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Hi Mark,
Brilliant work there mate. I've made a note of it and will be installing
when I get to that stage.
I've come across a company thats manufacture a new super duper fire
retardant that is so good it put out a rail tanker (Acetone) fire in a few
minutes. I will be writing to them for more information. Read this article.
http://firechief.com/mag/firefighting_rogue_firefighting_agent/
Michael Burke
Australia.
PS. My sympathies to all members of this list and their loved ones who have
suffered as a result of the cyclone. wish I was there to do something.
Last week we were discussing various methods of dealing with fire dangers in
our aircraft. I decided to try out the Hamamatsu UV Tron flame sensor, and
promised to report my findings to the Fly Rotary group.
I located a pre-assembled circuit board from Superdroid Robots, a company
that supplies a variety of parts for robots. They were the only place I
could find that carried the Hamamatsu C3704 flame detector and driver card.
So, I ordered both along with a relay board. (Attached is a picture of the
boards.) The UV Tron sensor is the clear glass "bulb" in the foreground.
The small board on the left is a voltage converter, allowing it to be
connected directly to 14v.
I hooked it up to a 12v cordless drill battery and tested it using a propane
fire starter. It could easily "see" a flame from 6' away (maybe more, but I
didn't test it beyond 6') and up to 90* right or left. I didn't test
up/down, but the spec sheet indicates that it is about the same in the
vertical and horizontal planes. I could not get it to false trip by using a
fluorescent or a halogen light. There is about a .5 second delay before it
trips the relay. The tech rep at Superdroid Robots indicated that the UV
Tron sensor could be remotely mounted up to 3' away from the board. I plan
on mounting it in a small box on the firewall with the leads running though
the firewall to the circuit boards inside the cabin, wired to a big red
flashing LED on the panel. Everything in the picture (including s&h) ran
$150. I look at it as cheap insurance. Hopefully, I will never need it.
Mark S.
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