From 7 to 8 October 2026, A2 Photonic Sensors will take part in IWMC2026, the 25th International Water Mist Conference, organized by the International Water Mist Association (IWMA) in Prague. IWMC brings together researchers, manufacturers, and fire protection engineers working on water mist suppression systems, and remains one of the key venues where the community compares notes on nozzle design, spray characterization, and system performance.
Why Local Measurements Matter for Water Mist
NFPA 750 classifies water mist systems by droplet size (Dv0.9): 200 μm or less for Class 1, up to 400 μm for Class 2, and above that for Class 3. That classification is a useful starting point, but it says little about how a spray actually behaves between the nozzle and the fire — droplet velocity, local liquid volume fraction, and spatial heterogeneity can all shift considerably with nozzle geometry, operating pressure, and distance from the nozzle.
Our M2 Spray Analyzer, built around single-fiber interferometric probes, is designed to fill that gap. The probe is placed directly inside the spray and detects individual droplets as they cross its tip, giving local, real-time access to droplet size, velocity, phase fraction, and their distributions at a given point — without needing a clear optical path through the spray. That makes it a workable option in dense sprays or other conditions where light scattering makes imaging-based techniques unreliable.
From Droplet to System
Water mist nozzles operate across a wide pressure range — NFPA 750 distinguishes low-pressure (up to roughly 12.1 bar), intermediate-pressure (up to about 34.5 bar), and high-pressure systems above that. The M2 is built to handle pressures and temperatures beyond typical nozzle conditions, so it can follow how atomization and droplet transport evolve across these regimes, and how they respond to nozzle design and operating point. Measurements taken at multiple positions in a spray can then be combined to build a statistical picture that connects local droplet dynamics to overall suppression performance — useful for nozzle characterization, droplet-flame interaction studies, and CFD model validation alike.
Talk to Us in Prague
We’ve applied this optical probe approach across fluid mechanics, chemical engineering, nuclear thermal-hydraulics, and hydraulics, and IWMC2026 is a chance to bring it to the fire protection community for the first time. If you’re working on nozzle characterization, spray modelling, or droplet-fire interaction and are looking for measurements finer than what averaged parameters can tell you, come find us in Prague — we’d like to hear what you’re trying to measure.