Analysis of Flame Suppression Capabilities Using Low-Frequency Acoustic Waves and Frequency Sweeping Techniques

Jacek Łukasz Wilk-Jakubowski

doi:10.3390/sym13071299

Abstract

Symmetry plays a key role in the processing and analysis of not only visual but also acoustic signals in various multidisciplinary areas. New innovative and environmentally friendly methods for extinguishing flames are still being sought worldwide. One of these techniques appears to be the acoustic method. A laboratory stand was built for this purpose, which was coupled with the tested prototype of a high-power acoustic extinguisher, and then the original experiments and analyses of extinguishing effectiveness were carried out. For extinguishing, waveforms with specified parameters selected symmetrically around the frequency for which the extinguisher was designed were used. The aim of this article is to present and discuss selected measurement results concerning the possibility of flame extinguishing with the use of sinusoidal acoustic waves of low frequency (below 21 Hz), as well as with the use of frequency sweeping techniques with set parameters. Such an extinguisher can be equipped with an intelligent module so that the extinguisher may be activated automatically (without human intervention) when flames are detected. The benefits of this combination as well as the importance of image processing for flame detection are also presented in this paper. This solution, with its good fire detection and fast response, may be applicable for extinguishing firebreaks in particular.

Highlights

Symmetry plays a key role in signal processing, regardless of its nature
It is worth emphasizing that the primary objective of this paper is not the processing of video sequences, which is a subfield of digital signal processing, but the analysis of flame suppression capabilities using low-frequency acoustic waves and frequency sweeping techniques
Symmetry has an important function in signal processing, as it can be exploited to minimize the complexity of problems that involve a variety of application areas of modern life

Summary

Introduction

Symmetry plays a key role in signal processing, regardless of its nature. Signal processing, as an interdisciplinary field included in several scientific fields, deals with performing specific operations on signals and interpreting those signals. A recent scientific novelty is the use of neural networks for flame detection and wireless links for communication with the extinguishing system (innovation), thanks to which—in the case of flame detection—the extinguishing system can switch on automatically. In this respect, numerous studies and works on image recognition as well as robotics and teletransmission are important [16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25]. The benefits of its use include, among others, lack of pollution, no need to replenish the extinguishing agent, and widely understood economic (cheaper than traditional methods of flame extinguishing) and environmental (acoustic waves are not a chemical product, and do not pollute the environment) aspects

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion