having ambient air environment inside and communicating with the outside atmosphere;
• a pressurized tunnel having a hyperbaric hypoxic atmosphere inside at an absolute atmospheric pressure above 1 atmosphere or 1.013 bar, said pressurized tunnel selectively communicating during normal operation with the outside atmosphere and said normobaric tunnel by multiple means of an airlock or a depressurization chamber;
• said hyperbaric hypoxic atmosphere being an oxygen-reduced air having an oxygen content in the range from 7% and 14% and providing an oxygen partial pressure at a safe level above 142 millibar;
• said oxygen-reduced air having a fire-extinguishing property;
• an oxygen-extraction device communicating with said pressurized tunnel and providing said oxygen-reduced air at a hyperbaric pressure into said pressurized tunnel;
• a fire-detection and control system that detects a fire in said normobaric tunnel and opens the airlock closest to the fire site, allowing said oxygen-reduced air to enter and flood the normobaric tunnel or its portion affected by fire in order to extinguish the ongoing fire rapidly.