What is behind the term Power-CAFS?
01 Jun 2015
First, there is the abbreviation CAFS, which means "compressed air foam system" or in good German "compressed air foam system". Well, in combination with power one can already imagine that it is a very powerful compressed air foam extinguisher.
The BAVARIA Power CAFS is a 10-l foam extinguisher that allows professionals to quickly eliminate, or at least limit, high fire risks through a fast, highly effective first strike, effectively reducing the spread of fire.
The core of this extinguisher is a mixing chamber, in which a foam mix optimally adapted to the fire produced, which can then be transported with a throw of up to 16 m and applied to the fire. The operating time is between just under 45 and 115 seconds, depending on the type of foam. Furthermore, it is also possible with this device to build foam barriers and thus prevent the spread of fires. The BAVARIA-CAFS special foam has excellent adhesion even on vertical surfaces or overhangs and thus offers excellent burn-back safety.
These mobile CAFS devices are designed to provide a very quick and effective first-strike response until the fire departments have built their firefighting infrastructure and can start firefighting or fire in places that are too winding and heavy equipment are difficult to reach. First, these Power CAFS devices are first suitable for fire brigades, but also for companies that are particularly at risk of fire and that rely on fast, effective extinguishing on site with trained personnel. This ranges from chemical companies across the entire petrochemical sector, particularly endangered logistics and storage areas, the automotive, aerospace and mechanical engineering industries, loading terminals and helicopter locations, the entire area of the recycling industry is the natural target group right through to the provision of services off-shore area or refueling stations.
Both professional and factory fire brigades today are largely equipped with CAFS equipment; in modern fire fighting vehicles, CAFS appliances have taken the place of bucket spraying.
How is the Power CAFS built and how do the systems work?
BAVARIA offers the Power CAFS in two versions: The 10- litre variant and the 50- litre CAFS with particularly high performance. Generally, e.g. the 10- litre unit is constructed to consist of an internally coated steel container, a mixing head, a compressed air cylinder, a pressure reducer, a high-pressure hose with a fire extinguisher and jet nozzle, and a carrier that brings all these components together.
In the event of a fire, the 300-bar compressed air cylinder is opened at the rotary valve. The compressed air passes through the pressure reducer into the steel container, where a working pressure of 18 bar is built up. When the extinguishing pistol is triggered, the foaming agent solution is forced through the mixing chamber, where, depending on the setting, a very fine-pored or very watery foam is produced. In the pistol as well as in the foam tube, the extinguishing foam is again optimized and bundled ejected, which leads to the quite high throw range.
With the wet foam the fire can be fought acutely, dry foam can be used to cover fire-endangered objects or parts of buildings with the well-adhering foam and thus to avoid an expansion of the fire.
The standard device is equipped with a 300 bar steel bottle. If you want something lighter, you can optionally get a 300 bar CFK bottle and save around 1 kg of weight. Furthermore, in terms of increased mobility, the extinguisher can be applied to an optimized day frame. Abroad is also often attached a second compressed air cylinder for respiratory protection.
A variety of components and accessories can expand and enrich the Power CAFS range.
