14 News The future of fire ratings


IT IS ONLY some 25-30 years ago that there were few fire regulations relating to insulated panels, reports Michael Young , director of Isowall Consulting UK. The demand for insulated panels with a fire rating has been driven by a variety of factors including: ■ Some serious and disastrous fires involving insulated panels


■ The increasing cost of the materials stored within an insulated structure which often exceed the value of the structure itself


■ An expansion of the international insurance industry. Requirements demanding that companies insured in one market are required by the terms of their insurance policy to be insured worldwide


■ Increased realisation of the investment and trading cost of a fire.


Insulated panels, sometimes called ‘refrigerated panels’ although they have no refrigerating capacity themselves, are used in a variety of applications and are the focus of the drive for proved and unrated fire ratings. Their increasing use in a retail setting in close proximity to retail customers and staff makes the need to take this discussion seriously and to move to implement any legislated increase in ratings a priority. The refrigeration and insulation industry is a ‘worthy industry’, contributing to the economy and to increased living standard and should not be let be let down by oversight or ignorance.


The growth of fire ratings and certificated insulated panels has certainly brought benefit to the insulation market and to its end users. Being able to work in an environment that is both clean and unlikely to contribute to a fire improves worker safety and reduces the chance of injury or even death.


It is accepted that there are two types of fire resistant panels. The first is the non- combustible panel utilising materials that have themselves met fire codes and been found to be non-flammable.


ACR News May 2015


These panels are called ‘non- combustible’ and it is accepted in many markets that their fire resistance equals that of the materials from which they are constructed. This has occurred primarily in markets which do not have a significant insurance industry and in markets where there are limited internationally recognised testing facilities. The second type of panel utilised for this application are fire rated panels which carry a certification as to their resistance to fire utilising a variety of North American and European Codes which give a determination, either as a figure in minutes or as a coded assessment. The use of the coded assessment has gained market acceptance and is commonly used throughout the European Union. With the availability of fire rated panels from 30 minutes to four hours, utilising a variety of core materials, it is unlikely that the building codes will demand an improvement on this current product range. What will become apparent is the need from fire rated panel in a wider variety of end use applications.


These will be both internal and external to the European market and will affect those companies establishing export activities to new and developing markets. Isowall Consulting would quote as evidence the experience of the Chinese market where, after several significant fires, a variety of insulation materials were banned from use in urban areas. (This was later reversed, and wisely so, due to the nature of the ban.)


An assessment of individual markets is essential for any company seeking to export and understanding the fire codes. In the future, fire ratings will affect all buildings and fire ratings will drive technical specification. Those companies that are seeking to expand will acknowledge the need for such codes and for their products to be tested.


Isowall Consulting UK is a specialist consultant to the insulation, panel, refrigeration and rollforming industries.


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Waste cold recovery gets government funding


CLEAN COLD


TECHNOLOGY company Dearman has been awarded a Smart Grant by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, to further explore the use of ‘waste cold’ from liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals to provide sustainable power and cooling.


The funding will support studies in the UK, India, Singapore and Spain, focusing on the potential to recycle ‘wasted cold’ given off at LNG terminals, and to use it to make low-cost, low-carbon liquid air, which in turn can provide both cold and power.


Liquefied natural gas is energy packaged in cold. When it is re-gasified at import terminals, this cold ‘packaging’ is literally thrown away; in the UK less than 20% is used in co-located processes.


However, it is possible to capture the cold and recycle it to assist in the production of liquid air. Dearman technology harnesses liquid air to produce zero-emission power and cooling for use in a number of applications, including urban transport, the built environment and refrigerated transportation. Building on work done to date in India and other markets, the company will lead detailed, in-country studies into how capturing waste cold can support a clean ‘cold economy’, harnessing waste cold to replace the use of diesel. Producing cold in this way decreases the cost of cooling


and lessens its environmental impact.


Dearman’s group


managing director, Michael Ayres, said: “This project will further our understanding of how Dearman technology can enable a shift towards cleaner, more efficient provision of cold and power, using resources that already exist but are currently wasted. Recycling wasted cold from LNG is a huge opportunity that is currently almost completely untapped. “Rethinking the way we use cold is vital if we are going to meet the growing need for cooling, driven by a rising global population, the desire to eradicate food waste and the need for new digital communications infrastructure.


“This latest piece of


funding is further recognition that liquid air technologies present an economically viable, environmentally sustainable alternative to traditional, polluting fossil- fuel systems.”


This Smart Grant funding follows the announcement earlier this month that a Dearman-led consortium has been awarded almost £850,000 by Innovate UK to develop a zero-emission auxiliary engine running on liquid air that will dramatically reduce the emissions from refrigerated trucks and air-conditioned buses.


Dearman’s first application, a zero-emission transport refrigeration unit, is currently in test at MIRA.


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