Tank and Burning Well: the story of the birth of the Big Wing machine

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A later version of the Big Wing based on the VT-55A. An early version based on the T-34 was in operation in Kuwait. Source: fotoload.ru

Working to the limit


In the previous stories it was about armored vehicles developed in the Soviet Union for extinguishing army arsenals.

Powerful armor and tracks allow the vehicle to come close to the hearth, protecting the crew from high temperatures. Burning flares of oil and gas wells are no less dangerous. A burning ammunition depot, in the most extreme case, can not be extinguished at all - it is enough to evacuate residents from the zone of potential damage.



But with a well, everything is much more complicated.

Suffice it to recall what hell in the desert was staged by Saddam Hussein in 1991 in Kuwait. On his order, the retreating troops set fire to several hundred oil and gas wells, staging a local apocalypse in the region. Residents suffered not only from the smoky stench, but also from acid rain - the oil was saturated with sulfur compounds, which were transformed into toxic substances in the atmosphere.

At the same time, you cannot simply throw fiery torches, they can burn for years, spending valuable resources and polluting the atmosphere.

That is why fire departments pay special attention to techniques and methods of suppressing such fire dragons.


Source: politikus.ru

In the "simplest" cases, when the well debit is relatively small, it is possible to do with extinguishing the wells with water from ordinary fire nozzles.

To do this, prepare up to 20-25 barrels, who line up around the wellhead at a distance of 30-40 meters, and fill it with water. The water flow from each barrel must be at least 7 liters per second, that is, at least 150 liters of water are consumed by the burning torch every second.

Special skill of firefighters is required for simultaneous mixing of water from the shafts at one point above the wellhead. At the same time, it is important not to get water into the lower edge of the flame, otherwise it will be impossible to tear off the fire from the flow of oil or gas.

To understand the specifics of extinguishing such fires, the gas outflow speed is close to the speed of sound, the height of the column of fire is up to 25 meters, the sound pressure exceeds 120 dB, and the temperature of the soil around the hearth can reach 150 degrees.

The technique of manual extinguishing of the torch in such conditions works only in fields with low productivity. If oil and gas are gushing with greater intensity, explosives are required. A shock wave from several hundred kilograms of explosives should tear off the gas-air medium between the pipe mouth and the lower edge of the flame.

In successful cases, the pressure of oil and gas simply did not keep up with the elusive flame and the fire stopped.

There were cases when it was necessary to detonate about half a ton of TNT, but the torch did not go out. Then underground nuclear explosions went into action, blocking the well forever.

For obvious reasons, no one approved of such fire pyrotechnics, and the engineers had to look for new technical solutions. The most effective extinguishing method turned out to be using decommissioned turbojets aviation motors.

Turbojet engines extinguish


The first who proposed to extinguish wells using the products of combustion of motor fuel was a Hungarian engineer and head of the fire brigade of Budapest, Cornel Silvai. He patented in 1924 an installation with an aircraft engine, the exhaust gases of which suppressed combustion. Sometimes not by themselves, but paired with a dry extinguishing powder, which the pre-cooled gases were taken with them from a special tank.

Fire fighters could vary the extinguishing method - remove powder from the mixture, add water, or simply put out the fire with exhaust gases. The installation in a single copy was mounted on a 5-ton truck and until 1944 successfully extinguished the burning Hungarian capital.

The inventor Silvai became famous not only for the development of a "motor-fire extinguisher", but also for the very idea of ​​extinguishing the flame with gases - nitrogen, carbon dioxide and others.


Initially, the AGVS-100 was based on the ZIL-157 chassis.










AGVS-100 based on ZIL-131. Source: auto-history.livejournal.com

The next step to the firefighter tank Big Wing (strong wind) are Soviet developments in gas-water extinguishing systems.

Research began in the 60s and initially used gases from the VK-107 turbojet engines of the MiG-15 fighter jet as a fire extinguishing agent. Each such engine per second produced up to 40 kilograms of combustion products with a temperature of 600 degrees. But in this hot mixture, unburned fuel came across, which did not contribute to fire extinguishing at all. And the gas temperature of 600 degrees was excessive.

Therefore, it was decided to supply water to the "exhaust gases" of the turbojet engine.

