Corrosion is the deterioration of a material due to interaction with its environment. Many industrial applications use processes that involve the use of chemicals, such as battery manufacturing, and these chemicals can cause an environment to have corrosive properties.
The contaminated air in these types of applications can cause a number of challenges when it comes to providing reliable smoke detection. Airborne chemicals can find their way into detectors and have a severe corrosive impact that causes the equipment to fail, particularly if aspirating smoke detection is used to actively draw air from the corrosive areas. Therefore, it is necessary to put measures in place to avoid the corrosive elements of an environment from damaging the detection equipment and to provide continued reliable operation of the fire detection system.
The Solution
Xtralis has spent many years testing and implementing a “Chemical In-Line Filter” to remove corrosive gases or vapours from the air to protect VESDA detectors from damage.
VESDA Chemical In-Line filters
The chemical in-line filter includes a filter housing which is filled with a unique chemical filter medium specific to each environment. The filter is installed inline with the pipework to remove chemical contaminants from the air before it enters the detection chamber. Each sampling pipe requires its own dedicated inline filter.
How it Works
Vesda Chemical Filters use small dry granules, pellets or beads to purify the air through physical or chemical absorption of the targeted gases. The appropriate chemical media for the targeted gas must be used to effectively remove all contaminants. In the case that more than one corrosive gas is present, multiple chemical filters should be used in series, each with the correct media to target each different contaminant.
The chemical inline filter container can also include moisture absorbing media to reduce the humidity of the sampled air.
Regular Maintenance and Considerations
To ensure the system continues to operate effectively, regular maintenance is required, at which point, the filter should be inspected. The life of the filter is dependant on the type of environment and different types of media have different lifespans.
When deploying inline filters, test coupons are available and can be used to determine the specific media required for maximum protection.
It should be noted that chemical in-line filters will have an impact on smoke transmissions and total pipe length should, therefore, be considered at the design stage to ensure performance criteria of the system is met.
For more information about VESDA Aspirating Smoke Detection, or to discuss any of the other products that Eurofyre have to offer, please feel free to get in touch either by phone on +44 (0) 1329 835 024, by email to [email protected] or via the online enquiry form situated on our contact page.
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