A detonation flame arrester (also spelled arrestor) is a device fitted to the opening of an enclosure or to the connecting pipe work of a system of enclosures and whose intended function is to allow flow but prevent the transmission of flame propagating at supersonic velocity and characterized by a shock wave. ( designed to prevent the transmission of a detonation).

Inventors

The first patented detonation flame arrester was developed by Nicholas Roussakis et al., and was issued on March 20, 1990. Its need was initially driven by new environmental legislation, namely the Clean Air Act of the USA

Clean Air Act (United States)

The Clean Air Act is a United States federal law enacted by Congress, and signed by President Richard Nixon on December 31, 1970 to control air pollution on a national level. It requires the Environmental Protection Agency to develop and enforce regulations to protect the general public from...

. Regular flame arresters had been around for years, but they had very limited applications.

There have been at least a dozen more since then. A few are as follows;

• Nicholas Roussakis & Dwight E Brooker, issued May 16, 1995
• Dwight E Brooker, issued Nov 11, 2003
• Dwight E Brooker, issued Sept 6, 2004
• Dwight E Brooker, issued June 6, 2006

Standards

• ISO/TC 21/WG 3 (ISO 16852)
• EN-12874
• USCG 33cfr154.1325
• CSA-Z343 Flame Arrester Standard