A Study On The Development Of An Automatic Fire Extinguishing System For The Engine Compartment Use Of Automobiles

자동차 엔진 화재용 자동 소화 시스템 개발에 관한 연구

Our goal was to make a cost-effective automatic fire extinguishing system for the engine compartment use of automobiles. We designed this system for the engine compartment. This system consists of 1)foam extinguisher, 2)four nozzles, 3)a pipe arrangement, and 4)an extinguishing device which is equipped with a glass bulb as detector. First and foremost, the extinguishing device was carefully designed to keep the system cost to a minimum. Second, a AFFF foam extinguisher was used because no other fire-fighting agents proved effective against fire in the engine compartment. The AFFF(Aqueous Film Forming Foam) agent which was used in the extinguisher is the 3M company's Light Water. We sought, however, to make other foams by using Halon 1301 and Halon alternatives such as HCFC Blend A, HFC-227ea. We selected these alternatives instead of air in order to raise the expansion ratio of the AFFF agent. By these means we discovered that it is possible to increase the expansion ration of the AFFF agent up to 44:1. We then demonstrated that our automatic fire extinguishing system is the most effective and lowest cost-system yet devised for passenger cars.