Firstly, it cooled the gas mixture well, and, secondly, a water mist was formed, which increased the extinguishing efficiency.

This is how the first Soviet installation AGVS-100 or a gas-water extinguishing vehicle with a fire extinguishing agent flow rate of 100 kg / s was born.

The outboard engine from the MiG-15 and MiG-17 was installed on the ZiL-157 chassis and equipped with a nozzle with three LS-20 water barrels. Naturally, at an exorbitant water flow rate of 60 l / s, at least two fire tankers were assigned to each AGVS-100 unit. Water was also required to cool the installation itself - here the motor itself warmed up, and the radiant energy from a burning well could disable the installation.

As a result, the burning fountain of the well received a jet stream from AGVS-100 at a speed of 2000 km / h, saturated with water, water vapor and cooled inert gases. The jet had a length of up to 40 meters and a diameter of up to 15 meters.

One machine could put out a well in 10-15 minutes with a debit of up to 3 million cubic meters of gas per day. For large volumes, three or four machines were brought together, which simultaneously suppressed combustion.

The developments on the AGVS-100 car were used by Hungarian engineers, only instead of the ZIL-157/131 wheelbase it was decided to use a tank chassis.

Big wing


For the first time, the idea that the capabilities of AGVS-100 were not enough appeared among the Hungarians in 1979, when they could not put out the gas fountain in the area of ​​the town of Jean for a month.

It was decided to double the power by installing twin turbojet engines on the T-34 tank chassis.

The task was given to the Department of Aero and Thermal Engineering of the Budapest Technical University. The development was also attended by specialists from local oil and fire brigades.

As sprays on the roof of the tank, two turbojet TRD-11F300 were installed, each of which consumed more than 65 kg of air per second.


Firefighter Hungarian tank in Kuwait. Source: pholder.com

A tracked vehicle was built at the Central Aviation Equipment Repair Plant in Kecskemet only by the summer of 1991.

The result is a 38-ton monster, consuming more than 6 tons of kerosene per hour and hitting the flame with a 100-meter tongue of a gas-water mixture.

Hungarians have provided for a wide range of extinguishing agents - water, heavy foam, medium foam and dry powder materials. I must say that the T-34 with two turbojet engines was a real "lighter" - there were at least 3 tons of kerosene on board, not counting the diesel fuel for the tank engine. This did not allow the vehicle to approach the torch more than 30-40 meters.


The machine still works for Hungarian oil workers. Source: pinimg.com


Big Wing. Source: waralbum.ru

The tracked fire engine received the name Big Wing during the elimination of the burning oil gushers in Kuwait - the Americans were very impressed with the efficiency of the installation.

This experience was not in vain for the Hungarian engineers, and immediately after the Kuwaiti business trip, the T-34 chassis was replaced with a VT-55A tractor platform. The re-equipment was carried out at the Danube Aviation Plant, after which the car was handed over to the local oil and gas company MOL.

At the moment, this is the only car in its class in the world, and in Hungary itself, work on the modernization and development of the structure is not being carried out.

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17 comments
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  1. +2
    12 November 2021 06: 25
    explosives required.
    French film "Pay for Fear".
    1. +6
      12 November 2021 07: 17
      In 93. at the Gubkinskoye field, the well burst, from Tyumen, the Rapier was brought by helicopter. One shot and that was all, the torch was shot down and we drowned the well.
      1. 0
        12 November 2021 14: 17
        Quote: zadorin1974
        In 93. at the Gubkinskoye field, the well burst, from Tyumen, the Rapier was brought by helicopter. One shot and that was all, the torch was shot down and we drowned the well.

        T-12 / MT-12 "Rapira" was developed and produced at the Yurginsky Machine-Building Plant (Kemerovo Region).
        You can not take from the military unit, almost nearby. Initial speed - speed of sound (cumulative / subcaliber).
      2. +1
        29 January 2022 13: 50
        The rapier is garbage, now there are lasers, it will cut off like a ruler and anything.
        https://www.triniti.ru/catalog/lazernye-tekhnologii/mobilnyy-lazernyy-tekhnologicheskiy-kompleks-mltk/

