WO2022069558A1

WO2022069558A1 - Apparatus for suppressing a fire

Info

Publication number: WO2022069558A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/076822
Authority: WO
Inventors: Oliver Stephen WADE
Original assignee: Wade Oliver Stephen
Priority date: 2020-09-30
Filing date: 2021-09-29
Publication date: 2022-04-07
Also published as: GB2599419A; GB2615461A; GB202015552D0; GB202306344D0

Abstract

An apparatus for suppressing a fire within an electrical appliance comprising: a container that is partially frangible; and includes a non-frangible reinforced portion adapted to absorb shockwave(s) and sound wave(s) associated with an explosion; wherein the container includes a low yield explosive and contains one or more fire suppression agents, wherein detonation of the low yield explosive expels the fire suppression agent(s) from the container and the reinforced portion of the container absorbs a shockwave and/or a sound wave associated with the detonation of the explosive, thereby protecting the electrical appliance casing from damage and preventing shrapnel whilst enabling the fire suppression agent(s) to expel in a certain direction towards the fire; and wherein the apparatus includes a fuse operatively coupled to the low yield explosive, wherein the fuse is capable of detonating the explosive.

Description

Apparatus for Suppressing a Fire

In many countries a lot of fires are caused by (electrical) appliances, such as kitchen appliances like fridges and washing machines which are switched on throughout its whole lifetime of the appliance, approximately about 10-15 years. The building up of dust or other residue can help to fuel a fire within such appliances.

Anything could cause a fire in an electrical appliance and it can happen to anyone and anywhere, even with up to date electrical checks and safety checks, fires can still occur. Fires can be fatal to humans and can cause damages such as deaths, trauma and economic/financial loss to people and to the government.

The current fire fighting devices have many limitations such as the cost of acquisition, storage area/space, placement of the extinguisher, complexity of use, human cost of use, and other limiting factors.

Most people in the UK or around the world do not have fire extinguishers within their own homes or in their fire prone areas. However, if homeowners do have and use a fire extinguisher at home to put out a fire caused by an electrical appliance in a conventional way there can be problems; first of all, a fire extinguisher has the potential to cause harm and a possible human injury to the user due to the close proximity that the user has to be within the vicinity to use the fire extinguisher effectively. Secondly, fire extinguishers can also lead to a number of different dangerous situations such as someone fighting a fire with a defective fire extinguisher by not carrying out safety checks before use. It also depends on how well the user is being trained to use conventional fire extinguishers especially in a time of smoke inhalation, panic, heat, and extreme stress.

The most commonly used fire extinguishers are hand held fire extinguishers which requires a person to be within a short distance from the naked flames, this will cause issues in personal safety for the person using the handheld fire extinguisher.

On the contrary, the handheld fire extinguisher that can expel fire suppression agents at a greater distance will get heavier. In order to provide a safe distance, there is a need to be further away from the fire. However the increased distance causes the increase of the weight of the fire extinguisher, therefore it would be hard to carry continuously for some people especially if the fire extinguisher has to be used in a long period of time to put a fire out. Some fire extinguishers have to be wheeled in and are not easy to be manoeuvred and lifted with only one hand, especially as the other hand is using the nozzle.

Nonetheless even the smaller handheld fire extinguisher (a small pressurised can) can be too big, and too heavy to be placed within an electrical appliance without drastically increasing the size of the electrical appliance. For disabled homeowners who may not be able to use hand held or wheeled fire extinguishers to put the fire out and this can be a challenge.

Other common fire extinguishers are sprinkler systems. However, these are used for large buildings and not in small appliances, sprinklers require lots of infrastructure to be effective, sprinklers also need to be installed and piped. It is very hard for a sprinkler system to put a fire out at an early stage of the fire which is caused by an appliance within the building. It is also impossible to cover every area of the building especially to reach inside any sealed electrical appliance. It is costly and time consuming to check for the ability of the sprinkler system to be effective and check for corrosion which can damage the pipes or cause any leaks. Throwable fire extinguishers could be thrown past the electrical appliance and cannot always be thrown inside an electrical appliance as the casing may be sealed. It is not effective to throw a single fire extinguisher in a large room. It will also be extremely difficult to detect the fire at the early stage within an electrical appliance.

