Flame Arrester Plate Stack for Low Pressure Drop Maintenance

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Solution Overview

Problem

CMR flame arresters are prone to damage during handling, require complex assembly, incur significant pressure drops, and are difficult to maintain due to clogging and non-disassembleable design, leading to high costs and inefficiencies.

Innovation Solution

A flame arrester block composed of flat or essentially flat first and second plates with reduced thermal conductivity portions, spacers, and simple assembly, allowing easy disassembly and maintenance, and modularity to adjust pressure drops without compromising flame stopping ability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If CMR flame arresters use multiple thin metal sheets with corrugations to create narrow passages for flame quenching, then flame stopping ability is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame stopping abilityVSAvoidconstruction complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The flame arrester is divided into multiple discrete plates stacked in sequence, with each plate containing passages. This segmentation allows independent manufacturing of simple plate components and facilitates assembly/disassembly for maintenance, while collectively providing the required flame quenching through multiple quenching surfaces.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The plates are designed with distributed passages creating a porous-like structure that allows fluid flow while providing extensive quenching surfaces. The passages are distributed throughout the plate structure, enabling flame extinction through heat transfer to the plate walls without requiring complex corrugated geometries.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #31Porous materials

2Reliability

If CMR flame arresters use narrow passages between metal sheets to extinguish flames, then flame propagation is stopped, but passages are easily clogged by deposits requiring maintenance

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame propagation preventionVSAvoidmaintenance difficulty

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of repair

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The plate stack is designed to be dynamically disassemblable and reassemblable, allowing maintenance personnel to separate the plates for cleaning or replacement. The passages are formed in flat plates rather than fixed corrugated structures, enabling easy access and cleaning of the passage surfaces to remove deposits.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #15Dynamics

3Reliability

If CMR flame arresters use multiple flame arrester elements in axial succession to stop flames, then flame stopping capability is improved, but pressure drop increases significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame stopping capabilityVSAvoidpressure drop

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSStress or pressure

Solution Approach 1:

Different regions of the plates are designed with different properties: the passage regions provide low resistance for fluid flow, while the plate walls provide high thermal conductivity for flame quenching. The passage cross-sections are optimized to maintain adequate flow area while providing sufficient quenching surface area in the local region.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The passage dimensions, plate spacing, and plate thickness are optimized to balance flame quenching effectiveness with pressure drop minimization. By adjusting these parameters, the design achieves adequate flame stopping capability while maintaining acceptable pressure characteristics for the application.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

4Ease of manufacture

If CMR flame arresters use thin metal sheets wrapped in spiral to form elements, then manufacturing is simplified, but elements are easily damaged during handling and maintenance

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveelement manufacturingVSAvoidhandling durability

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of manufactureVSStrength

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The plates are made from thin flat materials that are easy to manufacture but provide sufficient structural integrity when stacked and supported by spacers. The flat plate geometry is much more resistant to handling damage than spiral-wrapped thin sheets, while still providing the required quenching function.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #30Flexible shells and thin films

5Reliability

If CMR flame arresters use interposed spacing elements to generate turbulence for heat exchange, then flame stopping is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveflame stopping efficiencyVSAvoidnumber of parts

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The spacing function and turbulence-generating function are merged into the plate-passager-spacer assembly itself. The spacers create the necessary gaps between plates for fluid flow and turbulence, while the passage structures within each plate provide the quenching surfaces. This integration eliminates the need for separate spacing elements and reduces overall device complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

The solution provides a cost-effective, easily maintainable, and efficient flame arrester block that reduces heat transmission and pressure drops, ensuring effective flame propagation prevention with minimal temperature rise inside the device.

Implementation Method 1

The operating principle on which flame arresters is based is the extinction of the combustion (fire quenching or combustion quenching) due to the transfer of heat from the flame to a body of thermally conductive solid material at a lower temperature.

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectThermal conduction: Conduction (thermal)

Implementation Method 2

Each of the plates has at least one portion having a reduced thermal conductivity, lower compared to the thermal conductivity of the material of which the plates are made. This has the advantageous consequence that, even in conditions of persistent flames outside the flame arrester block, the temperature at the interior of the flame arrester block does not rise at dangerous levels.

Methodology Applied

Scientific EffectThermal insulation: Thermal Insulation

Data Source

PatentEP3554649B1Flame arrester block for protection devices against the propagation of flames

Publication Date: 2026.04.08 F N C - FAB NAZ CILINDRI

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AI summary

Flame arrester block (230) for protection devices against flames propagation, comprising: at least one first plate (305) having an external perimeter and at least one aperture in a region inside the external perimeter; a second, closing plate (405) stacked on the at least one first plate (305) along a stacking direction (X), and, between the at least one first plate (305) and the second plate (405), at least one gap transversal to the packing direction (X). The at least one first plate (305) comprises a portion (325), located between the external perimeter and the at least one aperture, having reduced thermal conductivity, lower compared to the thermal conductivity of the material forming the remaining portion of the first plate (305).