Power plants can be complex structures complex, and companies increasingly dependent on a reliable flow of energy. For this reason, power plants and insurance companies have focused on taking all possible measures to avoid a complete shutdown of energy production. Disruption of the work process in a power plant, for example, can lead to significant business loss. Fire and damage caused by a fire can lead to interruption of energy production. Therefore, installing the best possible fire fighting system in a power plant is crucial. SAFE® high-pressure water mist is a reliable and safe fire fighting solution for energy generating facilities such as power plants, wind turbines and biomass plants. The SEM-SAFE® system activates immediately and locally where a fire is detected.
High-pressure water mist has excellent fire suppression properties, including capture of soot particles, strong reduction of radiant heat and rapid lowering of the temperature to acceptable levels. High-pressure water mist is documented to be harmless to electrical equipment, which is imperative for the control rooms, technical rooms and server rooms in a power plant. In addition to all this, SEM-SAFE® high-pressure water mist system is harmless to people and 100% environmentally friendly. It significantly reduces lifecycle costs, asset damage and operational downtime in all business critical applications.
Wind turbines represent a very high concentration of values which are exposed to high risk. When a fire starts in a wind turbine, the destruction can be devastating, unless the wind turbine has been equipped with a proper fixed fire fighting system. Many existing fire prevention systems merely detect fire and raise the alarm, but as wind turbines can be more than 100 metres tall, with rotor blades longer in diameter than the wingspan of a jumbo jet, there is very little the fire brigade can do to reach and tackle a fire that started in the nacelle, for example. Also, without adequate protection in place, it can be very difficult to evacuate technicians working in the turbine’s nacelle.
It is a challenge to protect wind turbines against a fire. This is mainly because their height and remote location make wind turbines difficult to reach, and the fire brigade must often stay on the ground to secure the area. Gas protection is not suited for wind turbines because it requires closed rooms in order to be efficient. Although some systems have been installed to cover switchboards, for example, other hazardous areas have not been covered. For this reason, Danfoss has developed a SEM-SAFE® high-pressure water mist system to cover the entire wind turbine. Normally, the whole nacelle of the turbine will be covered with water mist. Depending on the type of turbine, the tower can also be protected. In both cases, the wind turbine will be safely and fully protected. The SEM-SAFE® high-pressure water mist system from Danfoss combines fire detection and fire fighting to ensure that, rather than simply placing all hope in the fire brigade, a fire can be identified and extinguished before damage occurs. When the sensors detect the fire, they shut down the turbine, thus reducing damage to moving parts and isolating the fire. Fitted within the nacelle and powered by a pump, the high-pressure water mist absorbs the heat, displaces available oxygen ad cools the nacelle, all of which starve the fire and prevent the chance of reignition.
The SEM-SAFE® water mist system has very low water consumption and requires only small pipe dimensions. This leads to a weight reduction and allows for installation in smaller places. The pump unit is compact, allowing SEM-SAFE® high-pressure water mist system to be fully integrated in the nacelle.
Because the SEM-SAFE® water mist system is frost proof, it will work in all sorts of weather conditions. Nor is it a ‘one-shot’ system: the system will continue to work for as long as water and electricity are available. The protection system can also be delivered with battery back-up in case of power failure.