Infrasound waves stop kitchen fires, but can they replace sprinklers?
Infrasound waves stop kitchen fires, but can they replace sprinklers?
次声波能扑灭厨房火灾，但它们能取代自动喷水灭火系统吗？
In a makeshift demonstration kitchen in Concord, California, cooking oil splatters in and around a frying pan, which catches fire on an unattended gas stove. Within moments, a smoke detector wails. But in this demonstration, something less common happens: An AI-driven sensor activates and wall emitters blast infrasound waves toward the source of the fire in an attempt to put it out. 在加利福尼亚州康科德市的一个临时演示厨房里，食用油溅在平底锅内外，并在无人看管的燃气灶上起火。片刻之内，烟雾探测器发出警报。但在这次演示中，发生了一些不寻常的事情：一个人工智能驱动的传感器被激活，墙上的发射器向火源发射次声波，试图将其扑灭。
The science of acoustic fire suppression, which has long been known and documented in scientific literature and the press, works by vibrating oxygen molecules away from a fuel source, depriving the fire of a critical component needed for combustion. Indeed, after just a few seconds of infrasound, the tiny kitchen blaze goes out. 声学灭火技术在科学文献和媒体中早已为人所知并有相关记录。其原理是通过振动使氧分子远离燃料源，从而剥夺火灾燃烧所需的关键成分。事实上，在短短几秒钟的次声波作用下，厨房里的小火苗就熄灭了。
The demonstration I witnessed took place in the presence of numerous firefighters and officials from Contra Costa County Fire Protection District, the state’s premier wildland firefighting agency (CAL FIRE), and invited journalists. “We were able to not just point-and-shoot like a fire extinguisher; we figured out how to run it through ducting and distribute it like a sprinkler system,” said Geoff Bruder, co-founder and CEO of Sonic Fire Tech, during the presentation. 我所目睹的这次演示是在众多消防员、康特拉科斯塔县消防局官员、加州顶级野外消防机构（CAL FIRE）代表以及受邀记者的见证下进行的。Sonic Fire Tech 的联合创始人兼首席执行官 Geoff Bruder 在演示中表示：“我们不仅能像灭火器那样定点喷射，还找到了通过管道输送并像喷水系统一样进行分布的方法。”
The company’s goal is to replace sprinklers, which are effective at stopping fires but can also do significant water damage to a property. Sonic Fire Tech appears to be the first company trying to commercialize the science of acoustic fire suppression. Its executives have already been touring Southern California; Wednesday’s event was the first in the northern half of the state. 该公司的目标是取代自动喷水灭火系统。虽然喷水系统在灭火方面很有效，但也会对财产造成严重的水渍损害。Sonic Fire Tech 似乎是第一家试图将声学灭火技术商业化的公司。其高管此前已在南加州进行巡回演示，而周三的活动是该公司在加州北部的首次亮相。
The company aims to make this infrasound technique mainstream in both commercial (for instance, a data center, where sprinklers would damage electronics) and in-home installations, given that sprinklers are already required in all new California homes built in 2011 and later. Sonic Fire Tech also hopes to produce a backpack-based system that could be worn by wildland firefighters headed out into the field. 该公司旨在使这种次声波技术在商业（例如数据中心，喷水系统会损坏电子设备）和家庭安装中成为主流，考虑到加州自 2011 年起建造的所有新住宅都已强制要求安装喷水系统。Sonic Fire Tech 还希望生产一种可供野外消防员背负的便携式系统。
“We are making meaningful technological improvements on a monthly basis,” Stefan Pollack, a company spokesperson, emailed Ars after the event. But two experts who spoke with Ars raised serious questions about the potential for this technology to supplant traditional sprinklers in a home. They are even more skeptical as to whether the technique can be effective in an uncontrolled wildfire situation, where flames can grow very quickly. “我们每个月都在进行有意义的技术改进，”公司发言人 Stefan Pollack 在活动结束后通过电子邮件告诉 Ars。但两位接受 Ars 采访的专家对该技术取代家庭传统喷水系统的潜力提出了严重质疑。他们甚至更加怀疑该技术在火势蔓延极快的失控野火场景中是否有效。
Sprinkler replacement? Sonic Fire Tech says that its system is as good as, if not better than, traditional sprinklers for many applications. “Sonic Fire Tech is in fact intended to replace interior residential sprinklers,” Pollack told Ars. “The demo showed a critical benefit of SFT over water sprinklers in suppressing a kitchen fire, which represents about half of all residential fires. This is also applicable to commercial kitchen fires and other common grease and chemical fire applications.” 取代喷水系统？Sonic Fire Tech 表示，其系统在许多应用场景中与传统喷水系统一样好，甚至更好。Pollack 对 Ars 说：“Sonic Fire Tech 的初衷确实是取代住宅内部的喷水系统。演示展示了 SFT 在扑灭厨房火灾方面优于水喷淋系统的关键优势，而厨房火灾约占所有住宅火灾的一半。这也适用于商业厨房火灾以及其他常见的油脂和化学火灾。”
