Oxygen is an oxidising gas that is in frequent use in a compressed form. Its increased concentration causes the distension of flammability thresholds of gases and liquid vapours. Solids surrounded by oxygen burn at a higher intensity, generating greater amounts of heat and higher combustion temperatures. The hazard caused by combustion of a substance in an oxygen environment not only causes its higher intensity, but due to its impact substances which in normal use conditions would not be easy to ignite, such as plastics or metals, become easily flammable in an oxygen atmosphere. Oxygen may become absorbed (in other words be accumulated) in the structure of textile materials, of which working clothing is made. Due to the possibility of warming up oxygen cylinders, it is important to know the hazards it creates, e.g. in the case of a shot, accidental opening, water cooling, and dangerous phenomena due to the presence of other flammable gases such as acetylene. The training described in the article points to the important danger when heating cylinders and the danger resulting from attempts to eliminate a hazard, e.g., during rescue and firefighting.
In the case of natural or man-made disaster, the top priority of urban search and rescue (USAR) groups is to localise the victim as quickly as possible. Even minutes might play a crucial role in the victim's survival. A number of standard operating procedures may be applied to achieve best performance. Rescue dogs are trained to search for alive victims; special inspection cameras are used, before heavy equipment is being implemented. To improve the effectiveness of USAR group operations, innovative technologies might be implemented. The most recent solution is currently designed in MOBNET project, founded by EU under the Horizon 2020 programme. The scope of the project is to combine both cellular technology and early Galileo services to localise the smartphones of potential victims. Integration tests give some promising outcomes. The following chapter looks at typical applications, real needs of public services as well as the performance of the novel system.
Fire and explosion protection in industrial conditions requires multidimensional approach. Usually the risk of hazardous zone creation is unavoidable, if the combustible material is processed. Therefore controlling of potential ignition sources is introduced. One of most popular sources of ignition is electrostatic discharge. Depending on the type of the discharge, as well as on exact discharge conditions, energy released might reach hundreds or even thousands of mJ, being able to ignite most of gaseous or dust-air hazardous mixtures. A dedicated methodology was created to record the discharge with fast camera with maximum speed of 1M fps and with the oscilloscope up to 25 GS/s. Dedicated test stand allows to obtain high voltage to create the conditions for electrostatic discharge. The aim of presented research was to analyze the course of electrostatic spark discharge in laboratory conditions and to place the outcomes in the context of explosion safety in the industrial conditions. The course of electrostatic discharge is dependent on various conditions: the polarity, distance between the electrodes, shape of electrodes, grounding conditions, etc. Understanding of the phenomenon is crucial from the point of view of explosion safety.
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