The Fire and Rescue Services of Pas-de-Calais (SDIS 62) in France have integrated four Hytrans mobile water transport systems into their operations for use during floods and large industrial fires.
Hytrans said the systems were recently unveiled in Boulogne-sur-Mer and described the deployment as an upgrade to regional emergency response capability.
The four units include mobile water transport systems designed for rapid deployment.
Stéphane Contal, director of SDIS 62, said: “These pumps will be stored in the rescue centres of Étaples, Ardres, Aire-sur-la-Lys and Lens, and firefighters will be trained in their use.
“They can also be used to “fight industrial fires with the ability to fetch water from rivers or canals to avoid taking drinking water”
Hytrans cites use in Somme building fire
In the same case study, Hytrans said an HS250 unit deployed by SDIS 80 in Somme was used on the same day to help extinguish a building fire.
The company presented that incident as an example of the system’s performance in live emergency conditions.
Frank Bosveld, CEO, said: “With our advanced systems, relief organisations gain the speed and reach needed in situations where every second counts.
“We’re proud to support safety regions like Pas-de-Calais in protecting people, nature, and infrastructure.”
The case study also referred to equipment including the CombiContainer in Pas-de-Calais and the HydroSub 250.
The published account presents the northern France deployment as part of Hytrans work with emergency services in more than 50 countries.
New brand identity and redesigned website launched by Hytrans
Hytrans has introduced a new brand identity and redesigned website. The changes include a new logo, updated visual elements and a more accessible website layout.
The new website, hytrans.com, includes improved product information, downloadable technical documents and job opportunity listings.
The updates are part of the company’s effort to improve its digital and visual experience for customers and partners in more than 50 countries.
Visual branding aligned across Hytrans products and platforms
The updated brand identity standardises all product and company logos.
According to Hytrans, this change improves consistency and makes the company’s branding more visible across its dealer, customer and end-user base.
Hytrans stated that the rebrand supports its ongoing mission to provide mobile water transport systems for emergency and disaster response.
Website features detailed product data and enhanced navigation
The redesigned hytrans.com website includes several new features.
Visitors can access brochures, product sheets, specifications and other technical resources.
The website also provides quicker access to essential information through streamlined navigation.
Hytrans reported that the “About Us” section now includes more detail on the company and direct links to job opportunities.
CEO states rebrand supports Hytrans’ core mission
Hytrans CEO Frank Bosveld said the new brand identity aligns with the company’s goals: “At Hytrans, our mission has always been clear: to prevent and minimise the impact of large-scale incidents and disasters,” said Bosveld.
“Our new brand identity strengthens this mission by providing a visual and digital experience that matches the innovation and reliability of our solutions.”
Bosveld added that the updated digital platform would support partners and customers globally.
Hytrans updates visual identity and website to support global emergency response: Summary
Hytrans has launched a new brand identity and redesigned its website.
The update includes a revised logo and consistent visual elements across all company and product branding.
The redesigned website offers detailed product specifications, downloadable resources and improved navigation.
The company said the update was developed to support users and customers globally.
The new branding is intended to align with Hytrans’ focus on reliability and emergency response.
CEO Frank Bosveld said the update reflects the company’s mission to minimise the impact of large-scale incidents.
The company operates in more than 50 countries and has over 35 years of experience in mobile water transport systems.
With 34 years of experience in mobile water transport, Hytrans explains the benefits of hydraulically driven submersible pumps.
Since 1988, Hytrans has developed, manufactured, and supplied mobile water transport systems with hydraulically driven submersible pumps. Overt the last 34 years, Hytrans has supplied more than 1200 of its HydroSub systems across the globe, establishing itself with a reputation of good quality, proven performance, and innovation.
The biggest advantages of using hydraulically driven submersible pumps versus conventional suction pumps are, according to Hytrans, the vertical pump lift without draft loss and the deployment time. With a conventional system, the required priming consumes valuable time, especially in situations where time is of the essence.
In addition, when drafting from seven meters down the capacity of a pump reduces by approximately 70%. By using a submersible pump, such as Hytrans’ hydraulically driven offer, this is no longer a problem as the hydraulically driven pump is floating, an as a result priming is not needed and there is no draft loss. This means pumping water from 60 meters vertically down from any open water source can be achieved easily without capacity loss.
In its efforts to develop mobile and easy-to-handle water transport systems, Hytrans has built its systems as containerized modules. With this, each container can be handled using a truck with a hook arm lift-off system. In case of a large-scale incident, systems can be combined as complementary modules to increase capacity and pumping distance with a minimum time and manpower. When all this is combined, it is a perfect tool for situations where water is a key necessity.
