Cold Discharge of CF3I in a Simulated Aircraft Engine Nacelle

Published

June 1, 2003

Author(s)

Jiann C. Yang, Samuel L. Manzello, Marc R. Nyden, M D. Connaghan

Abstract

An aircraft engine nacelle simulator was built to study the dispersion behavior of CF3I, a potential halon 1301 (CF3Br) replacement, at an extremely cold temperature (nominally 40 C). The experimental fixture consists of a simulated engine nacelle with baffles, an agent release port, observation windows, and two measurement locations. The simulator has a configuration and dimensions commensurate with a typical small engine nacelle. The entire facility was placed inside a large environmental test chamber. Agent discharge experiments were conducted at  –40 ˚C. The dispersion of CF3I was assessed by measuring the concentration at the two measurement locations in the simulator using fiber-optic-based UV spectrometers. Baseline agent dispersion performance was also established at room temperature. Compared to the measurements obtained at room temperature, there was a significant reduction in the agent concentration in the cold temperature release, and a fire suppression system designed based on room-temperature test data may fail to provide adequate fire protection.

Proceedings Title

Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium- SP 984

Conference Dates

June 16-21, 2003

Conference Title

IAFSS Symposium

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

Aircraft, Cold temperature, Fire Safety, Fire suppression, Halon alternative

Citation

Yang, J. , Manzello, S. , Nyden, M. and Connaghan, M. (2003), Cold Discharge of CF₃I in a Simulated Aircraft Engine Nacelle, Proceedings of the 7th International Symposium- SP 984, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=861119 (Accessed October 11, 2025)