Engineers and designers attempting to find fire protection for hazards such as computer rooms, sub-floors, tape storage, switchgear, vaults, process equipment and all occupied or unoccupied areas where equipment is either very sensitive or irreplaceable, are faced with a difficult task. The fire protection needs to increase reliability while reducing the overall environmental impact. While many might consider water the logical choice, this particular solution presents a number of problems when used with electrically powered equipment.
A better solution
The solution is a mixture of two inert (oxygen diluting) gases: a mixture of 50% nitrogen and 50% argon - known as Pyroshield. As the Pyroshield agent is derived from gases present in the earth’s atmosphere, it exhibits no ozone depleting potential, does not contribute to global warming, and nor does it contribute unique chemical species with extended atmospheric lifetimes. The Pyroshield agent, composed of atmospheric gases, does not pose the problems of toxicity associated with the chemically derived halon alternative agents and is the number one choice for protecting high value electronic assets. Pyroshield’s production meets all the criteria set out in the Montreal and Kyoto protocols, thus it will never be phased out, unlike the halogenic gases.
Pyroshield gas extinguishes fire by lowering the oxygen content below the level that supports combustion. When the Pyroshield agent is discharged into a room, it introduces the proper mixture of gases that allow a human to breathe in a reduced oxygen atmosphere. The normal atmosphere in a room contains 21% oxygen, if the oxygen content is reduced below 15%, most ordinary combustibles will cease to burn. Pyroshield reduces the oxygen content to approximately 12,5% implementation.
Alien Systems & Technologies manufactures the Pyroshield Fire Suppression System, engineered using a fixed nozzle agent distribution network. The system is SABS approved (SABS 14520-1-14:2008) and was also the winner of the 2003 SABS Design Institute Award for Engineering. It is designed and installed in accordance with the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard 2001, ‘Clean Agent Fire Extinguishing Systems’.
When properly designed, the Pyroshield system will extinguish surface burning fire in Class A, B and C hazards. The system can be actuated by detection and control equipment for automatic system operation along with providing local and remote manual operation as needed. Accessories are used to provide alarms, ventilation control, door closures, or other auxiliary shutdown functions.
The system is particularly useful for suppressing fires in hazards where an electrically non-conductive medium is essential or desirable; where clean-up of other agents present a problem; or where the hazard is normally occupied and requires a non-toxic agent.
Siemens ecosystem strengthens data and AI integration Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens has announced significant expansions to its Industrial Edge ecosystem, accelerating data and AI integration and releasing enhanced cybersecurity functionalities. These enable a seamless integration of IT and OT environments, optimise processes and reduce operational disruptions.
Read more...Siemens manages shipbuilding process for HD Hyundai Siemens South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Siemens has been selected by HD Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering as a preferred partner to establish an integrated platform to manage the entire shipbuilding process as a single data flow to help ensure consistency across all its global shipyard facilities.
Read more...Transforming the process industry through digitalisation Endress+Hauser South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
By connecting field devices, systems and people, digitalisation creates new opportunities to optimise operations, enhance maintenance strategies and support continuous improvement. As a leading instrumentation provider and major source of process data, Endress+Hauser plays a key role in enabling this transformation.
Read more...The assets you can’t see are the ones that can shut you down
IT in Manufacturing
ABEGuardOT is an asset management solution that delivers continuous, non-intrusive visibility across multi-vendor environments, including Siemens, Rockwell, ABB, Honeywell, Schneider Electric, Emerson, GE and Yokogawa, with support for OPC UA, EtherNet/IP, Modbus and Profibus.
Read more...Edge I/O NTS and the need for industrial speed Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
One of the most compelling solutions to emerge from industrial automation is Edge I/O NTS, which represents a natural evolution of computing from centralised servers to localised, device-level input/output processing, offering improved speed, efficiency and resilience.
Read more...The next wave of AI-driven process automation Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
As process industries hurtle toward an AI-driven future, four powerful trends are set to redefine automation strategies in 2026: hyper automation, AI-first automation, low code/no code platforms, and advanced process intelligence.
Read more...Huge increase in denial-of-service cyber threats
IT in Manufacturing
NETSCOUT has released its Distributed Denial-of-Service Threat Intelligence report, revealing sophisticated attacker collaboration, resilient botnets and compromised IoT infrastructure that drove more than eight million DDoS attacks worldwide.
Read more...Sustainable manufacturing ABB South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
ABB’s production facility in Shandong province, China is delivering measurable energy and emissions reductions through the implementation of advanced digital energy management and electrification solutions.
Read more...Open automation is breaking legacy chains Schneider Electric South Africa
IT in Manufacturing
Industrial automation is now entering a new era defined by open, software-driven principles that are breaking decades of hardware-bound limitations.
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information contained herein, the publisher and its agents cannot be held responsible for any errors contained, or any loss incurred as a result. Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. The editor reserves the right to alter or cut copy. Articles submitted are deemed to have been cleared for publication. Advertisements and company contact details are published as provided by the advertiser. Technews Publishing (Pty) Ltd cannot be held responsible for the accuracy or veracity of supplied material.
printer friendly version