INTERSCHUTZ 2022
As INTERSCHUTZ returns to Hannover from the 20-25 of June, Hytrans will be in attendance to display its latest developments, including its the new HydroSub 1200F. The new unit features two hydraulically-driven submersible pumps in combination with a built-in booster pump with a total capacity of 30.000 lpm @ 12 bar. The system is driven by two diesel engines with a total power of 1200 KW (over 1600 HP). One engine drives the hydraulic system for the submersible pumps and the booster pump is driven by a second engine assisted by the other.
The HydroSub device can be controlled using a Human Machine Interface alongside an advanced monitoring system called CANbus. The operator can choose the setup, such as water intake from open water or a hydrant, and the unit will automatically select the right program to start. Depending on the program one or both engines start automatically.
The operator can concentrate on the flow and pressure and the control system takes care of controlling the engines automatically. Depending on the deployment country the unit will be equipped with diesel engines following the latest emissions rules applicable.
Another patented system on this unit is the satellite PowerFoam. This system consists of a hydraulically driven foam gear pump driven by two hydraulic lines – pressure and return – of 30 metres. The foam pump is built in a small, stainless steel frame on wheels which can be brought to the foam supply and can be a set of combined IBCs or a foam tank. Having the foam pump as close as possible to the supply, the supply line is very short and allows high viscous foam to be used.
From the satellite foam pump, a flexible pressure hose is connected to the booster pump, inside the container frame of HydroSub where the foam is injected into the water. By knowing the water flow and measuring the foam flow the exact percentage of foam – as set by the operator – is injected. The whole system is automatically controlled and completely independent of flow and pressure.
All PowerFoam solutions from Hytrans use hydraulics to drive the foam gear pump, and in combination with accurate water flow measuring/calculation the exact amount of foam concentrate is added to the water flow. Foam settings can be input from 0-6% with increments of 0.1%. The system works in such a way that it is fully independent of pressure and water flow and adapts automatically if there is fluctuation, ensuring accurate foam mixing.
It also features a return line which allows users to return the foam concentrate to the container during training sessions. This has the advantage that both the foam settings on the pump unit as well as the foam logistics can be trained without wasting precious foam.
FloodModule
Because of climate change, flooding is becoming more prevalent all over the world. In anticipation of this, Hytrans developed an add-on system for flood fighting for the HydroSub 150 unit, called the FloodModule. This module is equipped with specially designed flood pumps that can replace the standard submersible pump.
With the add-on system, the capacity of the HydroSub unit is multiplied by six to achieve a capacity of 50.000 lpm (13.200 GPM). New developments have also made the pumps lighter and as a result even easier to deploy. The FloodModule with all its features will also be shown at Hytrans stand at INTERSCHUTZ.
Hytrans StrateLine Large diameter hose
To transport large volumes of water over long distances it is necessary to use a large diameter hose to reduce the friction loss. Depending on the distance, elevation and required end-pressure, Hytrans can make the calculations and determine the most suitable diameter and the number of parallel lines needed. Large diameter hoses, which range from 6” up to 12”, behave differently than smaller diameters and therefore have specific requirements to guarantee a safe and quick deployment.
With this in mind, Hytrans has developed the StrateLine hose which will be on show at INTERSCHUTZ. This through-the-weave extruded rubber hose is characterized by a low elongation (<1.5%), low weight, and high flexibility.
Working in emergency situations a fast deployment of the system is key. For the fast deployment of the large diameter hoses, it is important that couplings can withstand the ground impact at speed. Hytrans’ couplings are designed to be low weight to reduce the force of the impact, which has the added benefit of increases the total length of hoses that can be stored inside the Hose Layer Container as a result of the volume decrease of the coupling. Hytrans can supply Multi Lug couplings as a standard for the StrateLine hoses – high-grade aluminum couplings which need only a 5-degree twist to lock and are low weight and have a high impact resistance. Due to the patented chamfered lugs, the couplings open easily, once uncoupled, and allow quick relief of the water.
The mobile systems made by Hytrans Systems are a complete solution and designed to be used in extreme circumstances. In these circumstances, the system must be deployed in minutes using minimum manpower which is why the engineers at Hytrans are constantly working on making things easier and lighter without affecting performance, strength, reliability, and mobility.
Mobile high-volume pumping was, is, and will be a constant development to get bigger, better, faster, and lighter equipment to help firefighters to assist them to fulfil their tough job. Hytrans is using its 34-years of experience to make the best system worldwide available.
