Performance of a Fast Response Agent Concentration Meter

Published

May 2, 2000

Author(s)

Erik L. Johnsson, George W. Mulholland, Gerald T. Fraser, A Zuban, I I. Leonov

Abstract

There is a need for monitoring the concentration of potential halon replacement chemicals with millisecond response time [I]. One scenario of great concern to the Air Force is the penetration of an enemy shell into the fuel tank of an aircraft. To prevent structural damage to the aircraft wing or fuselage to the point where the plane would crash, the Air Force considers it crucial that the fire extinguishing agent be distributed throughout the interior region surrounding the fuel tank, the so-called dry-bay, in less than 30 ms. Other applications of interest include evaluation of extinguishment of fires within military tanks penetrated by shells and in ship compartments. The instruments currently used for monitoring the concentration of Halon 1301 are the Statham analyzer and the Halonyzer [2].* Each has a time response on the order of 200 ms or longer. Clearly, they are not capable of monitoring the distribution of the agent in a dry-bay type environment. There is a need for a much faster time response instrument for monitoring the potential halon replacement chemicals. The design goal is an instrument with a response time of 3 ms that could be used with a variety of fire suppression agents over a concentration range from 1 to 20 % with an expanded uncertainty of f10 % of the nominal value.

Citation

OTHER -

NIST Pub Series

Other

Pub Type

NIST Pubs

Citation

Johnsson, E. , Mulholland, G. , Fraser, G. , Zuban, A. and Leonov, I. (2000), Performance of a Fast Response Agent Concentration Meter, Other, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD (Accessed December 10, 2024)