• Journal of Korean Institute of Fire Science & Engineering
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.2-9
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• 2000

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.43-48
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• 2016

One of the main problems with gaseous fire extinguishers is the decrease in fire suppression capability due to the leakage of the fire extinguishing agents, either naturally or caused by obsolete equipment. Therefore, in this study, a real-time detector module for monitoring pressure leakages was developed and an assessment on its performance was carried out. Currently, there are no domestic or global standards for testing pressure leakage detection systems. Therefore, similar global standards, such as ISO 7240 and FM 1421, and the domestic law on "Receiver type-approval and technical standards for product inspection" were used as a reference for assessing the performance of the newly developed module. Its basic performance was assessed by applying compressed air to the module, and, as a result, the minimum working pressure was identified as 0.3 bar. Its environmental qualification was carried out to confirm the proper functioning of the module in different climates and the module was confirmed to function properly at both high ($50^{\circ}C$) and low ($-10^{\circ}C$) temperatures.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.77-83
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• 2002

We measured flame extinguishing concentration and flue gas composition in the n-heptane fuel cup-burner system using inert gas agents such as nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide and their mixtures. The flame extinguishing concentration of binary gaseous mixture was well predicted by model which contains the flame extinguishing concentration and composition of pure components. The higher average specific gravity of the mixed inert gas agents, the more excellent flame extinguishing performance. And the structure of enclosed space also affects the fire extinguishing. The composition of carbon dioxide in the flue gas was decreased with increasing extinguishing agent used. Nitrogen monoxide production is not related with increasing nitrogen, but increased at rapid mass flow rate of air in the cup-burner.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 2006.04a
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• pp.247-252
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• 2006

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Fire Science and Engineering Conference
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• 1997.11a
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• pp.598-605
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• 1997

In recent years, the number of vehicle fires, as well as the number of motor vehicles, has been increasing rapidly. Therefore, several types of automatic fire suppression systems for the engine compartment of automobiles have been developed to extinguish automobile fires, and most of these systems use halon 1301 as a fire extinguishing agent. Due to environmental concerns, the phase-out of halons has been announced, so now there is a need to replace halon 1301. For this, a 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptaflouropropane (HFC-227ea, FM-$200^{TM}$) gas-filled Aqueous Film- Forming foam (known as AFFF) extinguisher was devised even though air foam extinguishers could be used. This is because the air in the foam bubbles is a source of oxygen required for the combustion reaction. It can be surmised that it is possible to increase the fire extinguishing efficiency of AFFF by filling in foam bubbles with a gaseous extinguishing agent. The best choice is the FM-$200^{TM}$ gas-filled AFFF, Which has the maximum expansion ratio of 62:1. This makes it possible for the expanded foam to rapidly fill the engine compartment.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.7-12
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• 2007

The search for a new fire-extinguishing agent with all the desirable properties of halon 1301 has not been successful. To study binary gaseous extinguishing agents instead, one has to determine the extinguishing concentrations for several compositions of a given chemical in an inert gas. This process is expensive and time consuming. The fire suppression efficiencies of gas mixtures of HFC 125 and HFC 227ea with nitrogen as total flooding agents were studied by cup burner method. It was shown that addition of small amounts of those extinguishants to nitrogen can enhance the suppression effectiveness of the inert gas. As expected, the degree of synergism was highest at low concentrations of the chemical. For each binary system, extinguishing concentrations of the pure compounds and one binary data were used to predict the extinguishing concentrations for the entire range of binary composition. The predicted values were very close to experimental data.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2008

Carbon dioxide($CO_2$) agent, which has more safely extinguished fire than any other gaseous fire extinguishing agents, has been widely used in various protected enclosures and types of fires. According to the concept of performance-based design(PBD). $CO_2$ extinguishing system to be designed is needed to be evaluated for the performance of fire suppression with possible fire scenarios in an enclosure. In this paper, CFD simulations were carried out to study the effects of opening area on the performance of $CO_2$ extinguishing system and the flow characteristics in the machine room of $100m^3$ in which kerosene spill fire happened. This study showed that time of fire suppression increased linearly in proportion to the size of opening area, and fires for each model were completely suppressed prior to the end of discharge of $CO_2$ agent. It was shown that mass flow rate through opening was influenced by the combined effects of heat release rate of fire and discharge of $CO_2$ agent. After $CO_2$ agent was completely discharged, oxygen concentrations in enclosures for each model were lower than the limit concentration of combustion.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.103-110
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• 2016

