Keep it clean and green
Published: 01 January, 2007
Tyco Fire and Integrated Solutions is promoting three major products as environmentally-friendly alternatives for Halon, as Industrial Fire Journal noted when its team visited ExpoProtection in Paris. At the show, Yann Boutin, Communication and IT Infrastructure Director for the company in France, took the time to explain more about these special products.
“Tyco’s Sapphire has been on the market since 2004 and is extremely well-suited for sensitive environments where water damage might be just as destructive as a fire - such as in computer rooms or telecom facilities,” explains Yann.
Sapphire uses 3M’s Novec 1230 as its suppressing agent. It is stored as a carbon-based fluid in cylinders and vaporises instantly upon discharge. Tests show this total flooding system absorbs heat better than water. Novec 1230 doesn’t harm the environment or its occupants and it only stays in the atmosphere for three days, he reports.
To demonstrate the non-toxic properties of the Novec, Yann sticks his hand in a bowl filled with a crystal-clear substance that looks very similar to water. After he takes his hand out the substance quickly evaporates away because Novec 1230 is a liquefied gas.
“Novec 1230 evaporates 25 times faster than water and it only stays in the atmosphere for five days, whilst other substances such as Halon hang around for 33 years. It provides an ideal solution for sensitive applications, such as data centres and computer rooms. Ordinary fire suppression systems could pose problems because of human occupation and water damage. Ansul Sapphire Suppression System is an engineered system, which means that the installation is completely customised depending on the application. The detectors used are extremely sensitive, when there is a hint of a presence of smoke or increase in temperature the system will assess these and activate. ”
High pressure water mist
For environments where water damage might be less of a problem, such as turbines, industrial ovens, hydraulic pits, transformers, diesel engines, compressors, ductwork, cable tunnels and other important machinery spaces, Tyco has developed MicroDrop. This brand new high-pressure water mist system offers improved protection, reduced water demand, lower installation costs and less asset damage following deployment than sprinklers.
Andrew Shiner, Sales and Marketing Director for Europe, Middle East, for Tyco Fire and Integrated Solutions, comments: “Water mist is an emerging and credible fire protection technology with properties that make it attractive to a range of applications where low water availability, consumption or discharge by the fire protection system is a major consideration. With the growing concern for the environment, this technology is becoming increasingly important as customers look for solutions that are safer for people, property and the environment.”
The system works at a pressure of a 100bar to deliver water as fine atomised mist, which is quickly converted into steam which smothers the fire and prevents further oxygen from reaching it. The evaporation effectively cools the fire down - this means that water mist combines the fire suppression properties of both conventional water-based deluge or sprinkler systems and gaseous systems.
As an added bonus, in a Tyco MicroDrop high-pressure water mist system the pipework dimensions are also reported to be considerably smaller, resulting in weight reduction and use in confined spaces.
“Inergen is a mixture of gases, namely nitrogen, argon and carbon-dioxide and has been specially developed as a Halon 1301 replacement,” Yann continues.
“Inergen extinguishes the fire by reducing the oxygen in the room to a level below 15%. This is the point where combustibles no longer burn. Simultaneously, the carbon-dioxide stimulates the uptake of oxygen by the human body. People who are trapped do not suffer from suffocation.”
Inergen is safe to use in areas which are occupied by humans and causes no damage to the human body, says the company. Neither the storage bottles nor the discharge will obscure the path to escape routes and Inergen does not cause any decomposition products.
The mixture specification has a relative density that is close to oxygen, this results in an excellent holding time, says Yann.
FM-200 from Great Lakes
Especially successful in the US over the past few years has been the clean agent FM-200, developed by the Great Lakes Corporation. This substance is made from an inert Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), which is non-ozone depletory nor is it damaging to human health, says the company. It works through a combination of a chemical reaction and physical heath removal. It does not smother flames by removing oxygen from the environment - instead it absorbs heat from the flame zone and interrupts the chemical chain reaction of the combustion process.
Like the other products, FM-200 is stored as a liquefied gas in pressurised bottles, it is discharged via specially designed nozzles, because it is essential to release the appropriate concentration level.
Where space is a priority, FM-200 might be a good solution, because it takes less than 7% less concentration of the agent to quickly extinguish a fire, which means you need to store less of it compares to other gases. As the detection system tracks flame, smoke or heat in the incipient stage of the fire it is possible to extinguish it before it has even combusted, thanks to the agent. FM-200 is non-conductive and non-corrosive so it's safe to use around all types of electronics and electrical equipment, says Great Lakes.
There is no need for expensive disaster recovery processes, the agent is especially popular with data centres, telecommunications networks, financial networks, hospitals, museums, and other high-technology organisations, reports the company.
