Early warning fire protection for conveyors

Patol’s range of transit sensors continue to prove a popular option in detecting fires in a wide range of conveyor applications. Many goods carried on conveyor systems are highly combustible with the power to ignite. If they do ignite and the conveyor has no fire protection measures in place, then the fire can quickly spread to holding hoppers, blending, crushing or other processing areas of the plant to become a potentially major incident.

The 5000 series features the infrared transit heat sensor and the high temperature transit flame sensor. The heat sensor offers an early warning system designed to trigger an alarm if the material being monitored exceeds a temperature of 100°C, (with the option to adjust the sensitivities to be set above this threshold). Importantly, the sensor triggers at temperatures below the point of flaming, including both embers and buried hot spots, thereby providing the potential for intervention before flaming occurs. The sensors can operate on conveyors running at speeds of 0.5 to 6 metres per second, analysing materials as they pass through its field of view. It would also be sensible to include linear heat detection cable for static heat or fire conditions.

The flame sensors trigger an alarm at a much higher temperature of 240°C, although as with the heat sensor, sensitivities can be set above this threshold depending on the nature of the application. The same conveyor speed of 0.5 to 6 metres can be accommodated, with the sensor triggering if a material reaches an ember or flame condition. Enhanced false alarm immunity is ensured through the sensor being ‘solar blind’ meaning the ‘background’ and ‘transient’ infra-red spectra are discriminated.

Several models are available in the 5000 series including specialist sensors with ATEX certification for hazardous or dusty environments, which is also useful for mechanical protection in non-hazardous areas, plus glass-free, stainless-steel sensors designed specifically for food processing applications.

PATOL patol.co.uk