Fixed High Expansion Foam Fire-fighting System
(for Cargo Hold of Container Ships)

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Introduction

For the protection of cargo holds of container ships, only fixed gas (CO2 or inert gas) fire-fighting systems have been admitted by the relevant rules so far.
The rules also indicate that the systems accepted by administrations as satisfactorily equivalent to the gas system for the performance can be adopted as its alternative.
Kashiwa conducted a verification study*¹ for the equivalence of the foam system to the gas system for cargo holds of container ships to establish the specifications to comply with the IMO guidelines for the alternative design (Circ.1120).
Now our high expansion foam fire-fighting system is the first system in the world which is allowed to install in cargo holds of container ships.   

*¹ The verification study for the equivalence was conducted by Kashiwa and ClassNK on a mutual contract for the joint study. 

Principle / Advantages

In principle, the system has the same structure as the foam system for Ro-Ro spaces of car carriers with its foam generators attached to ventilation ducts in cargo holds. 
It has the following advantages as compared with the CO2 gas system. 

Advantages

• High fire-fighting performance (water included in the foam has cooling effect to prevent re-ignition; the foam invades narrow spaces between containers) 
• Repeated use available for an extended period of time  (the system is capable of generating the foam enough to fill empty cargo holds 5 times, and being suspended and restarted arbitrarily) 
• Safety for the crew left in the foam (the foam does not create oxygen-deficient air) 
• Quick activation (openings need not be closed before the activation of the system) 
• Low maintenance cost (Only regular sampling test for the foam liquid is required) 

System Configuration

The system mainly consists of the foam liquid tank, foam liquid pump, proportioner,manual/automatic valves, foam generators and control panels.