Any use of a gas in fire extinguisher inside or outside of an appliance, such as carbon dioxide fire extinguishers (CO2) as a fire suppression agent can be dangerous as CO2 fumes can be inhaled in a confined and enclosed area of a room with limited ventilation, if there is a leakage of CO2 from the fire extinguisher canister this could cause death to homeowners because it is rare for homeowners to have a CO2 detector installed in a flat (an apartment)/house or an office to warn people how much potential gas leaked in a room from a gas fire extinguisher. It could also be very difficult for homeowners to check their CO2 fire extinguisher canister for maintenance.

With many aspects that all appliances need to be checked regularly for safety issues. However, generally homeowners possibly are rare to check their own appliances regularly until something happens. It is very hard for anybody to detect a fire at an early stage within the appliance and/or to get to the source of the fire with a conventional fire extinguisher in time because the source of the fire usually starts within the casing of an appliance before the fire spreads out to other fuels around the building. The disadvantage of using external fire extinguishers that either expels powder, gas or liquids is causing damages to homeowner’s documents, furniture and other electronic equipments within the house and also the house itself. The cost may not only be a financial cost but also a psychological cost to the relevant people.

Thus, there is a need for an automatic explosive-type fire suppressing system within electrical appliances that is economic to install, easy to build, and safe. It does not require any human interference to operate and it is efficient and effective to direct the fire extinguishing agents into the fire at the early stage of the fire within an electrical appliance and to minimise potential damage.

According to a first aspect of the invention, there is provided an apparatus for suppressing a fire within an electrical appliance comprising: a container that is partially frangible; and includes a non-frangible reinforced portion adapted to absorb shockwave(s) and sound wave(s) associated with an explosion; wherein the container includes a low yield explosive and contains at least one fire suppression agent, wherein detonation of the low yield explosive expels the or each fire suppression agent from the container and the reinforced portion of the container absorbs a shockwave and/or a sound wave associated with the detonation of the explosive, thereby protecting the electrical appliance casing from damage and preventing shrapnel whilst enabling the fire suppression agent(s) to expel in a certain direction towards the fire; and wherein the apparatus includes a fuse operatively coupled to the low yield explosive, wherein the fuse is capable of detonating the explosive.

The apparatus expels the fire suppression agent(s) when the low yield explosive material is detonated by the fuse. The expelled fire suppression agent(s) suppress the fire and prevent or minimise any damage that the fire may otherwise have caused.

The frangible portion provides a route via which the fire suppression agent(s) may be expelled from the container and the non-frangible reinforced portion of the container absorbs and optionally also directs the explosive force from the low yield explosive material. The apparatus may include multiple containers, wherein each container may include a respective fuse; and the fuses are connected to form a fuse network. Suitably, the containers are all connected together and installed inside the casing of an appliance.

In an embodiment of the invention, the fuse network comprises a combustible material. In this way, a fire which starts within an appliance will ignite the combustible material of the fuse network, which in turn will detonate the or each explosive contained within the container(s).

In an embodiment of the invention, the fuse network is in the form of a fuse circuit comprising a primary fuse in the form of a continuous loop and secondary fuses which connect the primary fuse to the or each container. Thus, the primary fuse may form a continuous loop within an appliance and the or each of the containers may be connected to the primary fuse circuit via a respective secondary fuse. In this way, in embodiments which include two or more containers, each container is effectively connected to the fuse network in a parallel arrangement. Accordingly, if there is a problem with a secondary fuse which connects a first container to the fuse network, this would not prevent the low yield explosive material located in other containers from being detonated.

The low yield explosive may be in the form of a powder and is suitably located within the container. Low yield explosive material in powder form tend to be stable and unlikely to detonate unintentionally.

In an embodiment of the invention, the or each container defines an elongate passageway; the fuse is located within the passageway; and the passageway includes an opening in communication with the low yield explosive. The location of the fuse within a passageway may help to protect the fuse material, for example against damp conditions within the appliance.

Suitably, the primary fuse has a combustion transmission speed which is greater than the combustion transmission speed of the or each secondary fuse. In this way, the primary fuse may ignite each of the secondary fuses before the low yield explosive is detonated, as the detonation of the low yield explosive in one or more of the containers may disrupt the primary fuse.

