On the 9th of December 2015, Clark Wright Ltd carried out a demonstration on an in-service bus in front of Arriva representatives from major cities across the UK and Europe at the Fire Service College, Moreton-in-Marsh.
A fire was started, whilst the engine of the vehicle was running, by cracking open the injector pipe unions and allowing the engine bay and surrounding components to become completely flooded with fuel. The fuel was allowed to escape for the duration of the test, and was ignited with the use of an extended propane lance.
The vehicle’s air operated accelerator was opened to its maximum position increasing the amount of fuel delivered to the injectors, and fueling the fire throughout to temperatures in excess of 750°c. Unfortunately 9 minutes and 20 seconds into the test the air operated accelerator solenoid pipework burnt through, so it became necessary then to operate the accelerator manually in order to continue the demonstration, which resumed approximately one and a half minutes later.
Throughout the duration of the demonstration (approximately 34 minutes) the temperatures in both the engine bay and lower passenger saloon were monitored using thermocouples. Although the temperatures in the engine bay 18 minutes into the demonstration exceeded 800°c, (T1) the lower passenger saloon rear five-way seating area (T3) and rear parcel shelf (T2) at that time never exceeded 15°c. The continuation of generated heat from the fire rose in these two areas to exactly 19.7°c (T3) and 25.1°c (T2) respectively.
eQuilt has been designed to not only contain a fire but to insulate the substrate it protects as well, which is corroborated by the second by second temperature breakdown of the demonstration. (The full suite of temperature figures are available on request)
The figures recorded in this second demonstration were comparable to the first bus burn test undertaken on the 7th March 2014 apart from a slight increase in temperature in the lower saloon which reached a maximum of 27°c. This was due to the fact that (a) for the first test the vehicle did not have an engine fitted and (b) in order to simulate a “worst-case scenario” engine fire we followed the Fire College’s recommendation that 3.5 litres of fuel be floated onto water in a steel tray and which was then set alight. So the first test, due to the fact the fire was open, was a more onerous test than the second test. (See Route One Big Story in News Section 12/03/2014 & Videos)
Although both fires reached temperatures which ordinarily would have destroyed the vehicle in the first four to five minutes, eQuilt contained and denied the fire access to the third part of the fire triangle…..fuel, in the form of combustable material.
The vehicle was fitted with a rear engine door grille closer system that can be set to activate at different temperatures, in this instance it was set to activate at approximately 250°c. Due to the fact eQuilt denied a fuel source to the fire, the temperature of the fire escaping through the grille was below 250°c, but it still activated and closed off the part of the grille that was exposed to the fire as was intended. The minimal flame seen in the video was coming from the rear plastic hinge, which supported the rear engine door, but is no longer used, and could if necessary be extinguished by normal methods.
Toward the end of the demonstration, the fire had extinguished itself completely, proving eQuilt and its associated products not only contained the fire by denying access to the fuel part of the fire triangle, but by actually cooling the area at the same time.
See how eQuilt protected the vehicle:
The demonstration was a complete success proving eQuilts unique abilities in safeguarding both the asset, but more importantly the traveling public.