Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Systems and Methods for Suppression Fire Protection of High Hazard Commodities Including Commodities Stored in Rack Arrangements Beneath Ceilings of Up to Fifty-Five Feet in Height

A suppression-mode ceiling-only storage occupancy fire protection system comprises:

• a grid of pendent fire protection sprinklers defining a sprinkler-to-sprinkler spacing ranging from eight feet to ten feet, each pendent sprinkler being qualified to suppress a fire in a storage commodity, each sprinkler including:
• a sprinkler body having an inlet and an outlet with a passageway disposed therebetween along a sprinkler axis and a nominal K-factor of 28.0 to 36.4 gpm/(psi)1/2;
• a closure assembly including a plug;
• a thermally responsive trigger assembly to support the closure assembly, the thermally responsive trigger assembly having a response time index of 65 (ft.*s)1/2 or less;
• and a deflector coupled to the sprinkler body and spaced from the outlet;
• and
• a network of pipes including at least one main pipe and a plurality of spaced apart branch lines interconnecting and locating the grid of pendent sprinklers beneath a ceiling having a ceiling height greater than forty feet, the network of pipes being filled with a firefighting fluid and locating the grid of sprinklers relative to a source of the firefighting fluid in which a number of hydraulically most remote sprinklers in the grid of sprinklers define a hydraulic design area of the system, the network of pipes delivering to each sprinkler in the hydraulic design area at least a minimum flowing pressure upon sprinkler actuation to provide suppression protection of high-piled storage including a commodity consisting of any one of Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, and cartoned unexpanded plastic commodities and combinations thereof, stored beneath the ceiling, the commodity having a maximum storage height, the storage having a configuration of rack storage, the rack storage being any one of single-row, double-row, and multi-row rack storage;
• wherein the ceiling height being at least five feet greater than the maximum storage height up to a maximum ceiling height of fifty-five feet, and
• wherein the configuration of rack storage has an aisle width of less than six feet.

A method of supplying a suppression-mode ceiling-only storage occupancy fire protection system, the method comprising:

• obtaining a plurality of pendent sprinklers, each sprinkler including:
• a sprinkler body having an orifice with an inlet and an outlet with a passageway disposed therebetween along a sprinkler axis, the orifice defining a nominal K-factor in a range of 28.0 to 36.4 gpm/(psi)1/2, a closure assembly including a plug;
• a thermally rated trigger assembly to support the closure assembly, the thermally rated trigger assembly having a response time index of 65 (ft.*s)1/2 or less, and a deflector coupled to the body and spaced from the outlet;
• and
• providing the plurality of sprinklers for installation in a grid of sprinklers relative to a source of firefighting fluid in which hydraulically remote sprinklers in the grid of sprinklers define a hydraulic design area to provide suppression fire protection of high-piled storage including a commodity consisting of one of Class 1, Class 2, Class 3, Class 4, and cartoned unexpanded plastic and combinations thereof stored beneath a ceiling having a ceiling height greater than forty feet, the commodity having a maximum storage height of up to fifty feet, the storage having a configuration of at least rack storage, the rack storage being any one of single-row, double-row, and multi-row rack storage with the ceiling height being at least five feet greater than the maximum storage height up to a maximum ceiling height of fifty-five feet, and the configuration of rack storage has an aisle width of less than six feet.