Passive Dry Bay Fire Extinguishing System

The proposed Skyward passive dry bay fire extinguishing system is based upon years of experience in research and development and test and evaluation in the passive fire protection area.  The proposed system is completely passive, without power requirements or sensors/detectors.  It offers a lightweight solution, at low cost, and without maintenance requirements under normal aircraft operation.  This system also has an ability to respond to multiple fires in multiple locations, and even if one element of the system is damaged from a ballistic threat, the system can still respond overall.  It can also respond to fires resulting from either safety hazards or combat-related ballistic threat events.  Skywards system is modular in nature, so various elements of the design can be employed if aircraft requirements dictate or pulled from the overall system to lower weight and cost, if not required.  The less mature elements of the Skyward system will be optimized for weight and cost during this Phase I SBIR and testing will demonstrate effectiveness in time to ensure a fire, if ignited, will be extinguished prior to permanent aircraft damage occurring.  Provided design criteria will enable vulnerability reduction engineers to make strong fire protection trade-off arguments. BENEFITS: The goal of Skyward, Ltd. in this proposal is to develop an effective passive dry bay fire extinguishing system with low enough weight and cost penalties to make it a practical solution for both military and commercial aircraft.  The modular nature of the system allows for even lower weight and cost when requirements may be more limited in scope.  Conversely, it allows for protection from a variety of safety-related fires or ballistic threat-induced fires, if fully employed.  The proposed system positively addresses those arguments that currently prevent dry bay fire protection from being transitioned to legacy or new aircraft.  The simple means for integrating this system enables it to be an easy retrofit, which should further enhance its potential for transition.  The proposed system offers an equally effective argument for military ground vehicles, with some minor adjustments to better suit the environment of these vehicles.