Why PROPANE is Dangerous?
February 21, 2009
There’s a reason why propane-fuelled vehicles are banned from underground parking garages. If the gas leaks, a little goes a long way and a minor leak can cause a major explosion.
Propane – the main constituent of the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) widely used as for heating and home barbecues – is heavier than air, meaning it will sink to the ground and stay there. Even a spark can set it off.
Propane tanks, whether they be a 200,000-litre storage unit or a barbecue bottle, contain about 80 per cent liquid with the remaining space for vapour. Relief valves on the tank open when the pressure exceeds the design limits.
The gas that escapes rapidly expands. The liquid contents of an average barbecue tank – could expand to more than 380 cubic metres of potentially explosive gas – enough to cover a parking garage 40 metres by 30. Vehicle propane tanks are usually at least one-and-a-half times as big as a barbecue tank.
Source: www.thestar.com
Tags: garage, vehicle, leakRelated Posts:
LPG car explodes as driver lights cigarette
January 24, 2009
Peter Tidbury had just filled his Peugeot 607 with 40 litres of gas at a service station and was driving at around 30mph.
He could smell gas in the car and passed it off as remnants from the petrol station but it was in fact a cloud of fuel in the cabin.
Mr Tidbury decided to smoke a cigarette and the second he ignited the lighter, its flame sparked a fireball.
The windows were blown out and the bonnet and boot were thrown open by the force of the blast.
Nearby householders were evacuated for fear of a further explosion and the windscreen was discovered 50 feet away.
His clothes melted on him and firefighters believe he survived serious injury or death because the seats took the force of the explosion.
He had bought the car privately for £5,000 three weeks earlier and two garage checks gave it a clean bill of health before he got behind the wheel.
Mr Tidbury, 55, an energy-saving company manager, who needed hospital treatment for minor flash burns, said: “It just wasn’t my day to die.”
Mr Tidbury, a widower from south-east London, drove to northern England last weekend to visiting his daughter and friends.
After a website to locate a filling station selling LPG, he filled up in Monk Bretton, Barnsley, South Yorkshire.
He said: “I was told you get a slight smell of gas when you fill up so thought nothing of it and wound the window down to freshen the air and put it back up again.
“I fancied a fag so wound the window down again slightly and then lit up. I was doing about 30mph and as I lit the cigarette there was an almighty explosion.
“The windows went out, the bonnet went up and the boot went up just as you see in the Hollywood movies. I was belted in and braked sharply. I can’t remember this but I was told that I was directing traffic around the car whilst my suit jacket was still smoking.
“The fireball singed me on my face, hands and legs and melted my jacket lining and some of my shirt. I looked as if a firework had exploded in my face.”
It is thought a leak in the pipe from the filler to the fuel tank allowed gas to seep into the car which ignited when he lit up.
He added: “When I walked past that car to get in the ambulance I thought that was not survivable. For me it is miraculous.”
Mr Tidbury has ruled out buying another LPG car and intends to quit smoking.
Fire station watch manager Neil McQuillan said: “The car looked like a hand grenade had gone off in it. How anyone can survive an explosion like that when the car is severely damaged is remarkable really.”
Source:Â http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring
By Paul Stokes
Tags: Hong Kong, spark, CarRelated Posts:
Make 3 on 1 the new Wöhr Parklift 421 offers 200 % more parking space on the surface of only one parking place.
November 19, 2008
A compact solution where ever for retrofit additional car parking places are required and the parked cars can be manoeuvred: For hotels, offices and for any commercial use such as car dealers and service centers, car rentals, car-sharing or for valet parking in high halls or outside.
And how does the system work? Quite simple!
Each level is filled up one after the other in lowered position and emptied the same way. The parking system has 2 platforms. First the upper one is used, then the lower one and then, once both platforms have been lifted, the cars are parked on the floor surface.
The lifting and lowering is provided hydraulically by means of a key at the operating device. Multiple Parklift 421 systems can be arranged next or behind each other. Platform widths up to 2,7 m, parking heights up to 1,8 m and platform weights up to 2,6 t are available, sufficient for SUVs and bigger sedan cars.
Source: Otto Wöhr GmbH
http://www.woehr.de
Tags: urban parking, Parklift, car parkingRelated Posts:
How to park in Istanbul
November 19, 2008
Here are some advices to drivers about parking in this city of Turkey
If something amazes Istanbul tourists – besides the beauty and the antiquity of this unique city and the Turks” good nature – that is driving skills of local residents. Probably, only Istanbul citizen can turn around on a tiny patch, and leave the traffic jam within the shortest terms, moreover, without touching anybody. Conditions oblige! Istanbul is an ancient city; it has a lot of small close streets. Willing or not, you will learn. We, tourists, will never learn to drive like Istanbul people do. But, besides driving, we also need to have a place to park our cars, so, if we decide to come to Istanbul by car, we are in need of hotels in Istanbul with parking area. Therefore, we should remember some advices about such important for Istanbul procedure as parking.
