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There are many types of suppression methods for airborne fires. All previous methods have been effective up to a point.

Halon

Halon is the system of choice for Class C compartments and works well on most fires where the concentration levels of Halon can be maintained. The problem is that Halon is ineffective on battery fires. On Lithium primary cell batteries, Halon reacts directly with the Lithium. Halon will also react with other Class D metals. Learn More. While Halon will suppress other materials in battery fire such as packaging, it does little to stop a battery fire. Halon has also been shown to be ineffective on Lithium Ion type batteries. While Halon does not have the same reaction to Lithium-Ion as Lithium alone, it still does not suppress the fire or stop the thermal reaction from taking place in the battery. The FAA conducted these types of tests to show this. Learn More

Oxygen Deprivation

Oxygen deprivation works well on fires that do not generate their own oxidizer. Oxygen deprivation does not work at all on chemical reactions or thermal runaways of batteries. Class E cargo compartments do not currently have fire suppression installed in them. This is typical of full freighter aircraft. The procedures for dealing with fires in Class E compartments are to depressurize the aircraft which reduces the oxygen level in the compartment. The problem with this is eventually the aircraft must prepare to land. It is at this time that a fresh source of oxygen is added back into the compartment. A fire that was being suppressed by oxygen depravation may have been smoldering. A smoldering fire with a fresh source of oxygen will usually flash to a very intense fire. Learn More

Cargo Foam

Ventura Aerospace Fire Suppression Systems utilize Cargo Foam. Cargo Foam is a water based foaming agent that uses Argon to generate small inert bubbles. The use of Argon is significant in that it is inert and does not chemically react. Argon will displace oxygen and can be held in suspension. Tests have shown that Cargo Foam will stay in suspension for as long as eight hours. The use of water based foaming agent provides wetting to any fuel source for a fire, further limiting the spread of a fire. Cargo Foam used in our suppression systems have been demonstrated to extinguish the FAA standard fire in an AMJ container. Cargo Foam has also been used to extinguish sodium fires. Even though the water in Cargo Foam reacts with sodium, the combination with Argon allows a hydrate layer to form around the sodium. This stops the fire.

You can learn more about the live fire testing here. Learn More

 

 

 

 

 

 

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