GSMX-P: Early and central fire gas detection
The handling of bulk solids poses many challenges. One of these challenges is the enormous amount of dust that is created by conveying and processing the different products. In order not to unnecessarily strain the process and employees on site and to expose them to risks, these enormous amounts of dust get extracted.
This is the first step in the direction of fire and explosion protection, because dust clouds of flammable powders in the right mixture ratio to oxygen always represent a great danger.
Despite accurate dedusting of the machines, there is still a high fire risk with corresponding bulk goods e.g. through glowing embers transported into the process or self-ignition of the product. So how can this risk be contained?
Filter systems represent a central point in most industrial systems because the air extracted from the various machines is usually bundled and guided through a pipe / exhaust duct after the filter elements. Precise monitoring of fire gases within this pipeline enables fire incidents to be detected at an early stage not only in the filter but in all connected machines and system parts.
When do which fire gases arise?
Combustion (Fire) gases develop before smoke or flames can be recognized. Depending on the bulk material, certain fire gases arise earlier, later or only to a limited extent. In order to cover exactly this point, REMBE relies not only on the measurement of carbon monoxide (CO) but also on hydrogen (H2), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (Nox). In this way, monitoring can be set flexibly and precisely to process and material.
Advantage of a GSMX-P fire gas monitoring system:
Fires usually develop over a long period of time. Nevertheless, many systems detect too late. Temperature rises in the exhaust air can only be detected very late by means of temperature sensors and conventional smoke detectors are too sluggish and dust-prone for use under industrial conditions due to their functioning. By the time the smoke concentrations can be detected, a fire has usually already spread too much. In contrast to other systems, the GSMX-P follows the approach of detecting the fire gases in the formation phase and thus does not have to wait for strong smoke concentrations or late temperature increases. If the gas concentrations deviate even slightly from the target state, the GSMX-P already gives a first alarm. Depending on the process conditions, >100g hot product is sufficient to represent a reproducible detection.
How does the GSMX-P work?
The GSMX-P fire gas detector monitors the entire cross-section of the clean gas / ventilation line. For this purpose, it is attached to the line in a separate housing. Two pipes protruding into the clean gas / ventilation line generate continuous air extraction over the entire cross-section using the Venturi principle. The design not only enables representative and reproducible monitoring, but also dispenses with further electrical aids such as pumps or fans.
Fig. 2: GSMX-P design
Where is such system used?
Almost every process in every industry can be monitored with a GSMX-P in a filter. It is a complex system for monitoring multiple gas components.
The sensor is installed in the process and gets used to the process and the conditions in the first step. This makes it possible to create an exact picture of the conventional gas concentrations to then find the optimal limit value for each application. This is usually just above the conventional concentrations in order to detect even the smallest deviations and to prevent a fire.
