Fire extinguishing system for warehouses

Abstract

In a warehouse having a plurality of framed storage rack structures arranged parallel along a first coordinate axis to define parallel lanes, each of the structures includes a plurality of columns horizontally spaced along a second coordinate axis and a plurality of racks vertically spaced along a third coordinate axis so that a plurality of storage locations are defined and addressable in terms of the positions on the first, second and third coordinate axes. A first plurality of fire sensors are provided in the storage rack structures to indicate the position of a fire in terms of the first and second coordinate axes. A remote-controlled load-handling structure is provided for each lane for carrying an article to a selected storage location in response to a command signal delivered from a central console through a communication link. A second plurality of fire sensors are mounted on the load-handling structure in positions corresponding to the vertically spaced storage locations. A control circuit is provided to respond to a signal from the first sensors to cause a corresponding load-handling structure to move to a position on the second coordinate axis specified by the first sensors and then to cause a fire extinguisher mounted on the load-handling structure to be elevated to a position on the third coordinate axis in response to the signal from the second sensors.