US Government As Represented by the Secretary of the Army

John O Hughes

Michael J Clauson

A scheme for essentially instantaneous kills of fires in crew compartments s shown which is effective over a wide variety of climatic temperatures. An extinguishant is mixed according to the formula, (M.sup.+ A.sup.-).sub.sat +H.sub.2 O+fps+d @T, where A.sup.- is either an acetate in the form H.sub.2 CCOO.sup.-, chloride, or bromide, M.sup.+ is an alkali metal or ammonium, fps is a freezing point suppressant, d is a surfactant, and (M.sup.+ A.sup.-).sub.sat is a saturation level of compound M.sup.+ A.sup.- at temperature T. In one embodiment of our scheme, potassium acetate is both the (M.sup.+ A.sup.-).sub.sat and the fps in the foregoing formula. The scheme includes charging an extinguisher bottle with the extinguishant under pressure, opening a gate device connecting the bottle to a feeder line, and allowing the extinguishant to flow in the line to a nozzle. The extinguishant is then sprayed through the nozzle, which is disposed at the fire in the compartment. The scheme also includes passing the extinguishant past a container having an opening at the line. The opening has a screen barrier between water in the container and the line. When extinguishant flows past the opening, water from the container enters the line, thus offsetting water vaporization in the line and preventing precipitate depositing in the line.

Growing community of inventors

Oakland County, MI, United States of America

John O Hughes