Sound Wave Fire Extinguisher
Guess who bought up and snuffed this out…
Bass-frequency sounds waves from a subwoofer speaker ‘snuff out’ flames by blasting resonance in the 30 – 60 Hz region.
Tom Hanks possible used one of these devices, perhaps in beta-concept form, to otherwise magically prevent his Pacific Palisades house from burning whilst all neighboring homes burned away…?…or maybe he was on the Do-Not-Burn list of the people wielding the energy beam weaponry….. DEWISH ORGanization and also WILD PHYRES sites have more.
It was in 2015 when Seth Robertson and Viet Tran, two undergraduate engineering students from George Mason University, created an acoustic fire extinguisher for their senior design project.
For fire, there must be heat, oxygen, and fuel. Seth’s and Viet’s basic prototype sound wave blaster uses low-frequency bass in the 30-60Hz range. This frequency range interrupts the airflow between the fuel and flame and creates a temperature drop.
“The principle behind the extinguisher is simple: as they are mechanical pressure waves that cause vibrations in the medium in which they travel, sound waves have the potential to manipulate both burning material and the oxygen that surrounds it. If the sound could separate the two, the fire would be starved of oxygen and, accordingly, would be snuffed out. The work could potentially be applied to swarm robotics where the device would be attached to a drone to be used in situations such as large forest fires or urban blazes, thereby improving safety for firefighters.” Source.
The primary use for the sound extinguisher would be creating firebreaks that prevent fires from spreading. Sound waves would be blasted from above the fires using a swarm of drones, collecting real-time data as they went. This device could be ideal for utilizing evacuation routes near critical infrastructure and towns and reducing the overall fire heat.
My partner and I scrounged together our Southwest miles and flew Seth and Viet from George Mason University to Nevada City for a demonstration in the fall of 2019. I knew my community would have to see this to believe it. While we were able to hold the public demonstration at city hall, we were setting up prescription burns to demonstrate the device in a real-world environment when Covid hit, and since then, it has been put on the back burner. No pun intended.
Unfortunately, like the FlameMapping and Sound Extinguisher, county and city officials turned a blind eye to both potential applications. It seems more money to be made in fire suppression than prevention.
Today, the George Mason University duo is working with ARSAC with the hopes of scaling up the device to tackle large wildfires.
Does it have a way to go? Yes. But the potential is endless….
If I were Governor of California, I would be dedicated to a Research & Development Department just for the Sound Extinguisher…. just saying….
For those who have a curious mind and would like to tackle this, here’s a link to numerous studies on how to pull this off in your own garage.
Sound Fire Extinguisher’s Hardware Required:
- 100-Watt Subwoofer
- 500-Watt Amplifier
- Vortex tube (converging)
- 12 V Battery.Software
- A Frequency Generator Application
Keep me posted if anyone takes on such a project.
Please share with those in fire-prone areas.
This is recently from Reinette Senum’s Foghorn Express on Substack; however, it had previous been posted back in 2016 on the SoundQualityOrg website, a few months after the story originally broke.
In 2015, Seth Robertson and Viet Tran, then engineering students at George Mason University, developed a prototype fire extinguisher that uses low-frequency sound waves to suppress flames. Their device operates by emitting bass frequencies between 30 and 60 Hz, which disrupt the combustion process by separating the flame from its oxygen supply, effectively starving the fire.
The concept leverages the physical properties of sound waves—mechanical pressure waves that cause vibrations in the medium through which they travel. When directed at a fire, these vibrations can disturb the thin boundary layer of air surrounding the flame, dispersing the heat and fuel and leading to extinguishment.
While the initial prototype was designed for small-scale fires, such as those that might occur in household settings, the technology holds potential for broader applications. For instance, it could be integrated into drones to combat wildfires or used in environments like space, where traditional fire suppression methods pose challenges.
Despite its promise, the sound wave fire extinguisher remains in the experimental stage. Challenges such as scalability, effectiveness across different fire classes, and ensuring safety in various environments need to be addressed before it becomes a viable alternative to conventional fire suppression methods.
For those interested in the technical aspects, the basic components of the prototype include a 100-watt subwoofer, a 500-watt amplifier, a converging vortex tube, and a 12V battery, along with a frequency generator application to control the sound output.
The development of the sound wave fire extinguisher represents an innovative approach to fire suppression, offering a chemical-free and residue-free method that could complement existing technologies in the future.
Turns out there are many more similar / identical ideas
Using Sound as a Fire Extinguisher
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvnCQg4w4o8
Sound Wave Fire Extinguisher | The Henry Ford’s Innovation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vycNvJYsc6U
Is it possible to be use supersonic sound waves…
(notice how “news” confused supersonic with subsonic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEiUEHViRuw
Dousing Flames With Sound Waves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BCllEloCxw
Fire Driven Sound Waves in a Quartz Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLcK6q1KiQM