In an embodiment of the invention, the non-frangible reinforced portion of the container includes a reinforcing membrane, for example a sheet of reinforcing material. The reinforcing material may be a metal, it may be formed of glass fibres, it may be formed of carbon fibres, or it may be a polymeric material. Suitably, the reinforcing material is a metal, such as aluminium, for example, the reinforced portion of the container may be formed from an aluminium sheet. In a further embodiment, the reinforced portion may be ribbed.

The apparatus may emit an audible alert when the low yield explosive is detonated. This may simply be the sound of the detonation or it may be a focussed sound wave or a supplementary alert. The user may not be aware that a fire has started within the apparatus and that the apparatus has been activated as a result of this. The audible alert draws attention to the operation of the apparatus and the need to repair or replace the appliance.

In an embodiment of the invention, the or each container may include two or more different fire suppression agents. Additionally or alternatively, the apparatus may include two or more containers, wherein a first one of the containers includes a first fire suppression agent; a second one of the containers includes a second fire suppression agent; and the second fire suppression agent is different to the first fire suppression agent. The skilled person will appreciate that different fire suppression agents are more effective against certain types of fire. Accordingly, a greater overall degree of protection may be obtained through the use of different fire suppression agents within the apparatus of the invention. In a further embodiment of the invention, the or each fuse comprises a combustible material having a pre-determined ignition temperature and the apparatus automatically detonates when the temperature of the fuse or a portion thereof exceeds its ignition temperature and the ignited fuse detonates the low yield explosive. Thus, the apparatus will automatically operate in the event of a fire which heats a part of the fuse network above the ignition temperature of combustible material which comprises the fuse.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the container comprises two frangible portions, wherein a first frangible portion forms a part of an explosive housing which houses the low yield explosive material; and a second frangible portion forms part of a suppression agent housing. In this way, the first frangible portion directs the explosive force exerted by the detonation of the explosive material; and the second frangible portion directs the expulsion of the fire suppression agent.

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided an appliance which includes an apparatus for suppressing a fire as defined anywhere herein in connection with the first aspect of the invention.

In an embodiment of the second aspect of the invention, the or each container may be securely attached to a housing of the appliance. Thus, the appliance suitably includes a housing to which is secured one or more containers which form a part of the fire suppression apparatus. The or each container may be securely attached to the housing of the appliance via an adhesive, a nut and bolt arrangement, one or more screws, one or more rivets or any combination thereof.

Suitably, the partially frangible portion of the container faces inwards into the housing of the appliance. As any fire is likely to start within the appliance, arranging the containers such that the fire suppression agent(s) is/are expelled inwards is most likely to extinguish a fire within the appliance.

The skilled person will appreciate that in certain appliances (such as fridges and freezers, for example), there are electrical components that are carried externally of the housing. In such cases, the partially frangible portion of the container may face one or more external components of the appliance.

As it is desired that any shrapnel arising from the detonation of the low yield explosive material is contained within the appliance, the non-frangible reinforced portion of the or each container suitably faces the housing of the appliance.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 0 - Container showing a 3D drawing.

A 3D version of a container: Top view, Front view, Part of Back view, and Side view.

Figure 1 - Side view

1.1 It shows the container holding the explosive material which can be an explosive of any nature of combustible properties. The combustible material is placed and attached to the reinforcement 1.4 of the container. 1.2 This area is filled with a fire suppression agent. Each container can contain a different fire suppression agent(s) on the circuit of containers to combat different classes of fires.

1.3 One or more Primary fuses are wired around the container and grouped together with tape in the primary fuse circuit connected to other containers.

1.4 This is one piece of strong material such as aluminium that forms a reinforcement of the container and the shape of 1.4 which is not only to absorb the shockwave to reduces the explosive force backwards and also to ensure the explosive force to expel the fire suppression agent outwards directly towards the fire. There are ribs on the surface of the reinforcement material to strength the structural integrity of the container. The rib can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal or curved. For illustrative purposes the ribs shall be presented only in figure 1 and not in other figures inside of containers although they may be present within the container.

Figure 2 - Side view

2.1 The frangible cover of the fire suppression agent can be made of Styrofoam or any type of weak low mass plastic which is fire resistant to the protect contents of the powder from escaping.

