Sorry, you're right, that should have said Halon. Yes, my understanding is that Halon basically just asphyxiates the fire. Displaces the oxygen, simple as that. The problem I've heard is that when trying to put out a fire in an engine bay, there is nothing to contain the Halon. It just falls out the bottom of the bay, and the fire could just reignite.
Okay, good! I thought I had missed something new since firefighting school!
I was taight that Halon is not an asphyxiant like Carbon Dioxide, but rather an agent that broke the sides (rather than the points) of the Fire Triangle (some would say it broke the fourth point of the Fire Tetrahedron, but it's the same idea). In other words, Halon prevented the oxygen from binding to the item you want to put out (be it oil, paper, etc.) and therefore killing the fire.
Sadly, this highly-effective agent was banned by the usual suspects for the usual BS reasons, so apparently a whole new area of fire suppressing agents has been developed in the meantime. I can only assume they work in a similar fashion to Halon, or that they combine that ability with asphyxiant ability. Either way, I can only conclude that Haltron is one of these alternatives.
Since it's new (and since I have to run off to a meeting right now and therefore can't look it up), I'm not sure if Haltron needs to sit in a confined area to work. Somehow I doubt it because it's impossible to seal off an engine compartment in a car, and therefore it wouldn't make any sense to market it for automotive hand-held use.
Hopefully someone in the know will be able to educate us.
In the meantime, I'm off to my regularly-scheduled weekly waste of time. :sombrero: