Testing and InField Experience for the FIRE Panel Fuel Tank Protection Device
A technology has been devised and recently deployed in highway vehicle transportation to protect vehicle fuel tanks from impact-induced fires. The technology is currently employed in the FIRE Panel product, which exhibits an improved design based upon powder panel technology used for decades to protect military aircraft from ballisticinduced fuel tank-fed fires. The device comprises a shallow shell, filled with a powder fire extinguishing agent, which is mounted on or near a fuel tank or other flammable fluid reservoir. In the event of an impact to the fuel tank or reservoir, such as due to a collision, which might rupture the tank and spill fuel to be ignited, the adjacent FIRE Panel also impacted shatters as designed, discharging a plume of extinguishing powder to inert the space around the leaking fuel tank or other reservoir, even if the vehicle travels some distance after impact. The simplicity and low cost of the device make it practical for most transportation applications. The science of inerting fuel vapor/air spaces with previously released dry chemical, and the notably low concentrations required for the application, as demonstrated by the Bureau of Mines in addition to military evaluations, will also be discussed. The pedigree of full-scale crash tests, using rocket sled facilities and actual gasoline and live ignition sources to provide a significant threat of fire, will be addressed. The various in-field applications of the device will also be discussed, including motorsports use in the Trans Am racing series, and most recently NASCAR, as used in actual competition. Military transportation applications now being evaluated for the product, including Tactical Wheeled Vehicle fuel tank protection, and their resultant test data will also be discussed. Highway vehicle applications, including its deployment by the thousands on Crown Victoria police cars, and real-world activations while in service will be reviewed.
RESEARCH TO EVALUATE SAFETY TECHNOLOGIES FOR VULNERABLE FUEL TANKS
In 1993, the US Department of Transportation ordered a recall of approximately 5,000,000 GM pickup trucks equipped with sidesaddle fuel tanks due to their alleged vulnerability in severe side crashes. The fuel tanks on these pickups were located under the cab and bed outside the frame rails. The recall was subsequently rescinded in favour of an administrative settlement. Prior to the settlement, NHTSA conducted a research program that included more than twenty crash tests. NHTSA defined a crash configuration that the pickups with sidesaddle tanks failed but competitive models of trucks passed. The test involved an 80 km/h (50 mph) side impact by a Chevrolet Caprice, in a breaking attitude, aligned so that it impacted the fuel tank at an angle of 30 degrees. In 1999, a follow-on project was undertaken by the Automotive Safety Research Institute (ASRI) to evaluate alternative tank systems to the sidesaddle design. The alternatives investigated included the following: providing a cage for tank protection, incorporating a fuel bladder, changing tank materials, and relocation of the tank. In conjunction with these design alternatives a number of other technologies were investigated, such as shielding of fuel lines, check valves, self-sealing break away fuel line couplings, and fire suppressant panels. Eighteen full-scale crash tests were conducted to evaluate the various technologies. The best test results were obtained by two strategies that moved the tank to less vulnerable locations. Tests of strategies that attempted to maintain the tank in its sidesaddle location were not successful. Break-away couplings in the fuel lines, a flapper valve in the filler tube and shielding of vulnerable fuel lines were tested under conditions that demonstrated their efficacy. Other technologies showed promise but were not fully developed and tested. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.
Spectroscopy of high rate events during active interrogation
Abstract Pulsed accelerators are being used for radiographic inspections in homeland security applications. Adding spectroscopic detection capability enables additional information to be extracted but challenges signal processing hardware. This work compares two approaches to cost-effective digital spectroscopy systems designed to handle these high rate scenarios. In the first system, the signal from a PMT is directly digitized and then deconvolved on a PC using standard techniques. Bypassing the preamplifier, this system can handle high count rates (>10 6  cps) from an LaCl 3 detector with no dead time and an energy resolution of 5% at 1.33 MeV. Spectra acquired from fission product gamma rays between interrogation pulses are shown. At higher rates, this approach is limited by the DAQ transfer rate to the PC. Instead, we tested a fast ADC (125 MSPS) and an FPGA that performed onboard, real-time digital signal processing (DSP). The energy spectrum is generated on the FPGA board during the measurement and transferred later. This system was tested in nuclear resonance fluorescence (NRF) experiments. Resonance peaks from NRF reactions are shown.