Common misunderstanding... >

Do you believe that sparks are the cause of fires and explosions in your industry?

Consider this:

Incidents still occur in industries, even though a conventional spark detection system has been installed. WHY?

A common misunderstanding is that mechanical sparks are often believed to be the cause of unaccountable fires and explosions in factories. However research shows that detecting only sparks has much less effect than first thought.

The key to minimising loss of revenue and production downtime due to fire and dust explosions is the detection of hot particles.

What is a hot particle?
Imagine a sparkler. The sparks generated from it have a high temperature but little mass. On the other hand, the hot stem of the sparkler has a lower temperature but much greater mass. This means that the stem (which is effectively a hot particle), but not the sparks, can be used to light a cigarette. Material in your process can in the same way ignite when it encounters a hot particle. It is therefore vital to not only detect sparks but also hot particles within your process.

Leading expert
Professor Rolf K. Eckhoff at the University of Bergen in Norway has performed extensive research into the threat of sparks versus hot particles to process-based industry. "If you have an accidental impact of steel against steel, you might see tiny, glowing sparks being formed", he says. "If one of these could get into a filter, I don't think it would ever be able to initiate a fire or explosion".

Conclusion
Professor Eckhoffs statement in his acclaimed book "Dust explosions in the process industries" is clear: "Infrared radiation detection and subsequent extinction of smouldering nests and their fragments (...) has proven to be an effective means of preventing fire and explosions (...)".

BAM
Professor Eckhoff is not the only scientist reaching the conclusion that IR-radiation detection and extinguishing of hot particles is an effective way of preventing fire and explosions. Independent studies performed by the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -Prüfung (BAM) in Germany show the same result.

Firefly provides you with a unique technology based on Infrared (IR) radiation detection to eliminate both sparks AND hot particles in your process.