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Fires can start without warning even in the best controlled environment and within seconds can cause serious damage to lives and property. The adoption of any fire suppression systems for any particular environment would therefore depend on the hazard area to be protected. For heavily occupied areas such as shopping malls, residential and business areas, the safety of all those in the hazard area is also paramount.
New fire solutions and improved methods of protection have been developed to meet the changing nature and the increasing complexities of many today’s fire risks.
Increasingly, automated sprinklers systems are the most considered for occupied areas. Sprinklers, having being in existence for 100 years and over are still as effective in today’s dynamic world.
A typical sprinkler installation includes a grid of piped network with sprinkler heads fitted into them at regular intervals. The sprinkler heads are spaced and pipe work sized according to hydraulic calculations so that if one or more operates, there is always sufficient flow and density of water discharged. The design and calculations take into account the size and construction of building, the category of goods stored and its capacity.
The sprinkler head will operate, either by the glass bulb bursting or solder melting when the temperature is reached for the specific sprinkler head which would then release water into the fire. Water for the system is supplied from a storage tank usually built specifically for this purpose.
While the sprinkler system has a broad area of applications, peculiar environments call for specialized fire suppression systems. A ship at sea stands a risk of sinking or capsizing if flooded with large amounts of water in a bid to suppress an on board fire.
The water mist suppression systems, as old as the sprinkler systems are ideal for such environments and a lot more. Water mist is being adopted for use by the food industry, printing, leisure, utilities, archives and even the offshore environment to minimize fire risks. Water mist systems are regarded as a cost effective, non-toxic, non-deadly, efficient and adaptable fine mist available in high or low pressure forms. Its use means substantially reduced post fire traumas with less mess.
Perhaps the most significant and general property of water mist systems is the low water consumption when compared with conventional water-based systems. Full-scale testing has shown that, for a typical sprinkler-like application, water consumption by water mist systems may be 10% lower than that by conventional sprinklers designed for the same application. Practical benefits of low water consumption are that the water supply, the pump size and the diameter of the pipe work can be substantially smaller for water mist systems than for sprinkler systems. These are immediately reflected in the weight and space requirements of water mist systems.
An interesting and important property of water mist systems is their effectiveness in scattering heat radiation. The mist sprays are capable of offering protection against heat radiation and thereby provide protection against heat exposure for evacuating people. The ability to scatter heat radiation is also considered as one of the extinguishing mechanisms of water mist. While protecting people from heat radiation, water mist also reduces the radiative heat flux to surfaces of combustible materials in the vicinity of the flame, which increases the ignition time of these materials and therefore slows down the spreading of the fire
High pressure water mist systems manufactured by ultra suppression systems , have been reputed to work even for the protection of electrical installations like the HV transformers and power stations- installations where WATER AND ELECTRICITY DO NOT MIX!!!
BASSCOMM has been designing specialized fire engineering systems for over fourteen years. Our capacity to design, install and maintain the fire systems for even the most sensitive environments coupled with our commitment to meet the client’s exact requirements uncompromised by any vested interests, have made us fore-runners in the industry.
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