Important Facts For Prelims (23rd April 2019) | 23 Apr 2019

Novel Fire Extinguisher

• Scientists have developed a novel fire extinguisher for use in space environments that sucks in the flame as well as combustion product.
• The Vacuum Extinguish Method (VEM), is designed by researchers at the Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan.
• VEM is based on the completely "reverse" operation of widely-used fire extinguisher, namely, spraying extinguisher agent(s) into the firing point.
• VEM is based on the suction of the combustible products and the flame with vacuum, and then collecting them into a vacuum container to be isolated.
• It is useful for the special environments that are highly enclosed -- such as space vehicles and submarines -- to prevent spreading the harmful combustion products such as fume, particulate matters, toxic gas component across the entire enclosed cabin.