Kentec’s new K-Mesh wireless technology wins praise for Chester Cathedral project [
mesh,” Brad explained. K-MESH, a next-generation Brad’s colleague, operations wireless fire detection technology manager Byronn Alty, thinks that from from Kentec Electronics – a leading an engineer’s perspective, the new manufacturer of life-critical control technology is ‘phenomenal’. “We solutions – is winning deserved went to what we believed would be praise from the installer of a new the dead spots within the cathedral,” system protecting the historic he said, “and low and behold the Chester Cathedral. device started communicating with Brad Parker, founder of Charles the strongest radio signal expander Thomas Heritage Fire Protection, within its area. I would look at the was tasked with specifying and drawings and thought it would upgrading the wireless fire detection communicate with expander one, system previously installed in the and yet the device ends up linking to cathedral. The thick walls and Brad Parker fixing the K-Mesh device at Chester Cathedral expander two!” lead-lined roofs, along with the A further benefit to the mesh other challenges that come with a technology is that it is simple plug and play. “The cathedral has an building that can trace its roots back to 1093, meant Brad had to think outbuilding with an old bell tower so there needed to be a link between outside the box. the two,” Byronn continued. “This was an initial design challenge for us He opted for Kentec’s K-Mesh system, a technology that uses selfto think how we were going to get radio over there, but the new wireless healing and configuring mesh technology to deliver optimum levels mesh is just plug and play and it was just great to see it working. of reliability and performance. It also makes it easy to use, install “Even having used it only once, my confidence with installing, and commission – and ultimately provides robust assurance that fire programming and commissioning is now on a high, and that tells you incidents are detected and communicated immediately. It is available how easy it is to use.” as part of a complete fire detection system with Kentec-manufactured Brad Parker similarly describes K-Mesh as ‘wizardry’, saying: “My love panels, such as the renowned Syncro AS panel and in this case the of old heritage buildings made this project extremely enjoyable and award-winning Taktis panel. being able to use the new Kentec K-Mesh system and seeing it work at its A wireless translator module, which sits at the centre of the full potential, was a delight.” K-Mesh system, is hard-wired to the fire alarm control panel loop Kevin Swann, managing director of Kentec Electronics, believes and communicates continuously with the wireless devices. Sensors wireless fire detection is the future. He said: “We are very pleased and are supplied in three variants – optical, thermal and multi-criteria – excited about our new K-Mesh system and seeing it installed in such an with the optical and multi-criteria sensors featuring adaptive signal important landmark is an honour and confirmation of our best practice. processing and double dust traps to prevent false alarms. Thermal It is fast to install and less invasive to a building’s structure and all of us detectors can respond to a fixed temperature threshold or detect a rate here at Kentec are committed to helping protect our heritage buildings of rise in temperature. Wireless sounders, call points and testing kits are and assets of national importance.” q also available within the range. K-Mesh has a seven-to-ten-year battery life, which is approximately • A video of Brad Parker and Byronn Alty of Charles Thomas Heritage twice that of the industry standard. The technology is also fully Fire Protection discussing their hands-on experience installing the new expandable, and configurable from anything from two to 2,000 devices K-Mesh wireless fire detection system into the Grade 1-listed Chester so even the largest, most disparate and complex sites can now be Cathedral can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-TnAhPXtP4 protected wirelessly. Further capabilities include a communication range of up to 1,200 metres and immunity to hacking. Due to the size of Chester Cathedral many expanders are needed, and with the K-Mesh system each expander has up to five redundancy paths connecting to the strongest expander, creating the mesh. Even the dead spots in the cathedral are able to communicate with the strongest radio signal expander within its area, so in case of an emergency, every corner of the building is covered. “With the latest mesh technology, rather than one expander we can have three, four or even five redundancy paths and the signal connects itself automatically to the strongest expander to create the www.ecclesiasticalandheritageworld.co.uk
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