While the demand for the gas system fire extinguishers increases every year, there are insufficient safety measures for assessing the extinguishing performance, such as system safety and reliability in the preparation of increasing demand, which has emerged as a social problem. One of the most critical causes of accidents occurring with the gas extinguishing system is pressure leakage from the extinguishing agent storage container. This is considered to be one of the critical factors on which the success of fire suppression depends. In this study, its safety measure was studied, Because it was deemed urgently necessary. The newly developed pressure leakage monitoring system is a system monitoring storage condition, pressure, leakage and discharge of the storage container related to agent concentration, which is one of the critical factors for fire suppression. This was developed to be applicable to the $CO_2$ and HFC-23 systems. Therefore, for structural safety analysis, the safety performance was verified by the fluid structure coupling analysis of the safety problems that may occur when the pressure leakage monitoring system is applied to the gas fire extinguisher. For analysis programs, the FloEFD program from Mentor Graphics was used for computational fluid dynamics analysis and ABAQUS from Dassault Systems was used for structural analysis. From the result of numerical analysis, the structure of $CO_2$ did not develop plastic deformation and its safety was verified. However, plastic deformation and deviation issue occurred with the HFC-23 monitoring system and therefore verified the structural safety of pressure leakage monitoring system by data obtained from redesigning and adjusting the condition of numerical interpretation three times.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.26-32
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• 2015

Carbon dioxide principally extinguishes fires by smothering, but an acceptable amount of extinguishing agent is needed. To assure the performance of carbon dioxide systems in Korea, computer programs certified by NEMA are being applied in system design. But the design errors can occur because the geometry of a model test facility is not the same as that of the actual fire area. Since the discharge rate tends to vary considerably with the flow pattern in a pipe, an on-site discharge test is necessary to ensure the performance of the system, especially with low pressure carbon dioxide. Technical standards for carbon dioxide systems do not give detailed guidelines for discharge tests at present. Based on comparative analysis of standards and practical tests, this paper suggests a methodology for on-site discharge tests.

• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.111-120
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• 2016

This study is intended to provide legislative direction for fire products life expectancy. Domestic and international laws relating to fire products life expectancy have been reviewed, and the results of a Fire Safety Manager Consciousness (FSMC) survey were analyzed. The FSMC survey has been designed in order to assist with the establishment of appropriate fire safety policy. A questionnaire survey was conducted with 660 fire safety administrators from 17 municipal and provincial districts, with the intention of gaining expertise on the extension of life-span for 32 fire products. The survey also asked for candidates opinions on future policy direction. Based on the survey results and the review of policies within other nations, we have devised a set of policy issues with the intention of extending the life-span of fire-safety items. The survey result revealed that 79.3% of Fire Safety Managers (FSMs) concurred with the establishment of legislation regarding the maintenance and correct care of fire-safety products. Overall, over 30% of FSMs were in favor of regulations regarding Ddry chemical fire extinguishers (77.3%), fire detectors (44.6%), fire hoses (44.4%), gaseous agent fire extinguisher (40.6%), automatic descending life lines (36.2%), exit lights (35.9%), air respirators (35.9%), extinguishing systems for residential cooking facilities (33.9%), automatic spray-type extinguishing units (33.9%), emergency lights (31.2%), and gas leakage detectors (30.7%). Especially, among these, dry chemical fire extinguishers (60.0%), detectors (20.0%), and fire hose (18.8%) were identified as the fire products primarily in need of maintenance legislation. The general consensus is that fire products older than 10 years need to be replaced. Based on the survey results, there was general agreement that fire product life expectancy is in need of legislation. This study recommends the introduction of fire product life expectancy legislation in phases.