- Author
-
O'Connor, T. R.
|
Hagen, E. L.
- Title
- Activation of Oxygen Generators in Proximity to Combustible Materials.
- Coporate
- Federal Aviation Administration, Atlantic City International Airport, NJ
- Sponsor
- Department of Transportation, Washington, DC
- Report
-
DOT/FAA/AR-TN99/9
May 1999
20 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM Federal Aviation Administration William J. Hughes Technical Center's Full-Text Technical Reports page: www.tc.faa.gov/its/act141/reportpage.html in Adobe Acrobat portable document format (PDF) AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900. Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Keywords
-
combustible materials
|
ignition
- Identifiers
- activate sodium chlorate core; oxyen generators; canisters
- Abstract
- This study was undertaken to determine whether combustible materials could be ignited by placing them near an activated oxygen generator, determine if that fire could activate other unactivated generators, and examine the intensity of any oxygen-fed fires. Since a packed box can be shipped on any side, tests were performed in a variety of configurations. A 2000 deg F propane fire was used to ascertain if it could ignite an unactivated generator and 27 tests were conducted to determine whether combustible materials can be ignited by an activated generator and if that the fire can activate other generators. Tests conducted in this report demonstrate that a generator activated in a confined space may ignite adjacent combustible material due to the hot surface and elevated oxygen concentration. This was shown with cylindrical cardboard shipping containers with urethane foam pads and with cardboard boxes with bubble plastic shipping material. In addition, the initial fire involving burning combustible material will cause additional generators to activate, creating an intense fire associated with burning in an oxygen-enriched environment and reach temperatures above 2700 deg F. Means of shipping or storing generators to prevent a fire in the event that a generator is accidentally activated were demonstrated.