2.2 The material at the back of the container can be an adhesive, double sided sticky tape, rivets, clips, bolts, slider, or nails which enable the container to attach onto the side of the appliance or any method to attach the container onto the casing of the appliance for an easy installation such as in Figure 2, 2.2 is seen as a sliding object which allows the container to slide onto the side of the A. In Figure 3, 2.2 is seen as the strong adhesive that sticks onto the side of the appliance.

2.3 Rivets/Bolts used to keep 2.6, 1.4, and 2.1 fixed together on the container.

2.4 One or more secondary fuses travel through protective tubing that is taped and wired together with primary fuses 1.3. The secondary fuses travel a slower speed than the primary fuses.

2.5 The small hollow double open ended tube made by plastic material acts as a secure passage which enables the secondary fuse 2.4 to travel directly into 1.1.

2.6 A strong metal material reinforcement which covers the top and the bottom layers of the container where 2.3 is placed in 3.2 on the 2.6 to hold 2.1 and 1.4 together to strengthen the container.

Figure 3 - 3D cutaway view of the container

3.1 Striation lines (lines with indents) will be made onto 2.1 to enable the plastic material breaking easily in order to expel the fire suppression agents outwards towards the fire.

3.2 Holes on 2.6 which allow 2.3 going through to hold 2.6, 1.4, and 2.1 of the container together.

Figure 4 -The number of primary and secondary fuses is not limited to this figures depiction.

4.1 It is the tape used that the primary fuses 1.3 and secondary fuses 2.4 are taped together and the tape that is used to tape the fuses onto the container with to make sure once the primary fuse ignited by a fire then the secondary fuse will be ignited.

Figure 5 - An illustration of a side view of 1.1 inside the container with secondary fuses inside the protective hollow tubing. 5.1 A point /the location where the secondary fuse shall be first in contact with 1.1.

5.2 The area contains the combustible powder that provides an explosive force outwards.

5.3 A thin layer of material (fire resistant material can be used) contains the combustible powder.

5.4 A pathway/the location where secondary fuses from the top and the bottom are chain joined together to reach the detonator 1.1.

Figure 6 - An example of 4 containers in a parallel circuit.

6.1 An example of a circuit of 4 containers wired up with 1.3 primary fuses. The apparatus is not limited to 4 containers. For illustrative purposes the containers shall be depicted as cuboids in Figure 6.

Figure 7 - A diagram of a washing machine based on an example of a parallel primary fuse circuit wired (connected) up with 4 containers in a ground position of the washing machine (showing 6.1 in a washing machine).

Figure 8 - Back view of a washing machine near the motor powering, the drum depicting where 4 containers will be placed in a circuit along the back of the washing machine.

Figure 9 - Side view of the washing machine or tumble dryer showing an installed version of the apparatus disposed within the washing machine and also showing how the fuses will be connected together to form a circuit. In total it is recommended that there are 12 containers all wired together to form the apparatus inside of the appliance so there are 4 containers on each side of the appliance.

Figure 10 - The time scale of how fast the reaction of the fire is carried out. The back view of a washing machine showing there are only 4 out of 12 recommended containers in a circuit if there is a flame on the motor of the washing machine.

10.1 A Primary fuse is ignited by a fire, and then ignites its secondary fuse inside the container where the fire is.

10.1.1 Drawing representing a fire

10.1.2 Drawing representing the primary fuse circuit being ignited and travelling quickly around the appliance to other containers along the circuit to ignite their secondary fuses.

10.2 The secondary fuse reaches the detonator 1.1 to expel the fire suppression agent around the appliance, instantaneously suppressing the fire in seconds whilst the primary fuse is still continuing to travel to ignite other secondary fuses and their detonators of containers. As the first container activates, a bang noise is made from its detonator as an alarm which will notify the relevant humans when the container has been activated.

10.2.1 An expulsion action of the fire suppression agent that is expelled outwards from the containers towards the fire. 10.3 Secondary fuses will be ignited causing the other containers to expel fire suppression powder to cover the whole area of the appliance to suppress the fire.

10.4 Powder fills the whole container of the appliance suffocating the fire. There is no risk of harm to occupants in the vicinity as the powder is not harmful if there is a possible little amount of powder residue to be seen.

10.5 Powder settles and containers have been opened. Both the faulty appliance and the apparatus cannot be used again.

Figure 11 - Back view of a refrigerator with the layout of the base level which a fire suppression apparatus is placed or installed in (showing 6.1 in a refrigerator).

