Fire supression systems and methods

A fire suppression system comprising:

• a first source of fire supressing agent;
• one or more nozzles configured to output the fire supressing agent;
• a conduit for supplying the fire supressing agent from the first source to the one or more nozzles, wherein the conduit has a plurality of sections defined between a plurality of valves for controlling which of the plurality of sections the fire suppressing agent is able to be supplied into from the first source;
• a first pressure sensor located within the conduit for determining the pressure of the fire supressing agent from the first source;
• and
• control circuitry configured to determine, from the first pressure sensor, whether a pressure of the fire supressing agent inside a first of the sections of the conduit is above or below a threshold;
• and, if the pressure is above the threshold, open one of the valves so as to supply the fire supressing agent from the first section into an adjacent, downstream section of the conduit;
• whereas if the pressure is below the threshold, the control circuitry is configured to maintain said one of the valves closed so as to prevent fire supressing agent from being supplied from the first section into the adjacent, downstream section.

A method of supressing a fire, comprising:

• providing a fire suppression system comprising:
• a plurality of nozzles;
• one or more sources of fire supressing agent;
• and
• a conduit for supplying the agent from the one or more sources to the plurality of nozzles, wherein the conduit has a plurality of sections and a plurality of valves for controlling which of the plurality of sections the agent can be supplied into from the one or more sources;
• and the method further comprising:
• determining at least one nozzle of the plurality of nozzles that is required for supressing the fire;
• and
• controlling the plurality of valves to supply the agent from the one or more sources to the at least one nozzle via the conduit by, for one or more sections of the plurality of sections of the conduit that the agent is supplied into:
• determining whether a pressure of the agent inside a current section of the conduit is above or below a threshold;
• and
• when the pressure is above the threshold, opening a valve to supply the agent from the current section into a next section of the conduit;
• but
• when the pressure is below the threshold, controlling the valves to supply the agent to the at least one nozzle while bypassing the current section of the conduit.