FAA Certifies Honeywell Fuel-Tank Fire Suppression System on B-737s

The FAA has certified Honeywell's nitrogen generation system (NGS) for B-737s, which uses an "inert" gas to displace oxygen in fuel tanks to reduce the risk of an explosion or fire.

(Nitrogen is nonflammable and it will not support combustion. It's commonly thought of and used as an inert gas; but will react with oxygen at very high temperatures, as in furnaces.  Nevertheless, it is inert under most other circumstances.)

The B-737 certification comes less than two months after the company received similar approval for the inerting system on B-747 models.

The Honeywell NGS injects nitrogen-enriched air into an aircraft's fuel tanks that are susceptible to heat build up.  The nitrogen fortification is produced by separating oxygen from conditioned engine-bleed air through micro-fiber components supplied by Parker Aerospace.

Eric Wendling, Honeywell's NGS program manager said the company has completed flight testing of the NGS system and has entered full-scale production. Currently, Honeywell is evaluating the system on four in service commercial airplanes.  "Our next steps will be to pursue certification for additional applications," Mr. Wendling said.  03-07-2006.

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