Man Portable Smoke Generator Using Flash Vaporization Dissemination

Engineering Technology, Incorporated (ETI) proposes the design and development of a portable backpack smoke generator for Small Unit Combat, Non-confrontational Combat and National Institute of Justice Applications. The device shall be capable of producing sustained "visible" obscurants, effective in the visible and near-IR wavelengths, but transparent at longer wavelengths. The proposed system shall form the obscurant via the "flash atomization" of gelled gases combined with a solid particle visible obscurant, titanium dioxide (TiO2). The smoke generator shall function essentially like a conventional fire extinguisher, but will be capable of enhanced powder dissemination due to the vaporization of a carbon dioxide carrier gas. Benefits of the proposed system over current technology include low cost, non-toxic, high extinction coefficient obscurant material; low cost production of the filled obscurant cylinder; high efficiency dissemination of near-monodisperse smoke particles; proven shelf life of pressurized containers; and extremely simple operation.