Feasibility Study for a Vehicle Under Hood Nitrogen Foam Fire Suppression System

The development and testing of a Nitrogen foam fire suppression system is described. The purpose of the system is to contain or extinguish fires that originate in the engine compartment of automobiles after front-end collisions. The Nitrogen foam creates an inert environment within the engine compartment capable of extinguishing fires that have already started at the time of system activation. The Nitrogen foam fills all the engine compartment voids without freely flowing down and out of the compartment. Full-scale burn tests show that the system is capable of containing and extinguishing test fires located within the engine compartment and that it is feasible that the system could protect a vehicle in a wide variety of engine compartment fire scenarios.