Fire & Gas Detection Technologies Inc. (FGD) is addressing the daily problems that impact productivity, safety and the bottom line with new innovative solutions in flame detection and analysis. The FGD focus is to provide equipment that will be used to create a safer working place in the face of accidents and process safety failures by providing operators with the most important and reliable information allowing optimum safety and incident response decision making.
To allow this, visual (video) monitoring capabilities are becoming an integral part of the basic safety design. Industry has developed, approved and made available to designers and operators, flame detectors that incorporate integrated explosion proof, High Definition (HD) video that provides surveillance capability in hazardous areas to monitor, control, assess and address fire/explosion events.
Currently employed flame detectors are based on technology and know-how that has been available to experts for many years and has been used to specify the requirements for flame detectors. Today, with faster detection time, substantially increased immunity to false operation and integrated HD video, a new range of UV-IR and Triple-IR (IR3) flame detectors are readily available for engineers, specifiers and users.
The range of HD detectors includes: IR3 models for hydrocarbons, IR3 models for detection of ‘invisible’ hydrogen fires, UV-IR models using water absorption band for hydrocarbon and hydrogen fires, and UV-IR at the CO2 absorption band for hydrocarbon fires.
The FlameSpec IR3-H2-HD has a long detection range of up to 100ft (30m), and explosion detection mode with less than 40 milliseconds detection time. Its normal mode of operation is as fast as 1.5 second detection time. All that with substantially increased false alarm immunity.
Today, the technological progress provides for faster (much faster) response time while maintaining and substantially enhancing false alarm immunity. The latest detectors were developed, tested and approved and include different types of UV-IR and IR3 flame detectors, some with HD video; others incorporate data loggers and all are much faster than detectors in current use.
Flame detectors need to provide for the fastest possible response time and 100% positive detection of fire (no misses) in all weather conditions, whilst maintaining:
- Very high immunity to false alarms in all background illuminations and weather conditions.
- Fast and reliable detection of any type of fuel or gas ignition, outburst of fire, or vapor explosion.
- Reliability in all operating conditions with very high mean-time-between-failure (MTBF).
False alarm reduction with advanced detection algorithms
False alarms are sometimes quoted as the number-one problem source with safety systems. Whether they relate to faulty instruments, poor calibration or false alarm sources, such as welding or hot exhausts, the problems associated with false alarms are many and costly to operations:
- Loss of productivity is perhaps the largest financial consequence of a false alarm. Whether it’s a temporary interruption to production or lost product there is a high financial cost to false alarms.
- Damage to plant and equipment – accidental activation of a firefighting system can cause millions of dollars in damage to property and machinery. If we take the example of an aircraft hangar, the cost incurred in returning an aircraft to service and clean-up is enormous.
- Reputational damage such as we see in the above example. Any accidental deluge can have an impact and possible interaction with the local community and authorities should it affect the local environment.
- Negative impact on employee confidence in the safety system can have catastrophic results in the case of a real accident. Accident reports are littered with examples of operators not believing the instrumentation and either resetting or simply ignoring the alarm until it is too late to control the incident.
Energy transition and the updated FLS-IR3 hydrogen flame detector
Energy transition is a theme that is present on the many operators’ tables today. With some governments around the world targeting 50% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030, we all have a role to play in helping to achieve these targets. Since FGD started we have been working to support this initiative by providing safety equipment specifically targeted at hydrogen flame detection but ensuring it is also suitable for detection of methane, syngas and ammonia fires with the same device, thus supporting the energy transition. Whether you are generating green or blue hydrogen from methane or are perhaps transitioning from the use of methane to hydrogen, FGD’s FlameSpec IR3 hydrogen flame detector has you covered.
The advanced detector optical arrangement and algorithms have been validated via FM testing of methane, syngas and hydrogen gas fires. The result demonstrated detection up to 30m with a response time of <3 secs to a 32in plume.1
FGD offers the client the choice of either RGB or near-IR video cameras with every ‘HD’-equipped flame detector. Hydrogen fires burn with a blue flame visible at night but during daylight this flame is invisible. For this reason, FGD offer a near-IR camera as standard on H2 devices allowing the operator to see the hydrogen flames in greyscale. Many other flames are also visible with the near-IR camera in the same way.
Remote access: view any fire alarm anywhere, in real-time
Flame detectors are continuously monitoring critical industrial assets. In any industrial environment, people and machinery are continuously accessing these monitored areas. High-speed internet availability with ever-shrinking storage media allows for devices to become more available for real remote access and analysis.
Today, it is possible to store events (flame or suspicious flame events) in non-volatile memory. The flame detector can store critical video and raw sensor recordings as well as diagnostic data that is now easily accessible and extractable. Direct TCP/IP access as well as RS485 allow us to extract the recorded data and supply security and support personnel with valuable data that can be accessed in real time or at a more convenient time for analysis and diagnostics.
Furthermore, with internet access, a detector can be remotely and securely accessed by support personal for real-time analysis. Log files and video recordings can be downloaded, and immediate support given to resolve technical problems. In many cases there is no need to remove a detector from site and send back to a factory support centre.
The ability to store and share real-time video offers practical improvements to First Responders. With a suitable NVR system, live video can be streamed directly to the emergency and/or security services providing critical information prior to arriving at the scene of an incident.
The FlameSpec family provides:
Faster detection time:
- IR3-Ultra-fast Mode detects in 40 milliseconds to fireballs and explosions
- UV-IR-Ultra-fast Mode detects in 5 milliseconds for Fireballs and Explosions. (faster than any other detector).
- IR3 H2 detection up to 30m
- Extreme Sensitivity up to 260ft (80m)
- High Immunity to false alarms.
- For standard fire at 100ft (30m) within 3.0 seconds and 0–50ft (0–15m) within 1.5 seconds.
- Data logger: records over 100 events with operational and video data (1 minute before and up to 3 minutes after the event).
- Continuous High Definition video: analogue or digital output to NVR systems for sharing real-time video to safety and security teams
- Full HD resolution real-time video with clear imaging of fire events at a distance of 150ft (50m).
- LAN Ethernet communication (ONVIF protocol), RS485 and HART interface. Enables you to monitor and better address fire events, assess events and reduce unnecessary and costly downtime while conducting remote diagnostics and maintenance
Summary
Fire & Gas Detection Technologies FlameSpec detectors have been designed and developed by the original team of engineers that developed the IR3 and UV-IR technologies. The new generation of FlameSpec detectors addresses the fire protection industry challenge to have flame detection with improved detection and speed of response, high reliability and higher immunity to false alarms. We put the customer at the centre of all we do in relation to product development, manufacture and supply. We pride ourselves on holding sufficient supply of finished goods and components to serve the customer in days rather than weeks.
FlameSpec detectors fulfil the requirements of industry, positive fire detection, improved false alarm immunity and integrated HD video, real-time data logging, visual confirmation on location of fire and secure remote access. The FlameSpec family gives the fire protection industry an important leap forward in matching flame detection performance with fire risk, when every second counts.
For more information, go to www.fg-detection.com
References
- FGD product datasheet FLS-IR3-H2 or FLS-IR3-H2-HD available via www.fg-detection.com
About the Author
Iain Evans is the Vice President Sales for Fire & Gas Detection Technologies and is based near Zurich, Switzerland. He has over 20 years experience in the field of Industrial Flame and Gas Detection, having previously worked for Honeywell, within the SPS Gas Analysis and Safety business unit.