11.1 Drip tray.

11.2 Compressor.

Figure 12 - Back view of a refrigerator with recommended 12 containers attached to a refrigerator. White lines are showing containers that are beyond the view.

Figure 13 - Side view diagram shows the primary fuses wired in a circuit connecting to every container within the appliance and the compressor with drip tray.

Figure 14 - Side view diagram shows the wired containers with the compressor and drip tray.

14.1 A fire igniting in a refrigerator spreading rapidly through the parts of a fridge. Igniting many primary fuses to spread around the fire suppression apparatus.

14.2 Fire increasing exponentially, primary fuses quickly spread out igniting all the secondary fuses around the whole of the refrigerator.

14.3 Secondary fuses ignite the containers which expels fire suppression agents across the whole area of the refrigerator as well as the automatic alarm system activating as well.

14.4 Powder fills the whole container of the appliance suffocating the fire and it is being contained within the casing of the fridge proximity.

14.5 Fire suppression powder has been settled and the fire is put out and the containers are opened.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The figure 0 shows a singular container in different views which present top, front, side, and back views. The system is designed with connecting containers to release the fire suppressive agents over the whole area of the appliance to put out an early stage fire within the appliance before the fire becomes bigger.

Figures 1 and 2 present to us a side view of how the container is designed. 1.1 is the device which holds and contains the combustible material and attaches onto the reinforcement 1.4. The fire suppressive agent contained in 1.2 will be expelled to break the protective casing 2.1 due to the explosive force produced by 1.1. In figure 3, the striations (3.1) designed on the surface of 2.1 allow an easier exit for the fire suppression agent to expel out of 2.1. The purpose of the designed two reinforcements of a container is as follows: one reinforcement 1.4 shall be one piece of non-frangible strong material such as aluminium or any membrane that offers protection as reinforcement of the container which reduces the explosive force backwards in order to prevent the case of the appliance from breaking and also reduce the noise of the alarm by absorbing the shockwave and sound wave. The design of 1.4 also allows the fire suppression agent to be directed in a certain direction outwards towards the fire. This reinforcement 1.4 is also designed to have ribs on the surface of the material to strength the structural integrity of the container. The second reinforcement 2.6 which is also a non-frangible strong material which are two layers located over the top and the bottom of the container, this is to help to hold the container together.

There will be in essence three compartments (casings) within one container: one part is 2.1 frangible casing which will hold fire suppression agents. The material of 2.1 is fire resistant and shall have striations as seen as 3.1 providing an easier break of 2.1 so the fire suppression agents can be dispersed easier when activated. The second part of compartment (casing) is the detonator device 1.1 which produces an explosive force breaking 5.3 to expel 1.2 outwards to put out the fire. The third part of compartment (casing) is the reinforcement 1.4 designed with the shape as seen in figure 2 that directs 1.2 outwards. 2.3 shall be bolts, rivets, nails, or screws that enter through the holes (3.2) on the surface of 2.6 to fix 2.6, 2.1, and 1.4 all together, so the three compartments of the container remains attached together.

The material at the back of the container 2.2 which can be an adhesive (glue), double sided sticky tape, rivets, clips, bolts, slider, or nails that enables the whole container to attach onto the side of the appliance or any method used to attach the container onto the casing of the appliance for an easy installation. There are two examples which are shown in the mosaics as seen in the figures where: one can be a sliding object as seen 2.2 in figure 2 which allows the container to slide onto the side of the appliance where caps can be added on each end to keep the appliance in place or 2.2 as seen in figure 3 can be a strong high temperature withstanding adhesive that attaches the container onto the casing wall of the appliance.

There are two types of fuse circuits in each container: a primary fuse circuit which is a fast fuse that is attached around the container in the form of a continuous loop, which is secured with small pieces of tape or glue. The primary fuse circuit is connected to the containers via respective secondary fuse circuits. The secondary fuse circuits comprise fuses that bum more slowly than the primary fuse circuit. The secondary fuses are provided on both top and bottom of the container, and travels to the detonator, this fuse network is called the secondary fuse network (2.4).

