At Field ID, we’re crazy about new technology, innovation in both hardware and software, and how it can all come together for safety management. Given its importance to overall safety, fire safety management is clearly very important to many of our users. So when I stumbled on a DARPA project fire suppression using a “magical” wand, I was so impressed had to share it.
It’s not really magic. But breakthroughs in science can be just as impressive, and they can create the illusion of magic. This video of the technology in action is a perfect example of what I mean.
Here’s the background. The DARPA Instant Fire Suppression (IFS) program, a U.S. military initiative, sought to establish the feasibility of a flame-suppression system based on destabilization of flame plasma with electromagnetic fields and acoustics techniques. The DARPA research team at Harvard University has recently demonstrated suppression of small methane and related fuel fires by using a hand-held electrode, or wand. TIME Magazine named DARPA’s fire suppression technology among the 50 best inventions of 2011.
Many of today’s fire suppression technologies are decades old and focus largely on disrupting the chemical reactions involved in combustion by spraying water, foams or other chemicals on the flames. They can also cause damage to valuable property, environmental toxicity and have limited effectiveness for some types of fire. All existing suppressants are composed of matter and must be physically delivered and dispersed throughout the fire. This limits the rate at which fires can be extinguished and the ability to combat fires in confined spaces or behind obstacles.
But DARPA’s approach is truly novel. One day, this new approach could eventually make its way to commercial and residential use. Can you imagine using a wand to deal with small to large scale fires and eliminating certain problems such as fire extinguisher size or distance to a fire hydrant? It may be possible in the future, but for now this technology is in its early stages.
According to Matthew Goodman, DARPA program manager: “We successfully suppressed small flames and limited re-ignition of those flames, as well as exhibited the ability to bend flames. These effects, to date are very local—scaling is a challenge that remains to be overcome. We’ve made scientific breakthroughs in our understanding and quantification of the interaction between electromagnetic and acoustic waves with flame plasma.”
Technology is evolving every day, and so is Field ID. Personally, I can’t wait for the day that the first “fire suppression wand” gets entered into our system for inspection or safety audits.
Tags: DARPA, Equipment Safety, fire extinguishers, Fire Safety, fire suppression, Inspection Software, Safety Management
“According to Matthew Goodman, DARPA program manager: “We successfully suppressed small flames and limited re-ignition of those flames, as well as exhibited the ability to bend flames. These effects, to date are very local—scaling is a challenge that remains to be overcome. We’ve made scientific breakthroughs in our understanding and quantification of the interaction between electromagnetic and acoustic waves with flame plasma.””
Wow, I can’t wait to see what becomes of this technology and see how it’s applied in commercial fire suppression systems.