        The MLTK-20 complex, created in 2010 by order of Gazprom-Gazobezopasnost, was used in the elimination of accidents:
        2011 - Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug at gas well No. 506 at an active field
        2013 - Samburgskoye oil and gas condensate field (YNAO)
        2014 - Verkhnekolik-Eganskoye oil and gas condensate field (KhMAO)
        2015 - Severogubkinskoye oil and gas condensate field (simultaneous open flowing of oil and gas wells at temperatures down to -32°С)
  2. 0
    12 November 2021 07: 32
    Quite a reasonable and proven technical solution for a long time. To extinguish high-energy fires, such as fires in oil wells, it is necessary to use energy comparable to the energy of a fire. But the problem of fire extinguishing installations using turbojet engines is that they are suitable mainly for extinguishing the so-called. "Point" fires, which in fact are fires at oil wells. Other technologies are required to extinguish area fires. For example, aerial bombs developed by NPO Splav, equipped with explosives that provide an energetic effect on the fire, as well as fire-extinguishing powder, which “finishes off” the remnants of the flame. The problem is the high cost of such aerial bombs and ensuring the safety of their use for people who may find themselves in the area of ​​impact of the bombs.
    It can also be added that mobile units with turbojet engines were successfully used back in Soviet times for blowing open fields, where a lot of dust and various gases, including explosive and poisonous, can be released during the extraction of minerals.
    1. +1
      12 November 2021 16: 04
      They were also in airports and dry runways.
      (maybe homemade)
      And also, a neighbor, an autocrane operator 20 years ago, moved to Siberia as a shift worker.
      When asked what he was doing, he said: the geologist pokes his finger in the place,
      he arrives at a GAZ-66 with a decommissioned aircraft engine and puts it
      vertically - "wins" the permafrost. After him they put
      drilling. And the geologist pokes him in another place.
  3. +5
    12 November 2021 08: 43
    Big Wing (strong wind)

    A typo, probably more correct Wind.
    Red Wings from Detroit know our Soviet Wings too.

    I heard that the Arabs invested in this Hungarian company with "Strong Wind".
    Most of the wells in Kuwait were extinguished by a Canadian company.
    1. +1
      12 November 2021 12: 23
      Typo, probably more correct Wind

      https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/big-wind-firefighting-vehicle.html

      Absolutely.
  4. +7
    12 November 2021 09: 46
    Yes, there were times when the decommissioned engines from the MiG-15 and the tank chassis were FULL, so the "miracle of the machine" was obtained ...
    Like, "Warm-T" mine-clearing machines (by the way, I'm surprised that it wasn't she who served as the basis for the fire truck ...)

    or "Object 604"


    And as for the car of the RHBZ TMS-65 troops, God himself indicated to the firefighters to remake ...

    1. +4
      12 November 2021 11: 01
      machine for gassing industrial agricultural premises, chicken coops, cowsheds, pigsties
      1. +2
        12 November 2021 23: 55
        And why is sowing aeration done? Something like disinfection? Really interesting if you are, of course, well versed in this matter.
        1. 0
          14 November 2021 06: 03
          Yes, disinfection, before planting a new herd, it is washed in the building, and then gassing, most often with formalin, although recently they have begun to replace other aldehydes with less smelly, but no less dangerous, other aldehydes. After gassing, the body is usually degassed for 1-2 days.
          1. +1
            17 November 2021 16: 49
            Thank you very much
  5. +2
    12 November 2021 12: 58
    I remember, as a child, I watched an educational film on extinguishing fires. They set fire to stacks made of wooden trunks and extinguished them with water and foam. Such a car drove up and in seconds scattered these mountains of burning firewood. laughing
  6. 0
    12 November 2021 14: 48
    There were cases when it was necessary to detonate about half a ton of TNT, but the torch did not go out. Then underground nuclear explosions went into action, blocking the well forever.

    Correct: underground thermonuclear explosions - because the product had to be as "clean" as possible.
    1. 0
      12 November 2021 15: 25
      I will correct: underground thermonuclear explosions - because the product had to be as "pure" as possible.

      Um .. thermonuclear ammunition uses a conventional plutonium nuclear explosive charge as the initiator. Is always.
      Other options so far exist only in the James Bond films ...
  7. 0
    13 November 2021 14: 02
    The author will probably continue, or maybe he doesn't know? ... about Soviet developments in impulse fire extinguishing in wells.

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