Optical firing cartridge for fire extinguisher
AssigneeKidde Technologies, Inc.
InventorsAswin Kumar Vallamkondu, Terry Simpson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fire protection system includes a fire extinguisher including a housing. The housing includes an extinguisher outlet and a burst disk. The burst disk configured to retain a volume of fire suppressant material in the housing. A firing cartridge is operably connected to the housing. The firing cartridge includes an output charge, and an ignition charge that, when detonated, causes release of the output charge to rupture the burst disk and release the volume of fire suppressant material through the extinguisher outlet. An optical fiber is configured to transmit a light signal toward the ignition charge to heat and detonate the ignition charge. A light source is operably connected to the optical fiber to transmit the light signal along the optical fiber.
Claims18
A fire protection system, comprising:
- a fire extinguisher including:
- a housing containing a volume of fire suppressant material;
- an extinguisher outlet;
- and
- a burst disk, the burst disk configured to retain the volume of fire suppressant material in the housing;
- and
- a firing cartridge operably connected to the fire extinguisher, the firing cartridge including:
- an output charge;
- an ignition charge that, when detonated, causes release of the output charge to rupture the burst disk and release the volume of fire suppressant material through the extinguisher outlet;
- an optical fiber configured to transmit a light signal toward the ignition charge to heat and detonate the ignition charge;
- and
- a light source operably connected to the optical fiber to transmit the light signal along the optical fiber.
A method of operating a fire protection system, comprising:
- providing a fire extinguisher at a selected location, the fire extinguisher including:
- a housing containing a volume of fire suppressant material;
- an extinguisher outlet;
- and
- a burst disk, the burst disk configured to retain the volume of fire suppressant material in the housing;
- and
- operably connecting a firing cartridge to the fire extinguisher, the firing cartridge including:
- an output charge;
- an ignition charge that, when detonated, causes release of the output charge to rupture the burst disk and release the volume of fire suppressant material through the extinguisher outlet;
- transmitting a light signal from a light source along an optical fiber toward the ignition charge;
- and
- heating the ignition charge via the light signal, thereby detonating the ignition charge.
An aircraft comprising:
- an aircraft structure;
- and
- a fire protection system disposed in the aircraft structure, the fire protection system including:
- a fire extinguisher including:
- a housing containing a volume of fire suppressant material;
- an extinguisher outlet;
- and
- a burst disk, the burst disk configured to retain the volume of fire suppressant material in the housing;
- and
- a firing cartridge operably connected to the fire extinguisher, the firing cartridge including:
- an output charge;
- an ignition charge that, when detonated, causes release of the output charge to rupture the burst disk and release the volume of fire suppressant material through the extinguisher outlet;
- an optical fiber configured to transmit a light signal toward the ignition charge to heat and detonate the ignition charge;
- and
- a light source operably connected to the optical fiber to transmit the light signal along the optical fiber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.