SHANGHAI students have invented an emergency fire hose system for buildings which they claim can go into action within 10 seconds.

This compares with the several minutes it can take members of the public to get conventional fire hoses operational, say the young inventors from Dajing High School in the city's Huangpu District.

Their invention has been praised by firefighters and is set to be introduced in schools and governmental office buildings following further testing, the students said yesterday at the opening of the four-day and Technology Expo at the Shanghai Exhibition Center.

Some 198 students and teachers from home and abroad show ideas and projects based on the themes including environmental protection and public security.

The three-strong team who designed the fire hose system said it represents a major improvement on existing models.

"The fire hydrants installed in corridors have many defects," said 17-year-old Xi Yun, one of the inventors. "They are complicated, often difficult to access, the hose is coiled away and the water switch is spiral valve, taking a long time to get water," she added.

The team made access easier, and the hose is not coiled but hung from hooks - making it quicker to deploy.

"Most importantly, we changed the valve design into a hole, which can be opened for water as soon as the hose is attached," Xi said. "When we show this to firefighters, they were shocked to see how effective it was."

This device has been awarded a national-level patent.

Students from South Korea showcased the idea of Smart Eco Car which recharges its battery while driving using a wireless electromagnetic power transfer system. "Experiments are being conducted at a Seoul amusement park," said Seung Yoon Kim, a teacher from LG Global School.

And students from Thailand's Mahidol Wittayanusorn School thought of using water hyacinth and fruit peel to work as activated carbon to extract cadmium, while inventors from Singapore's Hwa Chong Institution came up with a scheme using waste fruit peel to remove lead and copper while producing biofuel.