POWDER SYSTEM

TWO YEARS AGO IT WAS EXPERIMENTALLY SHOWN THAT CHARGED WATERDROPLETS COULD KNOCK-DOWN SMOKE RAPIDLY. WE NOW PROPOSE TO TO DEVELOP A DEVICE WHICH USES A CHRGED FINELY POWERED SOLIDAEROSOL TO KNOCK-DOWN SMOKE. USING A SOLID INSTEAD OF A LIQUID AEROSOL HAS SIGNIFICANT ADVANTAGES. THE SOLID PART ICLES CAN BE PRE-FORMED IN A READY-TO-USE STATE. PARTICLE SIZE CAN BE RIGOROUSLY CONTROLLED AND HAVE OPTIMUM FINENESS.THE HIGHER DENSITY OF SOLIDS (TWOFOLD OR BETTER) ALLOWS AER AEROSOL PARTICLES WITH MUCH SMALLER DIAMETERS TO BE USED. THEREFORE, COLLECTION EFFICIENCY SHOULD BE MUCH HIGHER AND THE VOLUME OF AEROSOL REQUIRED MUCH LOWER THAN IF WATER WEREUSED. LIQUIFIED GAS PROPELLANT CAN BE USED TO AEROSOLIZE THETHE PRE-FORMED PARTICLES INSTEAD OF HIGH PRESSURE COMPRESSEDAIR. THIS PERMITS THE SYSTEM TO BE SMALL, SELF-CONTAINED ANDPORTABLE. A 24 VOLT BATTERY OPERATED HIGH VOLTAGE "FLY-BACK"CIRCUIT WILL BE USED TO PRODUCE CHARGED PARTICLES. A SMOKE DETECTOR WHICH TRIGGERS AND ELECTROEXPLOSIVE DEVICE WILL ACTIVATE THE AEROSOL VALVE AND BATTERY SWITCH. PARTICLE SIZE AND MECHANICAL CONFIGURATION WILL BE THE PREDOMINANT FACTORS STUDIED IN PHASE I. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS RANGE FROM SHIPS, AIRCRAFT AND TRAINS TO INDUSTRIAL AND RESIDENT IAL BUILDINGS.