New sprinkler technology is helping to make a safer tomorrow

One of the main goals in the realm of fire protection is to protect occupants of structures from accidental fires.  One of the ways this is done is by suppressing the spread of an ongoing fire or by extinguishing it.  This goal is mainly accomplished by sprinkler systems installed in the building using water-based systems; the most popular and best performing systems in suppressing fires.  However, modeling how the system will suppress the fire remains a challenge.  Thanks to innovations in technology and better understandings of water flow through sprinklers, a system has been developed by Custom Spray Solutions to measure the spray produced by sprinklers called the Spatially-resolved Spray Scanning System (4S).  Stephen Jordan is a grad student in the Fire Protection Engineering Department who is helping to conduct research on the 4S system, and this is how he describes the 4S process.

Although this may not seem like a big deal, for the fire protection community it is.  With the 4S system, a 3D map of an area, like to one to the right,  can be generated showing the sprinkler spray tracing it to determine where the water is and is not going.  Determining how structures and obstruction effect sprinkler spray is crucial in determining where occupants can and cannot place things inside the building.  The 4S system allows designers to adjust the obstructions dimensions and sprinkler distribution to see which configuration creates the best water distribution.

Like all new technology, the 4S system is facing resistance

Before this new system, the only way to measure a sprinkler’s properties was to spread buckets around the floor below the sprinkler head and see how much water was collected and where.  In addition, code specifications for sprinklers only go as far as the pressure in the pipe.  As stated before, the 4S system allows for a much more in depth look at sprinkler performance making it able to update code requirements.  However, the codes in existence have been in existence since the mid 1900’s and have been written through empirical experimentation (like the bucket method mentioned above).  Stephen gives a bit more insight into this situation.

As Stephen said, the professional engineers who would be using this technology like it and this is why.  In the fire protection field, there are two main approaches when performing a building analysis: prescriptive and performance based.  A prescriptive based analysis is one that follows the strict guidelines set forth by the Life Safety or building codes; for each scenario there generally one solution that must be followed.  In a performance based design, there is more flexibility allowed.  Instead of adhering to strict guidelines, a designer has to meet objectives set by the codes.  Performance based design is not meant to replace prescriptive based design but rather to help designers create a safe environment in challenging structures.  The 4S system follows along similar lines as performance based design in that it shows how a sprinkler will perform instead of just showing that it performs.  This greatly helps engineers using performance based design because it allows them to test and actually see how different types of sprinkler head will perform.  This in turn will help them to choose the sprinkler that is most suitable for the given situation. 

The 4S system is also helpful to sprinkler manufacturing companies

Most people might not know that there is a wide variety of sprinklers whit a wide variety of specialties.  Certain sprinklers are designed to operate at higher water pressures, while other are designed to run at low pressures.  Some sprinklers are set of by a volatile liquid expanding to a gas and breaking its glass enclosure while others are set off by a metal or plastic plate melting.  Even the heads are different; each designed to direct the water to flow differently based on its use.  Not only will this help engineers distinguish the differences between sprinkler heads, but as Stephen explains, it will help manufacturers too.

 

This shows that the 4S system can also help the marketability of different brands of sprinklers.  The 4S system can determine which manufacture’s sprinklers perform best in terms of spray distribution, droplet size, and other factors and help give engineers and idea of not only what type of sprinkler to buy, but also which brand.  This shows that the 4S system not only helps the technical end of fire protection, but it helps to commercial aspect as well.

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