This article was originally published in the June edition of IFSJ. To read your FREE digital copy, click here.
Hytrans Systems BV in the Netherlands, a leader in high-volume mobile water transport systems, has announced that it recently acquired the technology and products of Foru Solution BV.
With the acquisition, Hytrans expands its product range and makes it more versatile for its customers in the port and petrochemical markets.
Hytran CEO, Frank Bosveld, said the acquisition of the FORU products as a great expansion of the Hytrans product range: “The addition of the FORU oil skimmers allows us to better serve our customers in the port and petrochemical industries as a single mobile Hytrans System can now be used as fire-fighting solution as well as to clean-up oil spills”.
Foru Solution is known for its oil spill response solutions. The FORU oil skimmers are effective when it comes to cleaning up oil spills, also in rough weather. They are also robust, easy to deploy and provide a high recovery capacity and efficiency. The FORU skimmers are self-adjust, hydraulically driven, have no external moving parts, and are easy to operate. Through its high capacity, FORU skimmers can clean up small to the biggest and worst oil spills.
The acquisition also allows serving the oil spill market with FORU products in a better way thanks to the extensive distribution and service network of Hytrans Systems.
The driver behind FORU products, Mr. Koos Tamminga, commented on the acquisition: “Joining forces with Hytrans Systems allows for much stronger business development of the FORU solutions into the oil spill market given the strong capabilities and over 30 years of experience of Hytrans”.
Leaning on 33 years’ experience in mobile water transport, Hytrans Systems explains the benefits of hydraulically driven submersible pumps
Hytrans® has developed, manufactured and supplied mobile water transport units with hydraulically driven submersible pumps (HydroSub®) since 1988. During these 33 years Hytrans has supplied almost 1200 HydroSub® units across the globe. Quality, proven performance and innovation are the keywords that contributed to the success of the mobile water transport equipment of Hytrans®.
The biggest advantages of using the hydraulically driven submersible pumps versus the conventional suction pump is the vertical pump lift without draft loss and the deployment time. With a conventional system there is a suction line in place, and the needed priming consumes valuable time, especially when time is at a premium. In addition, when drafting from 7 meters down the pump capacity reduces by 70%.
By using the Hytrans® hydraulically driven submersible pumps, this is not a problem anymore because the hydraulically driven pump is floating, priming is not needed and as a major advantage there is no draft loss. This means pumping water from 60 meters vertically down to any (open) water source can be achieved easily.
As Hytrans® strives to supply their customers with mobile and easy to handle water transport systems, they have chosen to build these systems onto containerised modules. With this, each container can be handled by means of a truck with a hook arm lift off system. In case of a large-scale incident, systems can be combined as complementary modules to increase capacity and pumping distance with a minimum time and manpower. When all this is combined, it makes for the perfect tool for situations where water is a key commodity.
A versatile solution
Hytrans® supplies complete mobile water transport solutions over long distances for municipal Fire and Rescue services as well as for the Industrial Fire Service and Nuclear Power Plants. The HydroSub® high volume pump units have a capacity from 1.500 lpm @ 10 bar (approx. 400 GPM @ 150 psi) up to 45.000 lpm @ 12 bar (approx. 12.000 GPM @ 175 psi) and are part of the standard products range.
The HydroSub® units are not only deployed to provide fire water for large scale incidents but also to reduce the aftermath of large-scale floods and supplying cooling water in emergency situations for nuclear power plants. For example, in 2012 Hurricane Sandy ripped through the city of New York, resulting in floods. HydroSub® units were used to pump the flood water from the Holland tunnel.
Hytrans® equipment also had a significant role during the Fukushima incident in 2011, and even more recently HydroSub® units have been deployed all over Australia to supply firefighters with water in difficult circumstances to fight the ongoing bushfires that are becoming more common every year in the region.
The FloodModule
Because of climate change, flooding is becoming more prevalent all over the world. In anticipation of this, Hytrans® developed an add-on system for flood fighting for the HydroSub® 150 unit, called the FloodModule. This module is equipped with specially designed flood pumps which can replace the standard submersible pump. With this add-on system the capacity of the HydroSub® unit is multiplied by 6 to achieve a capacity of 50.000 lpm (13.200 GPM). Based on this success other models of the HydroSub® range can be equipped with flood pumps and new development has made the pump lighter and therefore even more easy to deploy.
