Introduction
Fire protection is one of the critical spheres of knowledge vital for modern society. The fast evolution of technologies and their growing complexity, along with the use of various substances, increased the risk of ignition or explosion. The diversification of threats resulted in the increased importance of effective firefighting systems to address various issues and resolve them. At the same time, the exploitation of a particular system and its effectiveness depends on specific conditions and environments. For this reason, it is vital to determine the unique characteristics of a specific system and conclude about its advantages and disadvantages. It is planned that the given project will analyze the work of various firefighting systems that can be installed on ships and used to control and suppress fire in machinery spaces. It will help to acquire a better vision of how different systems work and their unique features.
The Plan
It is planned that in terms of the project, the most common and effective firefighting systems will be investigated. These include HI FOG, water drenching, CO2 bottled, bulk CO2 systems, and high expansion foams. It is vital to focus on collecting data about every outlined framework, study it, and discuss it in detail. That is why the peculiarities of location, maintenance, advantages, and disadvantages will be discovered and outlined. Furthermore, the project will outline the difference between fire control and suppression to improve understanding of how various systems work and the main aspects of addressing different types of ignitions. The background for the discussion will be created by writing the introduction focused on discussing the fire triangle, the features of the combustion process, and how addressing one element might help to stop further fire spread. The planned phases of working on the project can be seen in the presented Gantt chart.
In general, I plan to provide a detailed description of every mentioned system regarding ships and machinery spaces. It will require consideration of several critical aspects of the selected environment, such as confined spaces, limited resources, the presence of flammable substances, and the high risk of fire. Thus, the applicability of every system to marine life, as well as its ability to control and suppress fire, will be analyzed. Moreover, it is planned to support information with visual aids, or simplified schemes of how every system works, its major components, and the requirements for its installation. It will help acquire an enhanced understanding of how a specific system works. The information will be acquired from credible and reliable sources. It is planned that the project will help to determine the essential aspects of firefighting systems regarding machinery spaces on ships and select the most effective ones.
I assume that the project will serve as a good platform for me to start my successful career in the selected field. First of all, it will provide me with a better vision of how various firefighting systems work, which is necessary for future work. Moreover, discussing and analyzing the unique features of every framework can create the basis for new, more focused, and complicated projects, such as developing a system for a certain ship regarding its unique peculiarities and features. Moreover, the paper can be used by other researchers working in the same field as a source of knowledge about specific methods to control and suppress the fire and struggle against it.
Conclusion
Regarding the information acquired from analyzing various types of firefighting systems, it is possible to conclude about the most effective one. Considering all factors, it is possible to assume that the HI-FOG method seems the most effective one. It can be explained by several factors. First of all, the effectiveness of fire suppression is attained by using the addressing the three major mechanisms. As stated previously, these are cooling radiant heat blocking and local oxygen inserting. As a result, the HI-FOG system becomes able to control and suppress the fire, which is vital for machinery spaces and the necessity to resolve the problem quickly. Delivering water under pressure and creating a fog, it starts cooling all surfaces and prevents the further spread of fire. It means a reduced risk of further spread and better protection of people and areas.
The simplicity of the HI-FOG system and the absence of hazardous substances necessary for its work are other advantages of the selected method. Thus, the CO2 bottled system might also be viewed as an extremely effective approach as it eliminates access to oxygen, meaning that the fire triangle is destroyed and ignition is suppressed. However, using CO2 in confined spaces might be dangerous for individuals. Moreover, it requires specific maintenance and measures to enter spaces where the system is used. At the same time, the HI-FOG method is simple and safe, as water is used as the main suppressor. For this reason, there is no need for special equipment to enter areas or complicated maintenance. Under these conditions, it is possible to conclude that HI-FOG systems can be viewed as the most appropriate choice for ships because of their unique characteristics.