Fine Aqueous Mist Extinguisher (FAME) for Army Ground Vehicles Phase II Proposal

Following recent global agreements to reduce production and usage of high Global Warming Potential (GWP), the Army is looking to replace the HFC-227ea used in its safety-critical ground vehicle crew fire protection systems without significantly impacting performance or crew safety. Paragon proposes the development of an aqueous fire suppressant atomized and delivered as a fine mist to maximize fire protection performance. ParagonÆs Phase I work indicated that atomized aqueous agents can match or exceed current HFC227-BC extinguisher performance in pool fire tests. Furthermore, previous Army studies found aqueous agents performed well in the standard rapid fire ball suppression tests. To develop a drop-in replacement for current Army suppression systems, Paragon will expand on its Phase I work by developing and testing a new high-flow automatic fine mist fire extinguisher design. Prototypes will be assembled, and their performance evaluated in ParagonÆs own fire ball generation test apparatus. Paragon will also address personnel injury risks (burn, frostbite, impact force) in Phase II. Beyond just fire suppression performance benefits, Paragon will determine if fine atomization can also eliminate these hazards through drastically reducing the agent droplet size compared to previous Army studies. Paragon will work with subcontractor ThermoAnalytics to refine their human thermal and skin damage models, using boundary conditions from Paragon test data.