In mid-2012, the masterminds at DARPA shared with the world their advances in fire control, applying concepts like sonic wind and acoustic fields. This time, two engineering students at George Mason University have developed a similar system with a high level of portability, and a Ghostbusters essence that we really like...
The Challenges of Fire Control
Fire control is a critical practice in all military vehicles, but a home, office, or factory does not have the advantage of hundreds of trained officers. Under normal conditions, methods for extinguishing fires must compensate for any other limitation; however, this is much more complicated than it appears. Empty extinguishers, poorly maintained hoses, closed water lines, malfunctioning alarms, and heavy buckets of sand can create a perfect storm even if the fire is relatively small. In July 2012, DARPA explored the possibility of using sound to extinguish flames, but nobody says that should apply exclusively to the military domain.
The Students' Sonic Solution
Next May, Seth Robertson and Viet Tran will become graduate engineers from George Mason University, located in Virginia. They decided to combine a frequency generator, an amplifier, and a bass speaker (i.e., a subwoofer). A year of development and $600 later, the result is a semi-portable acoustic platform that extinguishes flames in a matter of seconds. So far, they have only been able to test their system with flames caused by alcohol, but they received a formal request from the local fire department to evaluate its effectiveness on structural fires. The development was difficult, as they only received support from one professor.
Future Plans and Open Questions
The plan is to optimize this system so that in the future it can be installed in kitchens and other compact places, though its big benefit would come with the elimination of water and toxic chemicals as primary elements for extinguishing fires. The big question lies in scale, which further justifies tests on structural fires. One thing is to put out a stream of alcohol in a frying pan, and a completely different thing would be to extinguish flames in a curtain or carpet. On the other hand, putting out a fire is not only about eliminating the direct flame, but also lowering the temperature of the affected area. Even so, I wish them the best. The proof of concept works, and I think it's worth continuing to investigate its limits.
