US 12,478,815 B2
Fire protection systems for rooftop solar panel installations, methods and water spray nozzles therefor
Georg Baumann, Lübeck (DE); Sven Stenke, Lübeck (DE); Thorsten Gieseke, Großhandsdorf (DE); and Björn Schmidt, Reinfeld (DE)
Assigned to Minimax Viking Patent Management GmbH, Bad Oldesloe (DE)
Filed by Minimax Viking Patent Management GmbH, Bad Oldesloe (DE)
Filed on Jul. 5, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/764,661.
Claims priority of application No. 23193334 (EP), filed on Aug. 24, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2025/0065166 A1, Feb. 27, 2025
Int. Cl. A62C 35/68 (2006.01); A62C 31/02 (2006.01); A62C 37/08 (2006.01)
CPC A62C 35/68 (2013.01) [A62C 31/02 (2013.01); A62C 37/08 (2013.01)] 26 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A fire protection system for a rooftop solar panel installation, comprising:
a group of water spray nozzles, each of the group of water spray nozzles having a metric K-factor of 20 or less, to discharge firefighting fluid to a coverage area of the rooftop solar panel installation with solar panels,
a single fluid pipe system connecting the group of water spray nozzles to a fluid supply for providing the firefighting fluid,
a fire hazard detection system with at least one fire hazard detector configured to monitor the coverage area, and at least one detection control unit to generate an alarm signal upon detection of a fire hazard within the coverage area,
a valve unit configured to control passage of the firefighting fluid from the fluid supply to the group of water spray nozzles in response to the alarm signal,
wherein the coverage area comprises at least 500 m2, and the group of water spray nozzles is configured to discharge the firefighting fluid received from the fluid supply to the coverage area with a normalized fluid application rate of 15 mm/m2/min or less, and
wherein each of the water spray nozzles comprises:
a hollow nozzle body having:
a proximal nozzle inlet,
a distal nozzle head having a base segment with an orifice,
a deflector mount,
a deflector member, and
a fluid passage within the nozzle body, extending between nozzle inlet and orifice defining a fluid direction;
wherein the fluid passage includes a first chamber, the nozzle head surrounds a second chamber located between the base segment and deflector member, and the orifice directly connects the first and the second chamber, and
wherein the orifice has an outlet width towards the second chamber, the second chamber has a length between the base segment and the deflector member, and a ratio of outlet width-to-second chamber length is between 0.27 and 0.93.