ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF INCREASING AIRCRAFT HANGAR`S FIRE SAFETY BY MEANS OF IMPROVING HIGH-TECHOLOGICAL FIRE DETECTION SYSTEMS

Abstract

Introduction. Fast detection of fire ignition and its fast suppression is vitally important for the aircraft hangar`s safety. Financial losses due to a fire can reach billions of dollars. An aircraft can be damaged in less than a minute after a fire starts, so the time of fire detection is an extremely important parameter in an aircraft hangar fire protection system. In addition, many possible factors can cause the system failure or malfunction and, thereby, cause the fire suppression system to false alarm. Therefore, despite the incredible development of modern technologies and the diversity of fire detection systems, ensuring the fire safety of aircraft hangars is an urgent task.
Purpose. The purpose is to analyse the possibilities of improving the fire protection of aircraft hangars by improving technological fire detection systems, namely, the possibility of usage of intelligent flame detectors and video fire detection systems.
Methods. To achieve the set purpose and objectives of the research, theoretical research methods were used, which included the analysis of scientific publications and the existing regulatory framework in the field of research.
Results. Dotted heat and smoke fire detectors are not used to protect aircraft hangars. Large open areas with high altitude do not allow them to detect ignition at an early stage. Aircraft altitude and stratification can also prevent the use of linear smoke detectors. Fire detectors are used to protect both civilian and military hangars. Conducted studies prove that flame detectors with three infrared sensors provide the best fire detection results in a wide range of fire test scenarios. Although multispectral IR flame detectors have many advantages, they also have certain key disadvantages, mainly related to false positives from sources of interference unrelated to the actual fire. These can be triggered by hot CO₂ in the air, blackbody radiation from aircraft or service vehicles, electromagnetic radiation, etc. To minimise the number of false positives in the system, it is necessary to use new technological solutions. One such solution is the usage of highly intelligent flame detectors and video fire detectors.
Studies conducted for the protection of other objects have shown that video fire detectors detected fire in almost every research compared to other types of fire detectors and false alarms from additional sources of interference are minimal.
Conclusions. According to the conducted studies and standards, for the protection of both civilian and military hangars, it is necessary to use optical three-spectral infrared fire detectors in fire alarm systems. The risks associated with the usage of traditional optical fire detectors demonstrate the need for the development of more effective fire detection systems with a lower risk of false alarms. One of the best ways to improve reliability and reduce fire detection time is the usage of highly intelligent flame detectors built based on fuzzy logic, neural network and fuzzy neural network. Another promising direction for early detection of fires is the usage of video fire detectors. The usage of video fire detectors is an excellent alternative to replace a traditional fire alarm system with a flame detector. However, to ensure effective protection of aircraft hangars and aircrafts with the help of PVA, it is necessary to conduct additional studies that will allow answering the questions about the speed of fire detection, the probability of false alarms from various sources of interference, as well as the place of its installation.
Another problem with the usage of video fire detectors should be noted is the lack of national regulatory documentation. International standards do not provide answers to all questions regarding their design and ways of usage.