NASA Helps Companies Test Eco-Friendly Fire-Fighting System
During a January flight of space shuttle Columbia, astronauts will test a new commercial fire-fighting system that puts out blazes with a fine water mist -- instead of using harmful chemicals or large quantities of water that damage property.
During a January flight of space shuttle Columbia, astronauts will test a new commercial fire-fighting system that puts out blazes with a fine water mist -- instead of using harmful chemicals or large quantities of water that damage property.
"The fire-fighting industry is in search of a new tool that doesn’t use dangerous chemicals or douse fires with huge quantities of water that cause extensive property damage," said Mark Nall, director of the Space Product Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "By flying this commercial experiment on the STS-107 Columbia mission, NASA is helping industry design a cost-effective, environmentally friendly system for putting out fires.”
Until recently, halons, bromine-based compounds, were used to attack fires chemically -- especially in places like computer rooms, aircraft, and document storage rooms where water sprinklers were inappropriate. In 1998, the production of these chemicals was banned worldwide because they damage Earth's protective ozone layer. This part of the atmosphere shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.
“We are working to find an acceptable replacement for halons, and water mist appears to be the best choice," said Dr. Thomas McKinnon, lead scientist for the research at the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. This NASA Commercial Space Center specializes in helping industry conduct combustion research in space through NASA’s Space Product Development Program at the Marshall Center.
“The shuttle tests use a humidifier-like device to produce water drops about 20 microns in size,” said Dr. Angel Abbud-Madrid, the project scientist at the NASA Commercial Space Center. “That’s about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, as opposed to drops produced by conventional sprinklers that are about one millimeter, or 50 times the size of our droplets.”
The water mist research team is working with MicroCool Inc., a division of Nortec Industries Inc., in Palm Springs, Calif., and FOGCO Systems Inc. in Gilbert, Ariz. These companies manufacture water mist systems for putting out fires and for other purposes, such as outdoor cooling and industrial humidification.
“Firefighters in Denver and at the Arvada Fire Training and Research Center have tested our ultra-fine mist nozzles,” said Mike Lemche, general manager of MicroCool. “The cooling effect of this mist removes one of the key components of fire -- heat.”
Gary Wintering, president of FOGCO, said his company will use information from the STS-107 experiment to fine-tune their designs of fire-fighting systems. Water mist systems create a fog instead of sending out blasts of water. Since the fog removes heat and replaces oxygen as the water evaporates, it prevents the fire from expanding and starting new fires.
This is particularly important when fire starts in a closed compartment on a ship, aircraft, or even on the space shuttle. The U.S. Navy is already working with the airline industry and the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space on water mists studies.
"The fire-fighting industry is in search of a new tool that doesn’t use dangerous chemicals or douse fires with huge quantities of water that cause extensive property damage," said Mark Nall, director of the Space Product Development Program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "By flying this commercial experiment on the STS-107 Columbia mission, NASA is helping industry design a cost-effective, environmentally friendly system for putting out fires.”
Until recently, halons, bromine-based compounds, were used to attack fires chemically -- especially in places like computer rooms, aircraft, and document storage rooms where water sprinklers were inappropriate. In 1998, the production of these chemicals was banned worldwide because they damage Earth's protective ozone layer. This part of the atmosphere shields us from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.
“We are working to find an acceptable replacement for halons, and water mist appears to be the best choice," said Dr. Thomas McKinnon, lead scientist for the research at the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. This NASA Commercial Space Center specializes in helping industry conduct combustion research in space through NASA’s Space Product Development Program at the Marshall Center.
“The shuttle tests use a humidifier-like device to produce water drops about 20 microns in size,” said Dr. Angel Abbud-Madrid, the project scientist at the NASA Commercial Space Center. “That’s about one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, as opposed to drops produced by conventional sprinklers that are about one millimeter, or 50 times the size of our droplets.”
The water mist research team is working with MicroCool Inc., a division of Nortec Industries Inc., in Palm Springs, Calif., and FOGCO Systems Inc. in Gilbert, Ariz. These companies manufacture water mist systems for putting out fires and for other purposes, such as outdoor cooling and industrial humidification.
“Firefighters in Denver and at the Arvada Fire Training and Research Center have tested our ultra-fine mist nozzles,” said Mike Lemche, general manager of MicroCool. “The cooling effect of this mist removes one of the key components of fire -- heat.”
Gary Wintering, president of FOGCO, said his company will use information from the STS-107 experiment to fine-tune their designs of fire-fighting systems. Water mist systems create a fog instead of sending out blasts of water. Since the fog removes heat and replaces oxygen as the water evaporates, it prevents the fire from expanding and starting new fires.
This is particularly important when fire starts in a closed compartment on a ship, aircraft, or even on the space shuttle. The U.S. Navy is already working with the airline industry and the Center for Commercial Applications of Combustion in Space on water mists studies.