Advice â„–1: get used to the car
You, certainly, will not take your car to Istanbul. Tourists, as a rule, hire cars (in Turkey this is not a problem – rent a car service it is cheap and quickly). This is good, and this is… bad. The matter is, that on the parking of any Istanbul hotel it is better to park the car, to which you have got used. Parking – especially in close conditions of the Istanbul roads – passes better, when you feel car”s sizes or the car by itself, as drivers say, well. Therefore, to park the car correctly, try to get used to it.
Advice â„–2: pay attention to the drive gear
All wheel-drive cars have the biggest turn radius, and the rear-wheel drive cars have the smallest. As you understand, this is the key point of the parking.
Advice â„–3: practice.
You may be a really skilled driver, but, anyway, it would not be desirable to pay for scratches on the hired car. That is why it will be better, if you spend an hour or two practicing in parking. You will not need much for this. Skilled instructors will advise you the following. To train the parking elements the same as maneuver “driving into the garage” is practiced, for example. Practice until you develop the absolute automatism of actions. Train parking in forward and back run, in parallel, perpendicularly and at an angle to the curb.
Advice â„–4: do not forget about headlights
Another advice from the skilled drivers – use headlights while parking the car. At the forward parking blink the upper beam at the critical for you line. The size of the beam of light on the obstacle and its brightness the same as any parking radar will help you to define the distance to the granite curb or to the next car bumper. While making the back parking use for the same purpose the stoplights, light from the lantern or a shadow from an obstacle.
Advice â„–5: look around
Istanbul is a great city, but you do not know it yet. Therefore, you will have to park in the unfamiliar places. In such cases, before parking, thoroughly examine the place of your future parking and the entrance to it.
Advice â„–6
Parking your car on the roadside – fold your mirrors, and take along everything valuable. Well, and if you do not wish to burden yourselves in Istanbul even with parking – just stop at a hotel where it is. In that case, – be sure – your car will be parked by the hotel employee. And they will do that quickly and professionally.
Source: http://www.turkeyTPS.com
Travel Planning System
Tags: parking news, traffic jam, car parkRelated Posts:
Need a parking place? Good luck
September 6, 2008
|
||||||||||
“You always hope it will be better,” said Bracey, who ended up parking a half-mile from the shop where he was buying a gift for his brother.
This month, millions of Americans could find themselves in a similar predicament, fruitlessly orbiting packed parking lots in shopping centers, malls and downtowns as the holiday shopping season builds toward a peak.
They are the victims of a growing national parking crunch, the product of ever-increasing numbers of cars and scarcer places to put them in many cities.
In the past four decades, the number of registered vehicles has risen nearly 170% and the ranks of licensed drivers have doubled, Federal Highway Administration figures show.
The infrastructure is struggling to accommodate the crush. Many cities are experiencing downtown rebirths with new condos, hotels and office buildings, but the amount of parking on streets remains largely a fixed asset.
The value of parking in a tony urban neighborhood can be seen dramatically in Boston, where spots can be sold. An anonymous buyer bought a space in a Back Bay alley for a record $250,000. Prices for downtown spaces are up 14% this year over last year and have almost doubled since 2001, according to Listing Information Network, which tracks Boston real estate trends.
Parking structures aren’t always the solution. Although 2.8 million parking spaces were built in structures from 1996 through last year, the number of construction starts fell from a peak of 465 in 2001 to about 405 this year, says Dale Denda, research director for Parking Market Research in McLean, Va.
Part of the reason for the reluctance to build new parking structures is cost. Construction costs alone are up more than 35% in the past six years to an average of about $13,900 a space. That doesn’t include the soaring price of urban land.
“The world has changed,” says Donald Shoup, an urban planning professor at the University of California at Los Angeles and author of The High Cost of Free Parking, which advocates letting market forces set on-street parking rates as a way of revitalizing cities. “We’re realizing that the new parking is wildly expensive and hard to pay for.”
Some planners are starting to look to technology for help. Borrowing ideas from Europe, they’re coming up with solutions such as robotic garages that whisk cars around on metal pallets, and parking spots reserved by cellphones or found through in-car navigation screens.
‘Find alternatives’ to parking
Some cities are trying to wean themselves and their residents away from the driving that requires more parking. Instead, they’re plotting to lure shoppers, diners and workers onto public transit, bikes or their own feet.
“There are cities all across the country that are actively saying, ‘We want to limit the amount of parking we provide,’ and, ‘We want people to find alternatives,’ ” says David Fields, senior planner for Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates in New York.
Even shopping centers and malls, traditional homes to expanses of free parking big enough to be their own small countries, are trying new ideas to ease parking hassles for their customers. Westfield, a big shopping center operator, has close-in spots for expectant moms at all its 59 properties. The lines are painted pink.
It’s also experimenting with call-ahead reserved parking, preferential paid parking in a gated lot and a parking shuttle at various California centers.
General Motors is sponsoring valet services at two malls, Phipps Plaza in Atlanta and Town Center at Boca Raton in Florida. Cadillac drivers get free valet parking at both. At Town Center, so do Saab and Hummer owners.