The HydroSub® high volume pump units are an important part of the system but it is not the only item that needs attention when considering a complete mobile water transport solution. The Hytrans® Hose Layer Containers including Hose Recovery Units are designed to deploy and recover hoses including the coupling up to 12”-diameter.
These large diameter hoses will have a recovery time of only 45 minutes for a length of 1.000 metre (12”). Recently, Hytrans® introduced a fully automatic hose recovery system called the AutoFlaker. With this system one can recover up to 12”-diameter hoses without the need of manpower. The only manpower needed is the truck driver, who can control the system from his or her cabin. Making the system easy to deploy and recover will encourage people to use it and train with it, so they will be prepared when it really matters.
Fast deployment
Fast deployment is key in emergency situations. For the deployment of large diameter hoses, it is important that couplings can withstand ground impact. A low weight on the coupling reduces the force of the impact but also increases the length of hose that can be stored inside the Hose Layer Container, because of the decrease in size of the coupling. Therefore Hytrans® supplies HFS/AWG Multi Lug couplings as a standard for the hoses, these are PN16 rated but also low weight and have a high impact resistance.
To make the connections within the mobile water transport as well as the connection to fire trucks or monitors, Hytrans® has a range of light weight portable water supply equipment. It gives you the ability to make the connections to set-up a complete temporary above ground hydrant network in minutes. Die casted aluminium Y-Pieces that can be manhandled, non-return valves, gate valves etc. are available as a standard up to 12” in diameter, but Hytrans® is also able to manufacture special hardware.
An important element for a high-volume water transport system remains the choice of material for large diameter hoses, with the basic options being rubber or polyurethane. The main difference between these two materials is heat resistance. PU is not recommended for firefighting because it is unable to withstand the effect of a burning object, as per BS 6391 (Hot Cube Test). Therefore, the hoses that Hytrans® supplies are made of through the weave extruded rubber. Several factors should be considered when equipping your water transport system with the right large diameter hoses. These include working pressure, burst pressure, wear resistance, weight, elongation/expansion ratio, and hose recovery.
When having to use large diameter hoses, one needs to make sure that the hoses are flexible, heat resistant and have limited elongation. Due to the use of special fibres, the elongation of the Hytrans® hoses are less than 1,5% at working pressure. Tests have proven that hoses with more than 1,5% elongation will move a lot or even “jump” when pressurised.
The importance of accuracy
As the benefits of a complete mobile water transport solution become recognised, the systems become widely used for firefighting. Because of this it was necessary to develop a foam injection unit that is very accurate and can deal with high flows that are needed to extinguish the largest (petro-chemicals) fires. This resulted in the Hytrans® PowerFoam option which can either be integrated in the larger HydroSub® units or supplied as a standalone unit.
The latter can be placed at any point in the water line. Due to the hydraulic driven foam gear pump and the accurate monitored water flow, the exact amount of foam concentrate is added to the water flow. Foam setting can be done from 0-6% with increments of 0,1%. The system works in such a way that it is fully independent from pressure and water flow and adapts automatically if there is fluctuation. Accurate foam mixing is the result. It also features a return line which allows you to return the foam concentrate back to the container during training sessions. The whole foam setting on the unit as well as the foam logistics can be trained without using precious foam.
The system works in such a way that it is fully independent from pressure and water flow and adapts automatically if there is fluctuation.
To complement the mobile water transport systems, Hytrans® has a range of trailer mounted monitors up to a capacity of 60.000 lpm. These monitors can be equipped with a nozzle that has a variable flow adjustment which allows you to change the flow setting at work pressure and without interruption of operation. The trailers are designed in such a way that there is no need for a water ballast tank.
Monitors above the 20.000 lpm are mounted on a trailer that has an extremely reduced overall height so the wheel axle can be lowered by means of an integrated mechanical operated hydraulic pump. The gears that move the monitor are self-arresting and completely covered, sealed and greased for complete lifecycle. The monitor bodies are made of an aluminium alloy and the inside is optimised to get superior performance. For every specific need Hytrans® can supply the right type of nozzle, such as jet, jet/spray and nozzles with foam attachments.
The mobile systems made by Hytrans Systems are a complete solution and designed to be used in extreme circumstances. In these circumstances the system must be deployed in minutes using minimum manpower. Therefore the engineers at Hytrans® are constantly working on making things easier, lighter and with a higher performance without affecting performance. Mobile high-volume pumping will always be a constant development to get bigger, better, faster and lighter equipment to help fire fighters to fulfil their job. We are using our 33-years of experience to make the best system worldwide available.
