Automist is a water mist based fire suppression system which mounts just underneath a standard kitchen tap. The emitter head is designed to integrate seamlessly into the kitchen, where over 50% of domestic fires originate. Automist utilises “water-mist” which is a proven technology on ships and in factories. Water mist technology works well on both chip pan and electrical fires. The novelty of Automist lies in its modular design which means it is affordable and easy to retrofit. It won the James Dyson Award 2009 and has been featured in a number of web articles (Business Week and Fast Company).

In the event of a fire, a wireless heat detector triggers an under-sink pump. Heat detection is the most reliable form of fire detection and the trigger is set at the industry-standard. The pump then drives mains water through the unique nozzle unit which quickly fills the kitchen volume with fog, creating an inert atmosphere of 30% water and suppressing the blaze.

For more details visit - Plumis.co.uk

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What did I do?

The project started as a group Industrial Design project at the Royal College of Art in response to newspaper articles reporting that risk assessors have deemed fire extinguishers in residential blocks as 'fire risks', as they can delay evacuation and are ineffective when used by untrained people. The aim of the project was to make domestic fire protection more accessible. Little real impact has been made in reducing domestic fire property losses despite public and private sector fire safety campaigns. Each year more than 60,000 fires occur in UK dwellings, resulting in approximately 450 deaths and more than 11,000 injuries. UK Government research suggests that socially deprived households are 31 times more likely to suffer fires than households in general. The idea for the product came from a brainstorming session with a number of firemen at Chelsea Fire Brigade and was developed after a visit to the International Water Mist Conference at the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in Watford.

The design process involved user interaction with end users, trauma and stress experts, fire engineers, international sprinkler specialists and the fire brigade. Research began with informal interviews with individuals in their kitchens in order to assess the fire protection they had in place and to assess what the response would be in the event of an emergency. A brainstorming session was then carried out with the White Watch fire fighters at South Kensington who gave detailed insights into approaches to fire safety and evacuation. We also spoke with professionals in the field of water mist, to evaluate the design possibilities. Automist was created and the design is currently patent pending. Appearance models were produced with design for manufacture in mind and used to obtain feedback from installers and end users. Finally a working prototype was tested in a fire facility to investigate the propagation of mist and assess its fire extinguishing capability in a kitchen setting.

Automist is currently being developed for production by Plumis Ltd, a multi-disciplinary team of designers, engineers and MBAs. It won Design London funding on Friday Oct 3rd 2008 and was accepted into their business incubator. Design London is a new international centre for design led innovation. Plumis Ltd were selected from a larger number of project proposals from graduates from the RCA, Imperial College and its Business School. Design London's aim is to support innovative projects with commercial potential and help them develop interdisciplinary business ideas, introduce them to a network of mentors, specialists and sector experts and enable them to work with industry partners to enhance their creativity.