Apparatus and method to control deflagration of gases

In a system for suppressing an exothermic reaction in a defined region in response to a signal generated by a sensing device, an apparatus for dispersing a stream of liquid droplets in the defined region comprising:

• means for contacting a gas with a liquid to form a fluid;
• a channel communicating with and extending radially outward from the contacting means, wherein the cross-sectional area of the channel at a first radial distance from the contacting means is more than the channel cross-sectional area at a second radial distance from the contacting means, the first radial distance being less than the second radial distance;
• whereby the fluid is accelerated as it passes through the channel and
• an outlet at the outer perimeter of the channel, said outlet having a cross-sectional area at a third radial distance from the contacting means that is less than the outlet cross-sectional area at a fourth radial distance from the contacting means, the third radial distance being less than the fourth radial distance, wherein the liquid has a supersonic velocity in at least one of the channel and the outlet and the outlet disperses a plurality of liquid droplets outward from the device.