Fire extinguishers with inverted internal domes

#The present disclosure relates to fire extinguishers, and more particularly to fire extinguishers for aerospace applications.

#Traditional aircraft fire extinguishers utilize a sphere filled with liquefied extinguishing agent that is expelled through a discharge head at or near the bottom of the spherical container. During discharge, the liquefied agent is driven down and out of the container by the combined agent vapor pressure and a super-pressurizing gas. These containers typically require customized brackets with supports or plates which interface with mounting lugs on the container, typically along the equator thereof. Designs which locate the discharge head outlets further up the side of the container limit the mass of the liquefied agent which is expelled. A dip-tube can be used to increase agent utilization for such designs. However, the dip-tubes present issues with respect to manufacturability and reliability.

#The conventional techniques have been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is an ever present need for improved fire extinguishers. This disclosure provides a solution for this problem.

#So that those skilled in the art to which the subject disclosure appertains will readily understand how to make and use the devices and methods of the subject disclosure without undue experimentation, preferred embodiments thereof will be described in detail herein below with reference to certain figures, wherein:

#FIG. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation view of an exemplary embodiment of a fire extinguisher constructed in accordance with the present disclosure, showing the inverted secondary dome within the main dome;

#FIG. 2 is a partially cross-sectional perspective view of the fire extinguisher of FIG. 1, showing a spherical embodiment of the fire extinguisher with the cross-section shown in FIG. 1;

#Reference will now be made to the drawings wherein like reference numerals identify similar structural features or aspects of the subject disclosure. For purposes of explanation and illustration, and not limitation, a partial view of an exemplary embodiment of a fire extinguisher in accordance with the disclosure is shown in FIG. 1 and is designated generally by reference character 100. Other embodiments of fire extinguishers in accordance with the disclosure, or aspects thereof, are provided in FIGS. 2-6, as will be described. The systems and methods described herein can be used for fire extinguishing in aerospace applications, for example.

#The fire extinguisher 100 includes a main dome 102 partially surrounding an internal space 104 housing fire extinguishing agent. A secondary dome 106 is mounted to the main dome 102, i.e. inside the interior of the main dome 102. The secondary dome 106 is inverted with respect to the main dome 102, i.e. the secondary dome is mounted in the bottom half of the secondary dome as oriented in FIG. 1, but has a convex curvature where the bottom half of the main dome 102 has a concave curvature. The secondary dome 106 has a radius of curvature R2 that is equal to the radius of curvature R1 of the main dome 102, however those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that the two radii R1 and R2 can be different from one another and/or individually variable without departing from the scope of this disclosure.

#The secondary dome 106 is welded or otherwise sealed to the main dome 102 at a joint 108 that is at, below, or above the equator E of the main dome 102. The secondary dome 106 and main dome 102 can be made of stainless steel or any other suitable metal. In FIG. 2, the main dome 102 and the secondary dome 106 can be spherical based on the cross-section shown schematically in FIG. 1. It is also contemplated that the main dome 102 and the secondary dome 106 can be elongated vertically based on the cross-section shown schematically in FIG. 1 to be cylindrical. As shown in FIG. 3, it is also contemplated that the main dome 102 and the secondary dome 106 can be cylindrical based on the cross-section schematically shown in FIG. 1.