Flameless Smoke Generators

[Ghostcustom 24]

Many types of compositions and reactions are known to produce effective smoke screens however there are certain situations where an alternative to combustion is needed. Hence this string was born to discus methods of flameless smoke generating devices, specifically ones that are hand held and can be used in tactical paintball fighting (where flame and explosive are prohibited).

There is very little that I was able to unearth although I believe that the armed forces have devices of this nature (silicon or something similar?) although not much information is published about them.

*Moderators please move this to Pyrotechnics if it is successful.

[mrcfitzgerald]

There are many methods that are used to generate fogs and such. I believe these use either liquid Nitrogen, and/or frozen Carbon dioxide. However to the end of a hand held flameless smoke generator, these are not sufficiant as they are bulky and rather expensive . Good thought though.

[frogfot]

I've seen in a store a device that was powered from 230V and was dipped under water, it created water fog. I beliave it uses sonic waves for this.. maby this is not something one would have in field, but this thing is funny. Wonder if those usual 41kHz speakers will work for this.. :p

[xyz]

You can make a very cool looking effect by having smoke comp inside a sealed container and with a waterproof fuse, and throwing it into water. It makes lots of bubbling (duh!) and it causes a smoke screen to slowly spread out across the water.

You may be able to use a sealed smoke device that is triggere inside a bucket of water.

[Tuatara]

Perhaps a baby version of the smoke machines used in dance clubs? Sort of a water pistol full of smoke oil, witha battery powered heater ...

One can always mix HCl and NH4 vapours, but its not really smoke - rather thin and wimpy really.

That 230V thing that makes mist from under water is called a nebuliser, and uses ultrasonics at a frequency of about 1.7MHz. 41kHz wont produce droplets small enough to remain air-bourne

[Mr-Eckted]

The "smoke machines" in clubs are actually fog machines. They work like humedifiers, but they use a glycerol/water mix.

[priapo]

You can produce flameless smoke heating a mixture of acetone, propilene glycol (antifreezer) or just using dry ice.

Here you have the schematics and different mixtures depending on the use you are going to give it. I wouldn't recommend you to use acetona mixtures in small rooms because it is quite irritating for the eyes.

http://www.geocities.com/hellacoolstuff/Fogger.html
http://www.gotfog.com/fog_machine_how.html
http://www.haunted.50megs.com/props/fog/
http://www.earthsands.com/holiday/halloween/propshomemadefog.html

[Tuatara]

Great links! Damn, I had access to 200l of glycol, and didn't aquire any as I couldn't think of a use for it at the time. I've been playing with using a ceramic heater element as a vapouriser for a diesel burner - should work great for a smoke machine too.