I was consulted Legear Engineering F.D. Consulting to vet the pattern of the Bladed stream. In my head, my first thoughts was lets make it fail, throw the kitchen sink at it. Legit, I was on a mission to prove up or down should this even been a thing? The fire service needs to have a clear understanding of the Bladed pattern and it's ROI, if any.
One absolute for me was orientation needed to be a non risk factor. Frankly between Tight and Wide Blade (Now a Preference based on Thermodynamics and Stream Characteristics) there had to be no un safe setting or orientation.
I/We designed burns with the help of Ian Bennett (West Coat Fire Training), David Pruitt (Live Fire Acquired) Ray McCormack (Urban Magazine) to frankly fail the Bladed pattern (extreme loads and vent profiles). We/I wanted to be sure absolutely that value added was not just a little vs straight or solid stream, but substantial out performance with no down side risk.
Mission is life and property preservation, if there was not a substantially an up side with zero risk, I would not be involved. Think about the big three of fore streams: Coating (check) Cooling (Check) Contraction (Check) plus concentrated edge, gps/per/sq/foot = no steam. The best searches and removals are down under the protection of gold standard fire stream development and application.
A Bladed Stream's Edge in air (air=fluid) must create no issues with air entrainment, why it is a non issue, down stream water at all times. Which means the center of blade in wet all the times = net gas contraction, period. Plus a slice of water through a liquid air (ATM), means fluid pass over and under the stream = no where near the air entrainment of a fog cone (dry center, main problem, with small droplets).
What is not to like HEN Nozzles
I think @Jay Bonnifield, @Kyle Romagus @Kevin McCart Billy Morris four well know sources in the fire service, that have experience the Blade in both Vertical and Horizontal that based on Coating, Cooling and Contraction have all come to the conclusion nothing currently fielded in North America comes close to the Suppressive effects of a Bladed Pattern at equal Gpm and NP.
Progress is also ways tough, but it does not erase previous efforts, true progress is built upon. There needs to be a stream study, Bladed Pattern vs Solid, vs Straight vs Fog at equal stream velocities and volume. This is truly a break through for life and property preservation, just look at the Bladed pattern and the way it does coverage 9/10th of extinguishment once critical flow is reached.
HEN Nozzles Insight Training LLC Firehouse Magazine Fire Safety Research Institute California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) California State Firefighters' Association International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) National Science Foundation (NSF) Dr. Burton A. Clark, EFO Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service - TEEX
Another common question about HEN Nozzles that we get -- "Does the orientation of the blade matter?" 🤔
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