Actually an all electric/air system may be designed and implemented with
redundancy designed in.
My high speed chute in the linerwannabe is an adaption of that used by Don
Vesco and I believe Sam Wheeler.
Early on in my liner quest, Don and I talked about "How do you know you are
on fire?" .
He suggested a system that I have incorporated and describe.
A spring loaded air actuater, when energized with 100 psig air thru a
Shrader valve, holds the chute closed. If air supply is lost the chute
deploys.
Nylon 6-6 air hose is run thru the engine bay around oil pan area, under
intake manif -around fuel rail-fuel filter under fuel tank etc etc....
Now I need to point out, plastic air hose (1/4") is not run near exhaust
system, which is mounted up high, where a fire is probably not going to
initiate.
Additionally this air supply is routed to a small air relay/solenoid that is
normally open, so if it looses 12 volts it vents the air to atmosphere.
A switch on the steering wheel is wired so it is normally open so when
switched to an off position the system looses its ground and the air is
vented, thus the chute deploys. We know it works. In 04 only too well with
an overly sensitive switch :=D If the 12 volt system fails for any
reason the chute deploys.
On the Ford Hydrogen car we had an automatic fire system that I am
replicating that will be incorporated into this system. Another normally
closed solenoid is used so upon loosing air pressure, the relay closes
actuating an electric device that punctures the seal on a halon bottle.
I'm also looking at a commercially available and reasonable $$$ smoke
detector that we used on the Ford Hydrogen Fuel Cell car. When parts are
working well together I will report. For now, I am mocking up the fire
system since it is in addition to the 33 pounds of 1301 I currently utilize.
My low speed parachute uses a normal pull cable for deployment that is quite
close to my right hand as are all controls, including shifting, but with air
shifted Jerico that is a story in itself.....
Rick
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