‘It really is all about making a difference’
which just might save lives.
“Around 20 years ago I devised an inflatable path to be used for rescues from water and mud and within a week of Lancashire Fire Brigade buying it they used it to rescue a grandad and his grandson who had been stranded by the incoming tide.
“The grandson wrote to me and thanked me for coming up with the idea. That letter says it all, it really is all about making a difference.”
Richard’s previous Queen’s Award for Enterprise was back in 2001 when he received it for devising a mobile decontamination unit that was used by Staffordshire Ambulance Service.
The AvSax is a unique invention that is used to deal with lithium-ion battery fires in personal electronic devices such as mobile phones and laptops that are brought on board by passengers.
It is in use with many of the world’s best known airlines and has been used 28 times to deal with emergencies since the start of 2017 – the most recent incident happening on November 2.
More than 50 airlines across the world now carry them which means there are well over 13,000 AvSax in the skies.
The fires are caused by lithium-ion batteries going into what is known as thermal runaway inside the electronic devices.
When one cell in a battery overheats it can produce enough heat – up to 900°C (1652°F) – to cause adjacent cells to overheat. This can cause a lithium battery fire to flare repeatedly.
Incidents of thermal runaway are on the rise.
Lithium-ion battery fires on board planes are rarely publicised but a fire in a device could emit toxic smoke and potentially the battery may even explode, causing damage to the aircraft and putting lives at risk.
There are many cases where lithium-ion battery fires have caused planes to be diverted as an emergency and the average cost of that in the USA is $400,000.
Richard revealed: “AvSax is the result of many years of development, drawing on experience from the production of an alternative sandbag we invented called a BlastSax designed for the military to reduce the impact of fragmentation generated by small improvised explosive devices.
“The danger is that with so many poor quality and fake batteries around there is no doubt that incidents will continue to happen. The fact that AvSax have been deployed so many times shows there is a real need for this product. Any fire on board a plane is a frightening prospect but the AvSax has proved itself in action time and time again.”
A recent estimate revealed that aircraft carrying just 100 passengers could have around 300 to 500 lithium batteries on board when you tot up all the laptops, cameras, e-readers, tablets and mobile phones that need them. There is always a possibility that poor quality or damaged batteries can overheat, causing them to go into thermal runaway which could lead to the device catching fire.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the USA has reported 191 fires between 1991 and January 2018 from lithium batteries carried on-board aircraft as cargo or baggage. Ominously, of those, 46 were reported in 2017.
EDS Ltd also produce the pioneering FloodSax sandless sandbags that inflate on contact with water to act as an effective barrier to keep floodwater out of homes and businesses. Around 2.5 million have now been sold worldwide. FloodSax are also ideal at soaking up leaks and spills inside.