The primary fuse(s) and the secondary fuse(s) are taped together as seen in 4.1 and interconnected with each other. The primary fuses are also connected to other containers to create a circuit. Each fuse network can contain multiple fuses as a failsafe method just in case one fuse randomly does not work then the other fuses will still allow the network to be ignited. The primary fuses 1.3 (as firework fuses) will be able to travel a lot faster than the secondary fuses 2.4 (firework fuses). So no container activates pre-emptively to put out the primary fuse whilst the primary fuse is travelling to activate the other containers to be activated.

The protective tubing (2.5) is a double open ended hollow tube which allows the secondary fuses 2.4 to travel from the top and the bottom of the container directly to the pathway 5.4 in figure 5 and is first in contact with 1.1 at 5.1 which activates the detonator.

In figure 5, the secondary fuses from the top and the bottom converge to 5.4 which lead into the specific point (5.1) to ignite the combustible explosive powder (5.2) to produce an explosive force to break the cover of the explosive powder 5.3 so that 1.2 can be dispersed outwards to suffocate the fire. The reason to design the secondary fuses reach this specific point at 5.1 is to prevent any premature ignition of the combustible powder from any other different directions to enable a directional explosion force to expel the fire suppressive agent outwards to spread over the largest area possible within the appliance and put out the fire.

As 1.1 is detonated there is a bang noise as alarm to warn the occupants/residents that the fire suppression apparatus has been activated. The alarm shall not be too loud to cause any concussive damage as there is adequate insulation from 1.4 and 2.6 to absorb shockwaves and sound waves.

In Figure 6 we can see a circuit of 4 containers wired up with 1.3 primary fuses which can be placed in a washing machine as seen in Figure 7. This shows how one section of the circuit may look like inside an appliance with the given free space. Any appliance may adjust their internal size to accommodate for this new fire suppression apparatus as a safety feature. The containers can be designed in different shapes or sizes such as curved or containers with 90 or 45 degrees bends that can be placed in the comers of an appliance. The height, width, depth, and number of containers can be altered to obtain maximum coverage of the appliance internal area.

Figure 8 shows a circuit of 4 containers on the back view of a washing machine with 1.3 showing where the primary fuses are. Figure 9 shows the side view of an installed fire suppression apparatus in a washing machine or tumble dryer with 8 out of 12 recommended.

Figure 10 (10.1, 10.2. 10.3) shows an example of the washing machine. Only one container should be enough to tackle the fire however the other containers activate to make sure that the fire does not reignite.

Another example of a fire suppression apparatus in Figure 11 which shows the back view of a conventional refrigerator with a drip tray (11.1) and a compressor (11.2). Figure 11 also shows a ground layout only of how a circuit can be placed and installed with fuses wired together with 4 containers. Figure 12 shows us how many containers can be placed within and around a fridge approximately (12 recommended containers) where the white lines showing the containers that are beyond our view that are attached to the appliance casing will be placed. Figure 13 illustrates a side view where there are 8 out of 12 recommended containers encompassing units 11.1, 11.2.

Although the fire suppression apparatus according to the invention can be installed within any appliance with the correct dimensions on the casing of any appliance, the number of containers ignited for maximum coverage of the fire varies upon each size of any appliance. Here below are two examples of electrical appliance such as a washing machine/tumble dryer and a refrigerator will be described in details.

Figure 10 shows an example of how the apparatus will work within a washing machine with 4 containers. First in 10.1, a fire 10.1.1 ignites to light any of the primary fuses as seen 10.1.2. In 10.2, the ignited primary fuse ignites its secondary fuse to travel to the combustible powder within the container (1.1) to produce an explosive force in order to expel fire suppressive agents by breaking its container after the primary fuse travels rapidly to activate the other containers in a safe manner by igniting their secondary fuses to reach (1.1) detonators of other containers to release their fire suppressive agents.

Each container when expelling fire suppression agents creates a bang noise that acts as a fire alarm for people in the vicinity.10.2.1 shows the direction that 1.2 is expelled in. Spontaneously, in 10.3 all containers have been activated at this point to where each container’s own alarm system has been activated to warn the occupants of the fire risk. The alarm noise should not be dangerously loud and will not cause any damage to the hearing or cause a concussion to anyone in vicinity. In 10.4 the fire suppressive agent has been expelled from all containers and engulfs the fire. 10.5 is the powder (as the fire suppressive agent) has been settled within the washing machine allowing for an easy clean up.

