Explosions and fire are common hazards in refining and chemical industries. It’s also easy to spot a fire outbreak in residential areas. Selecting a fire detection system is very vital. Early detection is important to reduce damages that result from fire outbreaks. Fire detectors have an alarm triggered when fire erupts. It gives an early warning to help people move to safer grounds.
A flame detector will respond to radiant emissions from a fire. Flame detectors have varied capabilities, limitations, and advantages. You need to consider the different performance variables to select a perfect detector.
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Detector response and range time
Understand the greatest distance that a fire detector is able to spot flames basing on the fuel type. The time the device takes to collect, process, and report feedback is key. It should have a quick response time of 30 seconds or less. Buy a device with a high coverage area and the shortest flame time for flame detection. The device should be high up in corners or edges of a room.
Resistance to unwanted alarms
A perfect detector must be able to control the occurrence of fake alarms. A false alarm may cause unwanted damage and injuries as people try to move to safe grounds. It may also cause system shutdowns, and restarting it may take several hours. To overcome these false detections, get a perfect fire detector. Please place it in an appropriate location and decrease its sensitivity settings. Increasing the delay settings can help to control false alarms. You can also tilt the device to have a better orientation to reduce false alarms.
Field of view
Most of the flame detectors have a horizontal view between 90 degrees and 120 degrees. A wide field of view is desirable when protecting closed modules with obstructions. Place the device to a good site line off the ground.
Environmental factors
Perfect flame detectors work over a wide temperature range. High ambient temperature will limit devices placed inside turbine or compressor enclosures.
Flare reflection and flares will affect specific flame detectors.
Communication abilities
The main role of a fire detector is to make a suitable response like alarms. All these depend on effective output communication.
HART is a bidirectional communication protocol. It makes information on parameters, device diagnostics, and device configuration available. The information then gets to the monitoring or central control system.
Apart from the working performance variables, it would help if you used approved flame detectors. They should be on the approved list for use in classified or hazardous areas. They should have information on the specific environments they should work within.
Making a choice
Proper working of fire detection systems depends on reliable and early fire identification. It’s the key to a careful choice of fire detectors in any area. UV detectors have a faster response time with good sensitivity.
The multispectral IR and the UV/IR models have a moderate response speed. They give high immunity to those alarms over UV models.
Multispectral IR devices have a large coverage area per device. They have a strong and versatile false alarm rejection. CCTV detectors also can give images of areas under watch. They help in management events in areas with fires.
Conclusion
There isn’t any perfect flame detection technology that fits all situations. Thermal, smoke, and flame detectors combination is what you need. You can also go for a combination of several flame detector types to be on the safer side. Remember, several factors can lead to fire outbreaks. It’s better to limit fire occurrence incidences to stay safe.