But even when valet parking is available, some people are reluctant. Hector Rodriguez, 40, a Los Angeles hair salon owner, says he hesitates to hand the keys to his customized Chrysler 300C to an attendant. “I don’t want people driving my car.”
In car-dependent Los Angeles, the time it takes to find a parking spot on the street has doubled in the past five years, estimates Shanette Madden, 40, a Los Angeles property manager. She pulled her Nissan Versa into a no-parking zone and sent her daughter Malika, 16, off on an errand along Melrose Avenue one Sunday afternoon. She says she had hunted for 15 minutes to find a metered space, then gave up. Parking is not only hard to find, she says, but becoming more expensive. “It’s just like gas (prices). What can you do?”
Bracey, 40, pausing as he hoofed back from the shop, says he won’t even venture into Santa Monica, the affluent, liberal enclave to the west where the popular outdoor mall is rimmed by often-crowded parking structures.
Santa Monica is one of those communities that knows it has a problem and is trying to find a solution. Last month, it started a website, www.parkingspacenow.smgov.net, that gives the availability of spaces in 14 downtown lots and garages. It’s updated every five seconds.
“The city doesn’t really like parking,” says Lucy Dyke, Santa Monica’s transportation planning manager. It “doesn’t want to waste money on parking spaces we really don’t need.”
Instead, the Web page is aimed at making better use of spaces, encouraging people to find other means to get downtown when lots are full.
New solutions
The rebirth of downtowns and resulting crunch, combined with new electronic devices, are leading to a “parking technology revolution,” says Dennis Burns, vice president of consultants Carl Walker.
Some of the ideas include:
•Automated parking. Think of a vending machine in reverse. In automated parking, motorists drive their cars onto a steel plate in a garage and get out of the car. The plate is then whisked away like a pallet in a warehouse, all robotically, to a parking space.
“Your car can never be stolen or dented,” says Lee Lazarus, president of A.P.T. Parking Technologies in New York.
Eliminating ramps, walkways — even lowering the ceiling — allows a developer to dramatically reduce the size of the structure. It can pack almost double the number of spaces of a conventional garage, Lazarus says.
While they’re popular in Europe, the USA so far has only a few automated garages, including a 312-space garage in Hoboken, N.J., and a 74-space structure in Washington, D.C.
While they free vital space in a building that can be used for people instead of cars, automated parking is expensive, at more than $20,000 a spot, Lazarus says.
•Finding parking through in-car navigation. XM Satellite Radio is one of three companies working to develop a system that would allow the navigation screens in vehicles to be used to hunt down available parking spots. XM is working with one of the nation’s largest parking providers, Standard Parking, and a technology company, Quixote Transportation Technologies. The system would use color-keyed icons to show how many spots are available in a garage or lot.
•Reserving by cellphone. A company called MobileParking is developing a system in which drivers can call ahead on their cellphones to reserve parking spots. Early next year, MobileParking hopes to create a network of 3,100 parking structures in the 30 biggest U.S. cities where drivers can call or message ahead. In some cases, parking attendants will rope off a special area for MobileParking customers, says President Jason Boseck.
In addition to the parking charge, customers will pay a $1.75 service fee.
•Paying by cellphone. Rather than having to run out to feed the meter, motorists who park at one of about 90 spaces along the famed Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, Calif., can arrange to get a call on their cellphone asking them if they want to extend their time on the parking meter.
“You pay for parking and if you want to add time, you can do that with a cellphone,” says Chris Chettle, vice president of Digital Payment Technologies, which co-developed the system.
It works because instead of standard parking meters, the spaces are connected to kiosks — one for every nine spaces — that accept payment by credit card or currency.
So far, though, not many parkers have registered to use the cellphone feature, says Oscar Delgado, the city’s parking operations manager.
A San Francisco company, Spark Parking, is creating a cellphone payment system for garages. Instead of barriers and ticket machines, a parking structure would be open. Motorists would drive directly to an open space. A sensor in the stall would keep track of how long they parked and bill them, says CEO Cooper Marcus.
The system will help give planners a better picture of how lots and structures are used, helpful in setting parking rates.
For every car, three spaces
Higher rates might actually help consumers, he says, by creating more turnover of spaces.
“If pizza was free, everyone would eat lots of pizza. If parking is free, everyone is going to use lots of parking,” Marcus says.
Parking consumes enormous amounts of space.
“Every car needs three spaces: one at home; one at work; and one at play,” says Steve Shannon, president of ParkingMan, a consultancy in Pitman, N.J. “It’s difficult to accommodate all these cars.”
The key appears to be striking a balance of need. In Ann Arbor, Mich., University of Michigan students compete with other residents for coveted parking spaces downtown. At its worst, motorists sometimes can take 10 minutes finding a spot, says Susan Pollay, executive director of the city’s Downtown Development Authority.
The city is studying the parking issue but hopes that parking is only one solution, along with buses, bikes and walking.
“We have become smarter in realizing that parking is not the silver bullet,” Pollay says. Rather, it’s just “a tool in the toolbox” to a total transportation solution.
Source:Â Â Â http://www.usatoday.com
Related Posts:
