Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

An aircraft engine nacelle simulator was built to study the dispersion behavior of CF3I, a potential Halon 1301 (CF3Br) replacement, at temperatures below ?22 °C (normal boiling point of CF3I). The experimental fixture consists of a simulated engine nacelle with baffles, an agent release port, observation windows, and two measurement locations. The simulator has a configuration and dimensions commensurate with a typical small engine nacelle. The entire facility was placed inside a large environmental test chamber. Agent discharge experiments were conducted at –40 °C. The dispersion of CF3I was assessed by measuring the concentration at the two measurement locations in the simulator using fiber-optic-based UV spectrometers. Baseline agent dispersion performance was also established at room temperature. Compared to the measurements obtained at room temperature, there was a significant reduction in the peak agent concentration in the cold temperature release, and a fire suppression system designed based on room-temperature test data may fail to provide adequate fire protection at –40 °C.