NABCO Ltd. has begun commercial production of the Micro Fog fixed local application fire fighting system for marine use, which capitalizes on the high pressure water control technology built up by the manufacturer over the years and which also meets the new regulation of the International Maritime Organization (IMO).

　The IMO in December 2000 adopted the extensively amended version of Chapter II-2 of the International Convention on Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) at a meeting of its Maritime Safety Committee (MSC 73). The amended convention requires all passenger ships of 500 GT and above and cargoships of 2,000 GT and above whose construction starts on or after July 1, 2002 to be equipped with water mist fire fighting systems able to keep under control early stage fires in the engine room.

　The Micro Fog system has been granted type certification for its ability to extinguish spray fires of 1MW and 6MW in no more than five minutes, as required under Guideline MSC/Circ. 913.

　The Micro Fog system facilitates evaporation by applying pressure of about 6 MPa to fresh water and discharging a mist with a particle size of about 100 microns. It is a revolutionary fire fighting system utilizing the cooling effect of the mist on flames and the "suffocating" volume expansion of the water vapor, which effectively cuts off the supply of oxygen.

　The nozzles of the system have to be arranged so as not to obstruct the operation of moving units including overhead cranes. Out of the five locations stipulated for fire extinguishers (the main engine, generator, boiler, waste oil incinerator and fuel oil purifier) the main engine requires a fire fighting system offering a wide nozzle pitch and a long reach for the mist being sprayed.

　The Micro Fog system has a wide nozzle pitch and a long reach as it uses high pressure and accordingly can spray mist at a high speed when fighting a fire. A minimum number of the systems are effective in extinguishing fire.

　The Micro Fog system can efficiently extinguish fire with a relatively small volume of water as its high spray pressure provides fine and uniform water particles as illustrated in the distribution diagram of particle sizes.

　The smaller volume of water per unit area serves to minimize the risk to electrical items.

　NABCO is engaged in extensive sales activities directly to shipyards for its next generation fire fighting systems, all of which are committed to human safety and global environmental conservation, and operates a world-wide after-sales service network that is directly in touch with every user.

　

　NABCO Ltd.

　Address: Kokusai Hamamatsucho Bldg., 9-18, Kaigan 1-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0022

　Tel.: +81-3-5470-2413 Fax: +81-3-5470-2417

　URL : http://www.nabco.co.jp/ E-mail: Toshiyuki_Takamiya@nabco.co.jp