PREVENTION OF UNWANTED FIRE

摘要

Methods and apparatus for preventing unwanted fire, by (a) inhibiting ignition and thereby preventing a flame from starting in the first place, and (b) preventing a flame from propagating beyond a confined region once it has started, by installing a fire quenching structure (53) made of a three-dimensional network of meshes that are made of metallic, or non-metallic, solid. The inhibiting and preventing may be partly due to heat dissipation through the structure (53) and partly due to termination of free radicals on the solid surfaces. An effective fire quenching structure (53) should have (a) a high surface area per unit apparent volume, (b) a high surface area per unit mass, (c) a good free radical termination character, and (d) a high permeability to allow flow of gas and liquid at a low pressure drop and thereby avoid pressure build-up.