Spotlight On – Sound-based fire extinguisher

Sound-based fire extinguisher

New products come up in the world of health and safety frequently, but it is rare to see something as innovative as this.

Developed by two engineering students in Virginia, a sound-based fire extinguisher is a potentially revolutionary product. Instead of water, foam or gas, this extinguisher-with-a-difference uses low-frequency sound waves to put out fires.

The two students, Viet Tran and Seth Robertson, were working on a class project at George Mason University when they came across an old project that used sound waves to extinguish fires. However, the device in question was large and unwieldy, and so they set themselves the task of making the device more practical.

The device is thought to work by increasing the velocity of air particles surrounding and inside the fire which decreases the surface area of the air at which the fire combusts.

More work is needed to improve the device, but the students think it could have important practical applications. Tran is quoted as saying:

“I see this device being applied to a lot of things. First off, I think in the kitchen, it could be on top a stove top […] Eventually, I’d like to see this applied to swarm robotics, where it’d be attached to a drone, and that would be applied to forest fires or even building fires where you wouldn’t want to sacrifice human life.”

There are, however, limitations to the design. Whilst the device can put out fires, there is currently no coolant in the device, so it is possible that once the fire has been extinguished, the still-hot source could reignite.

Whilst there might be problems with the practical application of the sound-based extinguisher now, there can be no doubt that this is an innovative and interesting concept and design. Putting out fires with water, powder, foam and chemicals can leave behind a big mess and chemical residue. The same can’t be said of sound waves.

You can see a YouTube video of the extinguisher in action here.

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