In the event of a fire being initiated in avionic dry bays, engine nacelles, or the leading edges of wing geometries, ESI has designed a Smart Fire Protection System (SFPS) and is a part of ESI’s suite of fire protection systems. This high speed protection system has an ability to detect, validate, and extinguish fires where the potential of multiple ignition sources and fires exist. For example, ESI has successfully demonstrated extinguishing a fire using the SFPS within a leading edge section of a full scale wing. This was demonstrated with internal airflow flowing towards and away from the SFPS unit where it was shown that flame extinguishment occurred in less than 452 milliseconds using only 50 gms (1.76 ounces) of suppressant agent and only required standard aircraft electric power, Figure 1. In this figure, the flame is observed (red circle) at time T = 0 milliseconds, and the agent is discharged (blue circle), and extinguished at time T = 452 milliseconds.

The following demonstration is presented showing the performance of a typical SFPS fire extinguishment event:-

• Within a wing leading edge with 1000 cfm internal airflow and 8 GPH spray fire

• Using a prototype agent containing 50 gm (0.1 lb) of purple K stored within the unit, and

• Using low pressure air for the driving gas of the agent