LONDON UNDERGROUND
An ideal solution for rail environments
AEI Cables is daily challenged by clients to provide new cable products to bespoke high performance designs, but usually for very specific applications. Ian Watts, project manager at AEI Cables, believes that, counter to this trend, a new Firetec FRF2 cable has much more diverse potential and ‘the power to maintain the light’. Firetec FRF2 joins the ‘Total Fire Solutions’ family of Firetec cables and is manufactured by AEI Cables in Co. Durham.
O
riginally requested by London Underground to meet it’s
requirements for a flexible two-hour fire resistant cable that was also suitable for use in sub-surface railway emergency lighting installations, AEI cable engineers have designed a cable which met the brief and incorporated many extra features.
The two key fire performance requirements were the fire resistance security of an ‘Enhanced Grade cable’ (BS EN50200 PH120 & BS8434-2) whilst also meeting the exacting fire reactance requirements of London Underground’s Category 1 standard 1-085 Fire Safety Performance of Materials.
Cables meeting BS EN50200 PH120 & BS8434-2 are described as ‘Enhanced’ in BS5266-1 Emergency lighting - Part 1: Code of practice for the emergency escape lighting of premises, BS5839-1 Fire detection and fire alarm systems for buildings, & BS5839-8 for Voice alarms.
What many will not realise is that the samecable performance recommendation is used in BS 8519:2010 Selection and installation of fire- resistant power and control cable systems for life safety and fire-fighting applications (Code of practice). Cables meeting BS EN50200 PH120 & BS8434-2 are specified in BS8519 for a Category 2 Control cable. Effectively this gives a recommendation for the cables which will interface between the fire alarm system and many other systems such as (mechanical) fire engineering kit or equipment. These control cables may be small unprotected cables and may also require mechanical protection.
AEI Firetec FRF2 therefore has the ability to meet applications in all these codes of practice and has been third party certified to BS EN50200 PH120 & BS8434-2 i.e. ‘Enhanced Grade’ & BS8519 Category 2 Control. The AEI Cables fire test laboratory has also successfully tested the cable to Category 3 Control.
Most small fire resistant cables are tested in free air using the BSEN50200 test rig;
42 | rail technology magazine Jun/Jul 13
because Firetec FRF2 was also likely to be installed in containment, AEI successfully tested FRF2 to IEC 60331-3 as indicated by BS5266-1. 8.2.2.(d) in addition to 8.2.2 (b) – this satisfies both the two-hour survival times for an enhanced emergency lighting cable and a cable system. The specifying engineer will find this valuable as FRF2 is likely to encounter both cable route environments in many a railway context. It should not be assumed that a conduit installation will offer fire protection; indeed such an installation environment can compromise the performance of fire resistant multicore cables, which obviously should be avoided.
The conductors of AEI Firetec FRF2 are Class 5 and the complete cable complies with the flex test in BS6500 to 32000 cycles flexing and the high performance compounds deliver a potential 90°C conductor & 450/750V class rating, which many see as ideal in the rail environment.
The cable has been finished in white with a
bold RED legend, which is clear close-up but aesthetically unobtrusive. The cable carries an additional metre mark to assist tracking runs and surveys.
The new Firetec FRF2 cable is therefore attracting interest for multiple applications and its easy installation possibilities.
AEI LSZH compounds compliant with LU 1- 085 have come together to form a fully-flexible high performance cable with unique qualities and abilities. Applications such as emergency and normal lighting circuits, ‘enhanced’ emergency lighting circuits (BS 5266-1), egress signage, temporary power supplies, fire alarm related circuits, help points, amplifier supplies and Category 3 Control (BS8519) circuits have been indicated as systems where Firetec FRF2 may be an ideal solution, especially in the underground rail environment.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
T: 0191 410 3111 E:
technical@aeicables.co.uk W:
www.aeicables.co.uk
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100