Fire sprinkler

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This article is about the device discharging the water. For the complete system,
see fire sprinkler system.
Fire sprinkler mounted on the ceiling
A fire sprinkler mounted on a ceiling
A fire sprinkler or sprinkler head is the component of a fire sprinkler system that
discharges water when the effects of a fire have been detected, such as when a
predetermined temperature has been exceeded. Fire sprinklers are extensively used
worldwide, with over 40 million sprinkler heads fitted each year. In buildings
protected by properly designed and maintained fire sprinklers, over 99% of fires
were controlled by fire sprinklers alone.[1][2][3]

Contents
1 History
2 US regulations
2.1 Quick Response Sprinklers
3 Operation
4 Types
4.1 ESFR
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
History
In 1812, British inventor Sir William Congreve patented a manual sprinkler system
using perforated pipes along the ceiling.[4][5] When someone noticed a fire, a
valve outside the building could be opened to send water through the pipes.[6] It
was not until a short time later that, as a result of a large furniture factory
that repeatedly burned down, Hiram Stevens Maxim was consulted on how to prevent a
recurrence and invented the first automatic fire sprinkler. It would douse the
areas that were on fire and report the fire to the fire station. Maxim was unable
to sell the idea elsewhere, though when the patent expired, the idea was used.[7]
[8][clarification needed]

Henry S. Parmalee of New Haven, Connecticut created and installed the first
automatic fire sprinkler system in 1874, using solder that melted in a fire to
unplug holes in the otherwise sealed water pipes.[9] He was the president of
Mathusek Piano Works, and invented his sprinkler system in response to exorbitantly
high insurance rates. Parmalee patented his idea and had great success with it in
the U.S., calling his invention the "automatic fire extinguisher".[10] He then
traveled to Europe to demonstrate his method to stop a building fire before total
destruction.

Parmalee's invention did not get as much attention as he had planned, as most
people could not afford to install a sprinkler system. Once he realized this, he
turned his efforts to educating insurance companies about his system. He explained
that the sprinkler system would reduce the loss ratio, and thus save money for the
insurance companies. He knew that he could never succeed in obtaining contracts
from the business owners to install his system unless he could ensure for them a
reasonable return in the form of reduced premiums.

In this connection, he was able to enlist the interest of two men, who both had
connections in the insurance industry. The first of was Major Hesketh, a cotton
spinner in a large business in Bolton who was also Chairman of the Bolton Cotton
Trades Mutual Insurance Company. The Directors of this Company and its Secretary,
Peter Kevan, took an interest in Parmalee�s early experiments. Hesketh got Parmalee
his first order for sprinkler installations in the cotton spinning mills of John
Stones & Company, at Astley Bridge, Bolton. This was followed soon afterwards by an
order from the Alexandra Mills, owned by John Butler of the same town.

An 1897 Grinnell automatic sprinkler advertisement

Although Parmalee got two sales through its efforts, the Bolton Cotton Trades
Mutual Insurance Company was not a very big company outside of its local area.
Parmalee needed a wider influence. He found this influence in James North Lane, the
Manager of the Mutual Fire Insurance Corporation of Manchester. This company was
founded in 1870 by the Textile Manufacturers' Associations of Lancashire and
Yorkshire as a protest against high insurance rates. They had a policy of
encouraging risk management and more particularly the use of the most up-to-date
and scientific apparatus for extinguishing fires. Even though he put tremendous
effort and time into educating the masses on his sprinkler system, by 1883 only
about 10 factories were protected by the Parmalee sprinkler.

