Modern production facilities utilize a huge variety of
equipment – pressurized installations, lifting and transport machines,
gas-consuming systems, and various power supply resources. All of them, in
addition to the dangers inherent to a particular production (e.g., vapors in
Oil and Gas), further contribute to the formation of hybrid air mixtures, which
can lead to emergencies. This affects the integrity and functionality of
devices and fire alarm systems. Here is the picture of what is happening:
Thus, there is a definite need for a reliable equipment that
can operate in hazardous environment:
- Be simple in operations and maintenance
- Able to continuously monitor the situation over the
protected zone
- Conform to existing rules, regulations and standards
- The sensor element should be reliable, easily services and
replaced in case of fire
Quite naturally, the thoughts and ideas of developers
turned to an existing technology of Distributed Temperature Sensing – DTS. DTS is
widely used in Oil and Gas, in structural monitoring, etc. I would not go in many
details, but this technology is well described and it is easy to find a lot of
materials on the Internet. Implementing DTS technology for fire alarm purposes
is quite developed at this time, mostly by German companies, there are vendors that
supply this equipment from other countries too. However, when analyzing technical
and operational capabilities of the systems that are used worldwide, one may
notice that as a matter of fact, these solutions are a bit sophisticated and
have a lot of functions (which, BTW are very useful) – but – at the same time –
they are affecting the cost to a great extent.
Ervist Group operates in the Russian market for almost 18
years, and during this time, we accumulated a decent experience in fire protection
industry. Our engineers and designers have in depth knowledge of the needs and
requirement of market. Therefore, our major concern was to find a realistic
compromise between quality provision of services and costs. With collaboration
of our Siberian partners – SIBSENSOR and ETRA companies – ELAN was born in
2011. (Literally, elan means a snake in Turk dialect that is present in
Siberia).
Based on DTS Technology, ELAN Linear Heat Detector is
deployed for fire hazard protection of heated/unheated premises, large scale
extended open air and underground sites included.
ELAN pinpoints fire origination – accurate temperature
change and precise location - than sends FIRE notice to control unit. Due to
its non-electric character and utilization of fiber-optic cable ELAN can be
used at Oil and Gas facilities, at chemical production plants (with aggressive
environment), as well as at metallurgical production and energy-generating
facilities.
ELAN locates fire origin within 4 meters and provides
opportunity for addressable fire extinguishing.
In AUTOMATIC mode (data transmission) ELAN transmits data
to the upper level, which may be a computer or Automatic Fire Suppression
System (AFSS). Connectivity to the upper-level devices (computer or ASPS) is
provided through USB output of ELAN. For devices that use RS485, RS232,
interfaces is connected via a converter “USB – THAT DEVICE
INTERFACE". ELAN communication
protocol is open and compatible with most existing Reception Control Devices,
easily connecting to majority of fire and security alarm systems.
Controller is actually a scattered light radiation
detector, which includes optically coupled: a pulsed laser light source; a
sensor, a filtering unit that differentiates Stokes and anti- Stokes
components; photodiodes, recording relevant scattering components; an
analog-to-digital converter (ADC), signal processing unit and display of
temperature along the length of the sensor element.
Its functions include:
- Temperature control in the cable at lengths from 100
m to 8000 m
- Nominal division of entire length of the fiber optic
cable into 4-m long control zones
- Selection of temperature class and based on the obtained
and processed data, determination of fire – on the basis of temperature for all
temperature classes (A1 to G), or on the basis of temperature and rate of
temperature increase for all classes (A1R to GR)
- Identification and display of distance (in meters) to the
fire outbreak point
- Identification and display of several fire zones
- Monitoring of sensor’s operability
- Broadcast of "Standby," "Fire", "Fault"
announcements
The
sensor element is based on a multi-mode or single-mode fiber-optic cable. It
comprises
- fiber-optic cable,
- terminator unit, and
- optic ballast.
The functional advantages of sensor are:
- Control of large extension areas, significant
outstretch of detection zone
- Precise detection of fire location
- Environmental stability (Resilience to heat, cold, humidity,
corrosion, mechanical stress, aggressive
environment)
- Resilient to electromagnetic interference
- Low-power laser emission makes it safe in hazardous areas even in
case of mechanical damage of cable
- Easy and quick installation
- Simple maintenance
- Repairability after fire – simple change of the damaged
part with a new one
Typical ELAN deployment with RCU.
Typical ELAN deployment with RCU in hazardous environment.
This concludes a brief description of ELAN
Those readers that may be interested, please, flle free to contact me at
comms@ervist.ru