The company’s press releases tout infrasound’s advantages over sprinklers. “Traditional residential sprinklers activate several minutes only after heat rises to a threshold, can discharge large volumes of water that damage interiors and electronics, and require plumbing infrastructure that adds cost and complexity,” says one release. “Sonic Home Defense, by contrast, deploys in milliseconds and uses inaudible low-frequency infrasound waves to disrupt the chemistry of combustion before flames can spread, with no water, no chemicals, and no risk of flooding the interior of the home being protected.” 该公司的新闻稿吹捧了次声波相对于喷水系统的优势。一份新闻稿称：“传统的住宅喷水系统只有在热量上升到临界值后几分钟才会启动，且会排放大量水，损坏室内装修和电子设备，并需要增加成本和复杂性的管道基础设施。相比之下，Sonic Home Defense 可在几毫秒内启动，利用人耳听不见的低频次声波在火焰蔓延前破坏燃烧化学反应，无需水、无需化学品，也不会有淹没受保护住宅内部的风险。”
The goals sound great, but they do raise questions among outside observers. “Sprinklers have a well-established role,” Nate Wittasek, a Los Angeles-based fire protection engineer, emailed Ars. “They apply water directly to the fuel, cool the space, slow or stop flashover, and give people time to get out while reducing risk to firefighters. Sound may knock down a small flame, but it does not cool hot surfaces or wet fuel. That raises real questions about re-ignition, smoldering fires, hidden fires, and fires that are partially blocked by contents.” 这些目标听起来很棒，但确实引起了外部观察者的质疑。洛杉矶的消防工程师 Nate Wittasek 在给 Ars 的邮件中写道：“喷水系统有着成熟的作用。它们直接将水喷洒在燃料上，冷却空间，减缓或阻止轰燃，并为人们争取逃生时间，同时降低消防员的风险。声音或许能扑灭小火苗，但它无法冷却高温表面或润湿燃料。这引发了关于复燃、阴燃、隐蔽火灾以及被物体部分遮挡的火灾的真正担忧。”
Water sprinklers have been around for a long time. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), a well-known industry nonprofit, was founded in the late 1800s to develop a uniform standard for sprinklers. The latest iteration of those guidelines, known as the “13D” standard, is well documented and widely adopted. 水喷淋系统已经存在很长时间了。著名的行业非营利组织美国消防协会（NFPA）成立于 19 世纪末，旨在制定统一的喷水系统标准。这些准则的最新版本被称为“13D”标准，已被详细记录并广泛采用。
A recent press release from Sonic Fire Tech states that the company has “secured third-party validation of its system as a viable NFPA 13D-equivalent alternative to conventional residential sprinklers.” The company told Ars that it has been evaluated by James Andy Lynch (who was present at the demonstration) and his team at Fire Solutions Group, a Pennsylvania-based consultancy, to establish Sonic Fire Tech’s bona fides. Sonic Fire Tech 最近的一份新闻稿称，该公司已“获得第三方验证，证明其系统是传统住宅喷水系统的一种可行的 NFPA 13D 等效替代方案。”该公司告诉 Ars，它已由 James Andy Lynch（出席了演示活动）及其在宾夕法尼亚州咨询公司 Fire Solutions Group 的团队进行了评估，以确立 Sonic Fire Tech 的资质。
Sonic Fire Tech declined to provide Ars with a full copy of Lynch’s report, citing “confidential and patent-pending information,” but it did send Ars the two-page executive summary. This document states that “the Sonic Fire Tech system is capable of delivering extremely rapid fire detection, meaningful suppression or extinguishment, and consistent performance across a variety of installation configurations.” Sonic Fire Tech 以“机密和专利申请中信息”为由，拒绝向 Ars 提供 Lynch 报告的完整副本，但确实发送了一份两页的执行摘要。该文件指出：“Sonic Fire Tech 系统能够实现极速火灾探测、有效的抑制或扑灭，并在各种安装配置中保持一致的性能。”
But the summary lacks any kind of detailed explanation of which tests were run and under what conditions. It also concludes that “additional testing and optimization are recommended to further expand the range of validated applications,” adding that Sonic Fire Tech’s products have the “potential to complement or, in certain applications, serve as an alternative to traditional suppression systems.” 但该摘要缺乏关于进行了哪些测试以及在何种条件下进行测试的任何详细解释。它还得出结论称，“建议进行额外的测试和优化，以进一步扩大验证应用范围”，并补充说 Sonic Fire Tech 的产品“有潜力作为传统灭火系统的补充，或在某些应用中作为替代方案。”