Lay of The Land #203: Geoff Bruder (Sonic Fire Tech) — Fighting Fires with Sound and Acoustic Waves
Geoff Bruder, co-founder of GhostWorks Engineering and Sonic Fire Tech—a company redefining fire suppression—is fighting fires with acoustic wave technology.
Geoff's journey is rooted in his work at NASA Glenn Research Center here in Cleveland, where he focused as a Research Engineer on projects like the Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG), thermoacoustic stirling heat engine designs, and led the design for the Glenn Extreme Environment Rig (GEER) — the largest chamber on earth able to recreate surface conditions on planet Venus, so they could, amidst many other things, extend the useful life of power and cooling systems there from 10 hours to nearly 243 days.
Since 2019, Geoff has been building Sonic Fire Tech applying this expertise to develop fire suppression systems that use acoustics — silent infrasound waves — instead of water or chemicals— to extinguish wood and chemical fires from a significant distance away from the fire itself. This approach offers a safer, more sustainable solution for wildfire prevention, home protection, industrial, and other applications where traditional fire suppression methods fall short.
I'd encourage anyone curious what this actually looks like in practice to reference the link to a youtube video in our shownotes that demonstrates how Geoff is putting out fire with sound… the video is worth thousands of words.
With over 15 patents, 3 publications, a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, graduate work at Case Western Reserve University, Geoff's journey from innovating at NASA to his own entrepreneurial ventures is one of ingenuity and impact, and I'm thrilled to share our fascinating conversation about his vision to transforming firefighting — please enjoy.
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LINKS:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreybruder/
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/9cxlUOrIrcM
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