AUSA Winter: Ansul launches vehicle fire extinguishing system

Ansul, a brand of Tyco Fire Protection Products, announced at the Association of the US Army’s Winter Symposium the launch of an Automatic Fire Extinguishing System (AFES) developed specifically for military vehicles.

The AFES is a modular design that can be integrated into a variety of vehicles now in service such as the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, mine resistance ambush protected vehicles and the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles, as well as vehicles now in development such as the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle. The system’s CANbus capability allows for easy AFES interface with vehicle systems.

The company said that within milliseconds of a slow-growth or rapid-spread explosive/ballistic event, fire is detected and contained with a field-proven agent, activated either automatically or manually, depending on the severity.

Fire is detected using quad infrared optical sensors. The system instantly distinguishes between hydrocarbon signatures and innocuous heat sources – such as cigarettes and engine heat – helping to eliminate false positives and preserving protection for when it’s actually needed.

When fire does break out in a crew area, the sensors notify an electronic control module (ECM), which activates both visual and audible alarms and is capable of automatically or manually initiating discharge of the extinguishing agent from one of eight separate zones.

In engine and cargo bays, wheel wells and other non-occupied areas linear detection wire and spot thermal detection sends information to the ECM, again allowing for manual or automatic extinguishment.  Clean agent or dry chemical extinguishant options are available.

According to Dave Seikel, Ansul’s manager for government sales, the ‘AFES offers a step forward in military fire extinguishment engineering, by lightening system weight and increasing response time to exceed military specs’.