Airborne fire fighting system
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Air Force
InventorJoseph M. Bennett
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Abstract
System and method for pressurizing and dispersing fire retardant from an aircraft, particularly aircraft structured and equipped for retarding or extinguishing forest fires, that includes a small power pack having a plenum operatively interconnecting a plurality of individual solid propellant gas generator devices each containing solid propellant materials that react pyrotechnically when initiated electrically to generate large quantities of high-pressure gas in a few seconds for discharging a liquid retardant reservoir.
Claims5
A system for pressurizing and dispersing fire retardant from an aircraft, comprising:
- (a) a substantially closed reservoir for containing liquid, said reservoir having an inlet and an outlet;
- (b) a source of liquid fire retardant disposed within said reservoir;
- (c) a high pressure-manifold operatively connected to said inlet of said reservoir;
- (d) a power pack operatively connected to said manifold and communicating therethrough with said inlet of said reservoir, said power pack including a plurality of solid propellant gas generator cartridges each containing solid propellant material that reacts pyrotechnically for generating propulsive pressurization gas for selectively discharging said liquid retardant from said outlet of said reservoir;
- and
- (e) a movable platform for supporting the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.