Fire protection systems and methods
First Claim
1. A fire or explosion protection system, comprising inert gas producing means operative to produce an inert gas output (B) using low temperature catalytic oxidation of organic fuel, and means operative to deploy the inert gas output into a region to be protected against the fire or explosion, wherein the inert gas producing means comprises mixing means (16) operative to mix air (A) with the organic fuel and means operative to pass the resultant mixture over a noble metal catalyst (18), characterised in that the mixing means (16) operative in a first stage to mix the air (A) with organic fuel in the form of an oxygenated organic fuel (12) and being operative in a second stage to mix the air (A) with organic fuel in the form of a hydrocarbon fuel (13) whereby to produce the inert gas when the resultant mixture is passed over the heated catalyst (18).
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Accused Products
Abstract
Air from an air source A, which may be the bleed air of an aircraft, enters the system under the control of an air flow control unit (10). An organic fuel from a fuel reservoir (12 or 13) enters a mixing chamber (16) under the control of fuel flow control unit (14) for mixture with the air. At a first stage the organic fuel is a oxygenated organic fuel from reservoir (12), and at a subsequent stage the organic fuel is a hydrocarbon fuel from reservoir (13). The air and fuel mixture passes to a catalyst bed (18) containing a noble metal catalyst such as platinum, palladium or a mixture thereof. A relatively low temperature, non-flaming reaction occurs and the resultant gas mixture contains a low concentration of oxygen and larger qualities of inert gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide and water vapour. This post reaction mixture, which leaves the system at B, is suitable for suppressing and extinguishing fires, and is especially suitable for purging of air from cargo compartments on board aircraft during a flight on detection of a fire. A temperature control unit (20) associated with the catalyst bed (18) may be used to prevent its overheating during the reaction. A control unit (24) operates to control the air flow control unit (10), the fuel flow control unit (14) and the temperature control unit (20) in response to signals from sensing units (22) at various points in the system which detect various parameters such as the gas, pressure, temperature and flow.
48 Citations
46 Claims
- 1. A fire or explosion protection system, comprising inert gas producing means operative to produce an inert gas output (B) using low temperature catalytic oxidation of organic fuel, and means operative to deploy the inert gas output into a region to be protected against the fire or explosion, wherein the inert gas producing means comprises mixing means (16) operative to mix air (A) with the organic fuel and means operative to pass the resultant mixture over a noble metal catalyst (18), characterised in that the mixing means (16) operative in a first stage to mix the air (A) with organic fuel in the form of an oxygenated organic fuel (12) and being operative in a second stage to mix the air (A) with organic fuel in the form of a hydrocarbon fuel (13) whereby to produce the inert gas when the resultant mixture is passed over the heated catalyst (18).
- 20. A method of protecting a region from fire or explosion, comprising the steps of mixing air from an air source (A) with organic fuel from an organic fuel source, passing the mixture over a catalyst (18) for a low temperature oxidation reaction to produce an inert gas output (B), and passing the resultant inert gas output (B) into the region to be protected, characterised in that the mixing step comprises a first stage in which the fuel is an oxygenated organic fuel (12), and a second stage in which the fuel is a hydrocarbon (13).
Specification