Retail and residential development protected by Kentec
19 Nov 2013
Parkway Newbury, a new retail and residential development in a celebrated Berkshire town is protected by Kentec's fire alarm solutions
During its construction, a networked wireless fire alarm system designed around Kentec fire control panels was supplied and installed by wireless fire alarms specialist Fire Systems Ltd. to protect timber-framed apartments above the retail shop outlets and communal areas.
With over 300 workers on site at any time during the two-year building programme, and a constantly changing building framework, Fire Systems’ designers were presented with a number of special challenges.
An independent wireless fire alarm system was installed in each of the complex’s eight external blocks, interfaced on a wireless network to enable the fire signals from each block to be transmitted back to the security office. The system, based around a single loop Kentec Syncro AS analogue addressable fire alarm control panel, used Argus open communications protocol with Argus wireless detectors.
Construction site priority protection.
Timber-framed construction is on the increase, but unlike traditionally built properties, a timber-framed building presents a greatest risk of fire during the construction phase due to large amounts of combustible elements being exposed and unprotected. For this reason, installation of a fire alarm on timber frame construction sites is now a priority.
Wireless fire alarms are quick and easy to install with a minimal amount of wiring. The wireless fire alarm equipment can be relocated very easily with no disruption to contractors on site. It is also very cost effective, as devices can be reused on different phases of the project.
Retail and residential development protected by Kentec
Kentec Electronics Ltd
Website
Email Us
T: 01322 222121
Unit 25 - 27 Fawkes Avenue
Questor
DA1 1JQ
Dartford, Kent
United Kingdom
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Responsive, smart, intuitive, and interactive. A leap forward in fire safety technology.
The leap forward in trouble-free, interactive fire detection panel
development can only be truly appreciated by measuring the advance against the pioneering
work of the past, with an accelerated evolution of smart technology observable
over the latest generation of innovations designed to meet the increasing challenges
of intelligent fire detection systems integration.
Far-sighted manufacturers are constantly working on more stable, more
reliable fire detectors to ensure the fastest possible detection of an incident
while striving to rule out unwanted false alarms.
At the same time fire panel
manufacturers work to monitor and report on these new detection devices and
include software to further ensure false alarms are kept to a minimum but also
making sure operators are alerted as soon as there is a fire or an event that
could affect the performance of the system.
Yet,
as increasingly complex systems are developed for intelligent building
management, it is often forgotten that it’s the on-site operators who will have
to cope with multiple systems whose screen displays can be highly complex, with
the potential for confusion.
To
the uninitiated, during an alarm situation – with bells ringing and lights
flashing – buttons and texts can be baffling.
Even if the installer has trained the local operators there is a chance
of instructions being forgotten and thus the burden of responsibility for the
operator, from having to act unprepared, can be overwhelming . . . an outcome
designers in the pioneering days of interactive panel development strove dedicatedly
to overcome.
Dispelling anxiety
Even
today, this same sense of bafflement can bewilder an operator responding to a
panel ‘alert’. For example, suppose you have
a trouble-free established system that’s has never activated to a live fire
alert. Then, years after installation, a fault notification is received. Typically this state is reported by the buzzing
of the panel displaying a message and initiating
a flashing LED. The inexperienced
operator, unfamiliar with this live fault condition, becomes painfully anxious
that they might act incorrectly and, in consequence, falsely evacuate the
building. Without a menu-driven interface of absolute clarity this predicament
is all too likely.
To
illustrate this point, a senior fire
risk specialist recalls: ‘I have personal
experience of this state of anxiety when some years ago I was phoned by an
operator. When asked to describe what the fire panel was displaying, the caller
froze in a panic and could not articulate; and then, when asked to press a
particular button, pressed the wrong one and turned on all the sounders.’
Advances Towards an Intuitive
Interactive Interface.
Decades past, the best an operator
could expect from a fire panel would be some sort of indication that there was
a fire somewhere in a very large area (conventional systems) while at the same
time no indication might just mean
the wires or pneumatic line had fallen out.
Some readers may have seen lovingly polished wood cabinets with brass
flags to indicate the location of a fire.
When remembering that these precursors were state of the art solutions some
60 or 70 years ago it is altogether humbling to consider how panels will
develop further in future times.
In the progress of notable technological
enhancements Fault Monitoring was a major step forward, allowing panels to
indicate an event if something was wrong. Originally, this was literally just
an indication that something was wrong with no guidance as to what.
It might then take an experienced specialist a lengthy time to troubleshoot
the system and locate the fault or false indication. A natural progression then for panel
designers was to call upon them to build in more accurate monitoring and
indication of faults. The introduction of addressable detectors did allow some
more accurate pin pointing of faults while reducing search times in the event of
a fire as staff was notified of the location.
A major restriction in progressing along this route of clearer
indication was the lack of LCD technology and manufacturers relying on banks of
traditional light bulbs, which typically themselves had a very short working
life.
The development of LEDs
and simple LCDs greatly improved panel indication, but at a price many building
owners were not prepared to pay. Also,
due to LCD limitations messages were often very brief and in a quasi code that
needed trained engineers to interpret. This
complexity demanded simplification to reflect the realities of operator
decision-making and take account of the contingencies of true workplace
conditions.
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