Monitoring & metering
MATHEMATICS, MONITORING AND FIRE SAFETY
The mathematics of monitoring gaseous extinguishing systems and room integrity
T 54
he fire industry’s calling is a noble one. It uses scientific principles to enable its very existence. The industry, however, calculates fire engineering designs based on
formulae that its technicians have no way of understanding or verifying are accurate. The industry needs a Resident Mathematician to ensure that the formulae it uses are correct. Fire engineers do not always understand the physical properties of the clean agents they use. Some do not wholly appreciate the impact of temperature on the state of an agent or its pressure. Novec 1230, for instance, is an organic compound which deteriorates quickly to a point of non- effectiveness if poorly handled and stored. These problems and many more can be solved in the fire industry by the application of fundamental scientific and engineering principles. But the validity of those solutions can be proved only by the careful and
thorough consideration of the mathematics involved. Coltraco Ultrasonics are at the vanguard of this in the fire industry.
CLEAN AGENTS
In fire cylinders, CO2 is permanently held under 720 psi or 49 bar of pressure, i.e. nearly 50 times atmospheric pressure (by comparison a cup of water at sea level exists at 1 bar or 14.5 psi). Its state changes under increased temperatures to one that is neither a liquid nor a gas. Gases under pressure are often effectively considered by the industry as single and passive cylinder columns of solid material from the perspective of their monitoring following installation. Whereas, being under pressure and constantly changing with temperature, they should be considered as active and dynamic systems requiring constant monitoring. These are not passive systems therefore; they are dynamic ones, and all dynamic systems under pressure require constant monitoring.
COLTRACO ULTRASONICS ACHIEVES THIS Coltraco Ultrasonics achieves this through its ability to establish the liquid contents of liquefied clean agents – through the UL- approved Portalevel MAX PLUS and the constant monitoring system, PermaMass FEATHERWEIGHT. Once the company does this, it can establish their weight and mass – through Portasteele Calculator (the world’s first product capable of this). The pressure of non-liquefied gases, such as Inergen or Nitrogen, is monitored by the Portagas.
CONSTANT MONITORING OF GASEOUS EXTINGUISHING SYSTEMS A data centre is expensive to build and maintain. It generates significant heat. Every bank with a branch network has hundreds of them. The value of them is very high, but the value lost as a result of the inability to sustain business continuity in the
November 2022 Instrumentation Monthly
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