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Fire Protection in Industrial Facilities

Help Protect Industrial Facilities from Fire

Discover how flame detectors can play a vital role in helping to protect lives and property from fire risks.

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Hazardous areas generally require 24/7 protection from explosive risks. Accurate and reliable industrial flame monitoring is typically installed to mitigate these risks. While flame detectors are an essential layer of protection, a false alarm can be costly and play havoc with operations. Making sure you have the right type of flame detector installed can ease your concerns.

We Have You Covered for Your Flame Detection Requirements

False Alarm Rejection

False alarms are more than just a nuisance — they are both a productivity and cost issue. Our flame detectors are designed to measure the emitted radiant energy at specific light wavelengths, allowing them to distinguish between real flames and false alarm sources that commonly exist at industrial worksites.

Wide Field of View

A flame detector’s Field of View (FoV) helps define the area coverage per device. A flame detector with a wider field of view can cover a larger area, which may help reduce the number of flame detectors required for certain installations. Use our FL500 UV/IR Simulator to see how a flame detector’s FoV is affected by fuel source and sensitivity settings.

Fast Response Time

Seconds count. The faster that a flame detector can alarm to a fire, the more effective the resulting mitigation and notification actions will be for protection of people and assets.

Long Flame Detector Range

A longer detection distance could reduce the amount of optical flame detectors required to cover an area which lowers both installation and maintenance costs. Our FL4000H MSIR flame detector can cover distances up to 230 ft!

Safety Integrity Self-Check

A self-check system ensures that the optical path is clear, the detectors are functioning, and the electronic circuitry is operational providing for worry-free operation. Our exclusive TL105 Test Lamp allows our flame detectors to be easily and routinely tested without the associated risk of an open flame.

Remote Monitoring & Notification

On-site or in the cloud, MSA’s Infrastructure Connectivity Solutions enable the sharing of critical operational data 24/7 through our safe and secure FieldServer gateways and our cloud-based services—MSA Grid FieldVEU and MSA FieldServer Manager.

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Flame Detector Technologies

There are two primary technologies used for detecting flames – UV/IR (Ultraviolet/Infrared) and MSIR (Multi-Spectrum Infrared). They are all based on line-of-sight detection of radiation emitted by flames in the UV and/or IR spectral bands.

UV/IR flame detectors

Principle of Operation: a UV optical sensor is integrated with an IR sensor creating a dual band detector which is sensitive to both ultraviolet and infrared radiation emitted by a flame. When both sensors simultaneously detect radiation, the flame detector initiates an alarm.

  • Capable of high-speed response time to both hydrocarbon and hydrogen fuelled flames
    • Suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications – detection range and coverage area are dependent on the fuel and selected sensitivity
    • Response time can be affected by heavy smoke and other airborne materials
  • HART Communication supports a variety of field-selectable parameters and pre-alarm diagnostics.
  • FL500 has user selectable settings via a series of dip switches
  • Provides optimal coverage for applications where a shorter detection range is required over a large coverage area

To check the FL500 detection range and coverage area for various fuels use our FL500 Flame Simulator

Multi-Spectrum Infrared

Principle of Operation: Multi-Spectrum Infrared Flame detectors use multiple infrared spectral sensitivity frequencies to deliver enhanced detection capability of dangerous hydrocarbon flames as well as enhanced false alarm rejection capability in challenging industrial applications.

  • Neural Network Technology delivers reliable response times to a variety of hydrocarbon fires
    • Generally detects fires at a longer detection range than UV/IR detectors but has a narrower field of view.
  • Well suited for applications where airborne soot or smoke may precede an open flame/fire ignition
    • Strong immunity to a variety of false alarm sources, which may be present in many petrochemical, oil and gas application.
  • Provides optimal coverage for applications with a large coverage area.
    • HART Communication supports a variety of field-selectable parameters and pre-alarm diagnostics.
    • FL4000H has user selectable settings via a series of dip switches

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