Figure 14 is another example of a fire suppression apparatus disposed within a refrigerator. There are 8 out of 12 recommended containers with 11.1 and 11.2 located within the refrigerator. 14.1 illustrates a fire that has caught on quickly after seconds because of dust and other fuel sources which ignites multiple fuses within the container circuit. In 14.2 within seconds the primary fuse networks ignite and spread rapidly throughout to ignite all secondary fuse networks which travel slower than primary fuses allowing all secondary fuses to be ignited and to activate an alarm system of each container’s 1.1 to expel fire suppressant agents (for example, sodium carbonate/L2/M28) which is depicted in

14.3.

14.4, the fire will be quickly suppressed and extinguished safely within seconds of the primary fuse being ignited as the extinguishing agent will be contained and around the whole area of the refrigerator. 14.5, once the powder has been settled, the fire is extinguished.

The fire suppression apparatus according to the invention is able to prevent damage to the rest of the home and avoid causing fatalities. The apparatus allows extra time for the fire brigades to arrive via the alarm system so fire fighters can assess the damage without having to risk their lives to put out a fire. This will also increase their efficiency and allows them to be there for other emergencies.

Claims

Claims:

1. An apparatus for suppressing a fire within an electrical appliance comprising: a container that is partially frangible; and includes a non-frangible reinforced portion adapted to absorb shockwave(s) and sound wave(s) associated with an explosion; wherein the container includes a low yield explosive and contains one or more fire suppression agents, wherein detonation of the low yield explosive expels the fire suppression agent(s) from the container and the reinforced portion of the container absorbs a shockwave and/or a sound wave associated with the detonation of the explosive, thereby protecting the electrical appliance casing from damage and preventing shrapnel whilst enabling the fire suppression agent(s) to expel in a certain direction towards the fire; and wherein the apparatus includes a fuse operatively coupled to the low yield explosive, wherein the fuse is capable of detonating the explosive.

2. An apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the apparatus includes two or more containers; each container includes a respective fuse; and the fuses are connected to form a fuse network.

3. An apparatus according to Claim 2, wherein the fuse network comprises a combustible material.

4. An apparatus according to Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein the fuse network is in the form of a fuse circuit comprising a primary fuse in the form of a continuous loop and secondary fuses which connect the primary fuse to the or each container.

5. An apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 4, wherein the low yield explosive is in the form of a powder and is located within the container.

6. An apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 5, wherein the or each container defines an elongate passageway; the fuse is located within the passageway; and the passageway includes an opening in communication with the low yield explosive.

7. An apparatus according to any of Claims 4 to 6, wherein the primary fuse has a combustion transmission speed which is greater than the combustion transmission speed of the or each secondary fuse.

8. An apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 7, wherein the non-frangible reinforced portion of the container includes a reinforcing membrane.

9. An apparatus according to Claim 8, wherein the non-frangible reinforced portion of the container includes one or more ribs.

10. An apparatus according to Claim 8 or Claim 9, wherein the non-frangible reinforced portion of the container is formed from a metal.

11. An apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 10, wherein the apparatus emits an audible alert when the low yield explosive is detonated. An apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 11, wherein the or each container includes two or more different fire suppression agents. An apparatus according to any of Claims 2 to 11, wherein a first one of the containers includes a first fire suppression agent; a second one of the containers includes a second fire suppression agent; and the second fire suppression agent is different to the first fire suppression agent. An apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 13, wherein the or each fuse comprises a combustible material having a pre-determined ignition temperature and the apparatus automatically detonates when the temperature of the fuse or a portion thereof exceeds its ignition temperature and the ignited fuse detonates the low yield explosive. An appliance which includes an apparatus according to any of Claims 1 to 14. An appliance according to Claim 15, wherein the or each container is securely attached to a housing of the appliance. An appliance according to Claim 16, wherein the or each container is securely attached to the housing of the appliance via an adhesive, a nut and bolt arrangement, one or more screws, or one or more rivets. An appliance according to any of Claims 15 to 17, wherein the partially frangible portion of the container faces inwards into the housing of the appliance. An appliance according to any of Claims 15 to 17, wherein the partially frangible portion of the container faces one or more external components of the appliance. An appliance according to Claim 18 or Claim 19, wherein the non-frangible reinforced portion of the or each container faces the housing of the appliance.