Fire Protection Of Machine Rooms
High Pressure Water Mist (HPWM) offers a high degree of safety for people, property and the environment. It is particularly effective in managing fire protection in machine rooms where it can be targeted to protect specific items typical installations include the protection of gas turbines, diesel generator sets, engine test cells and manufacturing facilities.
High Pressure Water Mist is more efficient at generating a cooling effect than other fire suppression systems, which prevents fire from spreading to adjacent areas. Rapid fire suppression also minimises any downtime and allows the unit to be restored to operational status with minimal delay, thereby promoting business continuity.
The use of FM Approved stainless steel nozzles further reinforces reliability and after a system discharge the system is quickly available as it uses only potable water and electric driven pumps as against water stored in cylinders that need to be refilled.
Fire Protection Of Local Applications
Water mist protection of local applications is considered a special protection system as defined in FM Approval FM5560. A local application high pressure water mist system can be installed to discharge directly on, or around, an object or hazard, typically an ignitable liquid (also known as flammable or combustible liquid) hazard. Where a pool fire could occur, curbing or diking should be provided to prevent spread of fire beyond the hazard protected.
A High Pressure Water Mist system provides a quick and targeted response for high-risk areas within a manufacturing facility (for example a hammer press in a forging facility). This allows the protection of the high-risk area only, thereby offering a considerable cost saving in not having to install a facility-wide system. Additional savings are also generated by a smaller footprint as the water tank size is reduced.
Hydrocore local application systems are FM Approved and use stainless steel open nozzles (they have no fusible element) spaced above or around the object to be protected. Open nozzle systems ensure quick cooling and suppression and can also be used in conjunction with a total flooding system.
Fire Protection Of Hotels & Heritage Buildings
Hydrocore Water Mist systems are perfectly suited for providing fire protection for hotel rooms, restaurant seating areas, churches, museums, heritage buildings, art galleries and wine cellars. The primary benefit is that they use far less water than traditional sprinkler systems, resulting in significantly lower water damage in the event of a discharge. Additionally, Hydrocore Water Mist systems also act as a smoke scrubber during discharge, resulting in a further reduction in fire-related damage.
As water mist uses less water, there is a consequent reduction in the space requirements for the storage tanks, which also means considerably less weight where the tanks are installed above ground floor level, making them ideal for structures having low load-carrying capacities.
For targeted fire protection, FM Hazard Category 1 (HC-1) approved Hydrocore high pressure water mist nozzles provide a superior water mist fire suppression effect. The use of FM Approved stainless steel nozzles with a frangible bulb that fractures at a pre-determined temperature means that a fire event can cause a targeted discharge, which minimises collateral damage.
Finally, Hydrocore Water Mist systems require smaller diameter pipes than a standard sprinkler system, making them both easier to install and less obtrusive.
Fire Protection Of Hospitals
Hospital fires can spread across a variety of areas like Operating Rooms, Patient Rooms, Clinics, Corridors, Canteens, Storage Rooms, IT Rooms and Offices. The response times are critical and are restricted owing to possible patient mobility restrictions.
Tested to FM Hazard Category 1 (HC-1), Hydrocore High Pressure Water Mist is a fire tested and proven solution, approved for protecting hospital buildings. Our systems offer rapid fire suppression with a targeted response with no risk to the patients and hospital staff. Our high pressure water mist systems use only potable water for fire suppression and hence the system can be activated without having to worry about evacuating the people out of the building (unlike gas systems) offering a fast response.
Hydrocore High Pressure Water Mist Solutions require small pipe diameters and reduced tank sizes making it a perfect solution for refurbishing or retrofitting in an existing hospital or for being installed in a new modern hospital setup.
Hydrocore offer modular pump units, and the pump unit output can be easily increased to cater to added demand, if the hospital’s capacity was to increase in the future negating the necessity of a new pump unit for increased demand.
Fire Protection Of Libraries, Archives And Office Buildings
Hydrocore High Pressure Water Mist systems (HPWM) can be used to provide fire protection and suppression for office spaces, banks, schools, universities and other areas where the public are present.
The use of FM Approved stainless steel nozzles (Hydrocore nozzles are fire tested for FM Hazard Category 1 (HC-1)) with a heat sensitive frangible bulb that ruptures at a set temperature offers a targeted response in the zone of fire. As the system uses only water, it is quick and easy to refill in short timeframe, thereby offering ongoing fire protection.
An additional benefit of High Pressure Water Mist systems is that they also generate a smoke scrubbing effect. This not only limits the effect of smoke damage, but more importantly, it can provide increased visibility in the event of a building evacuation.
Finally, Hydrocore High Pressure Water Mist systems require smaller diameter pipes than a standard sprinkler system, making them both easier to install and less obtrusive.
Fire Protection Of Transformers
Using the same principles as for Local Applications (above) Hydrocore High Pressure Water Mist systems can be used to provide fire protection for individual transformer installations, both indoor and outdoor. Each transformer can be protected with a ring of stainless steel nozzles, at ground level and above the transformer.
This application works for both open-air and enclosed installations, using open nozzles connected to a Fire Detection System (FDS). Recognising that oil bunds and drip trays are a likely source of fire, Hydrocore can provide specialised micro nozzle manifolds to disperse water mist into a targeted zone.
Fire Protection Of Tunnels
Fire protection of tunnels is a core strength of the Hydrocore water mist technology. Both our systems i.e. High Pressure Water Mist and Low Pressure Water Mist have been tested for tunnel protection where substantially large fire loads as compared to other fire scenarios can occur. In case of road tunnels, fire loads in the range of 50MW to 100MW+ are expected.
Hydrocore systems allow the use of sectioning so that in the event of a tunnel fire, the system can deliver fire suppression to the fire area itself and to the adjacent areas to further prevent fire spread.
An additional benefit of Hydrocore Water Mist systems is that they also generate a smoke-scrubbing effect. This not only limits the effect of smoke damage, but more importantly, it can provide increased visibility in the event of a required evacuation.
As Hydrocore High Pressure Water Mist systems use Stainless Steel 316, the life of the equipment is enhanced when compared to other systems.