Fire is one of the most common disasters that strikes both households and businesses. Because of its volatile nature, people have always strived to improve fire safety systems by implementing new and advanced technologies. Throughout the history, scientists and technicians have used different chemicals and systems to fight fires more efficiently and with less risk for the surroundings, but today we have some pretty crazy and innovative designs that will surely change how we approach fire hazards.
These products and systems are going to be the next big thing in the fire protection industry, so keep a close eye on them if you are looking to update your ordinary fire sprinkler system.
Water mist system
The best substitute for the regular fire sprinkler system is a water mist system. This is not exactly a new technology, water mist was used in different areas throughout the past 30 years, but for firefighting services we are only starting to see its potential.
This technology isn’t too complicated. Instead of big water droplets, water mist systems send out smaller ones and release them under high pressure. This allows for much faster and efficient fire extinguishing process because water mist literally smothers the fire by lowering its heat and reducing the amount of oxygen that feeds it.
Another big advantage of water mist systems is that it causes almost no water damage. The biggest problem with regular fire sprinkler systems is that even if the fire is successfully extinguished, a lot of water is released in the process, damaging sensitive appliances, furniture, etc. This is why water mist systems are ideal for offices, museums, laboratories and any other place that has water sensitive equipment.
Video Image Smoke Detection (VISD)
Video image smoke detection systems use the latest technology for preventing and detecting fires. If you have a high ceiling warehouse or room, then this is the fire protection system for you. Because of the high ceilings ordinary smoke detectors aren’t going to be enough. A fire can start in one corner and by the time it reaches the smoke detector it will probably be too late. But not with VISD system.
This system uses surveillance cameras to detect potential fires and reports them immediately to the owner. It doesn’t rely on sensing smoke, but rather on visually spotting it. These cameras can detect changes in brightness, contrast, motion and color and by using sophisticated algorithms they can differentiate between smoke and any other change. If it turns out it is a fire hazard, it will immediately sound the alarm and if you combine it with water mist sprinklers it will extinguish the fire before it even starts to spread.
Sound wave extinguisher
This brilliant idea and invention comes from two engineering students. They were looking for a way to extinguish fires without the use of any harmful chemicals or water and the best solution they could find was sound.
Fire feeds on oxygen and without it, the fire dies out. These two guys decided to use sound waves to cut the oxygen flow to the fire and were successful in doing so. They have a complete working device that costs $600, but for now, its use is limited only to small house fires. If you are looking for a device unlike anything on the fire extinguisher chart that uses a non-destructive method to extinguish fires, then you should consider getting this one.
That is it from us. As you can see, fire protection technology has come a long way. Water hoses are still going to be used, but with products and systems from our list, their use will be limited. If you’re looking for a new fire safety system, then maybe consider getting one of our recommendations. With them installed you won’t have to worry about fire hazards ever again.
I never knew that there is a fire sprinkler system that uses high-pressure mist to get rid of the fire. My wife and I plan to have a sprinkler system for our house. We will need a fire protection expert to contact for the installation process of it.