Back in the U.S., Frederick Grinnell, who was manufacturing the Parmalee sprinkler,
designed the more effective Grinnell sprinkler. He increased sensitivity by
removing the fusible joint from all contact with the water, and, by seating a valve
in the center of a flexible diaphragm, he relieved the low-fusing soldered joint of
the strain of water pressure. By this means, the valve seat was forced against the
valve by the water pressure, producing a self-closing action. The greater the water
pressure, the tighter the valve. The flexible diaphragm had a further and more
important function. It caused the valve and its seat to move outwards
simultaneously until the solder joint was completely severed. Grinnell got a patent
for his version of the sprinkler system.[11] He also took his invention to Europe,
where it was a much bigger success than the Parmalee version. Eventually, the
Parmalee system was withdrawn, opening the path for Grinnell and his invention.[12]

US regulations
Fire sprinkler application and installation guidelines, and overall fire sprinkler
system design guidelines are provided by the National Fire Protection Association
(NFPA) 13, (NFPA) 13D, and (NFPA) 13R.

Certain states, including California, Pennsylvania and Illinois require sprinklers

in at least some new residential construction.[13]

Fire sprinklers can be automatic or open orifice. Automatic fire sprinklers use a
fusible element that activates at a predetermined temperature. The fusible element
either melts or has a frangible liquid-containing glass bulb that breaks, causing
the water pressure in the fire sprinkler piping to push a plug out of the sprinkler
orifice, resulting in water spraying from the orifice. The water stream strikes a
deflector that forms the water into a spray pattern designed in support of the
goals of the sprinkler type (i.e., control or suppression). Modern sprinkler heads
are designed to direct spray downwards. Spray nozzles are available to provide
spray in various directions and patterns. The majority of automatic fire sprinklers
operate individually in a fire. Contrary to motion picture representation, the
entire sprinkler system does not activate at the same time, unless the system is a
special deluge type.[14][15]

Open orifice sprinklers are only used in water spray systems or deluge sprinklers
systems. They are identical to the automatic sprinkler on which they are based,
with the heat-sensitive operating element removed.

Automatic fire sprinklers utilizing frangible bulbs follow a standardized color-

coding convention indicating their operating temperature. Activation temperatures
correspond to the type of hazard against which the sprinkler system protects.
Residential occupancies are provided with a special type of fast response sprinkler
with the unique goal of life safety (a residential sprinkler has a higher discharge
pattern than that of a standard spray sprinkler and they also have been
specifically developed for discharging water higher on the walls in order to keep
ceiling gas temperatures lower).[16][17]

Quick Response Sprinklers

The NFPA #13 standard was revised in 1996 to require Quick Response Sprinklers in
all buildings with light hazard occupancy classification.

The 2002 edition of the NFPA #13 standard, section 3.6.1 defines quick response
sprinklers as having a response time index (RTI) of 50 (meter-seconds)1/2 or less.
RTI is a measure of how thermally responsive the heat-responsive element of the
sprinkler is, measured as the time needed to raise the temperature of the sprinkler
bulb to 63% of the temperature of the hot air stream times the square root of the
velocity of the air stream.[18]

The term quick response refers to the listing of the entire sprinkler (including
spacing, density and location) not just the fast responding releasing element. Many
standard response sprinklers, such as extended coverage ordinary hazard (ECOH)
sprinklers, have fast responding (low thermal mass elements) in order to pass their
fire tests. Quick response sprinklers are available with standard spray deflectors,
but they are also available with extended coverage deflectors.[19]

QUICK RESPONSE FIRE SPRINKLERS

Quick Response per NFPA 13 RTI < 50 (ms)1/2 Nominal Diameter in mm Norbulb
Model[20] Operating Time in Seconds Response Time Index (RTI) (ms)1/2
Yes 2.5 N2.5 9 25
Yes 3 N3 11.5 33
Yes 3.3 N3.3 13.5 38
No 5 NF5 23 65
No 5 N5 32 90
Operation

Standard spray sprinkler head with a blue bulb indicating a high release
temperature
Each closed-head sprinkler is held closed by either a heat-sensitive glass bulb
(see below) or a two-part metal link held together with a fusible alloy such as
Wood's metal[21] and other alloys with similar compositions.[22] The glass bulb or
link applies pressure to a pipe cap which acts as a plug which prevents water from
flowing until the ambient temperature around the sprinkler reaches the design
activation temperature of the individual sprinkler. Because each sprinkler
activates independently when the predetermined heat level is reached, the number of
sprinklers that op