Automated Deck Foam Fire Extinguishing Systems for Tankers.
Abstract
Full-scale tests were conducted on the tank vessel A.E. WATTS at the U.S. Coast Guard Fire and Safety Test Facility, Mobile, Alabama, to investigate alternatives to the manually operated monitor in a deck foam fire extinguishing system. The alternatives included oscillating, automatic, and remotely controlled monitors. The test series investigated the effectiveness and efficiency of these alternatives through maneuverability tests, pattern tests, foam placement tests, and full-scale fire tests. Alternative monitors were compared to a U.S. Coast Guard-approved manual monitor utilizing Coast Guard-approved three percent protein foam as the extinguishing agent. The automated monitors proved effective in controlling and extinguishing the deck fires at slightly longer times than the manual monitor. However, their effectiveness was increased by their ability to function under fire conditions which rendered the manual monitor impossible to approach and operate. The principal problems of the automated monitors were their reliability and durability over short periods of testing. Fail-safe manual override controls for each monitor would partially make up for these problems. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 1977
- Accession Number
- ADA047268
Entities
People
- David E. Beene Jr.
- Robert C. Richards
Organizations
- [Means, goals and clinical aims of physioradiological methods of examination.]