Case Studies

The case studies featured below illustrate just a few examples of how the Fire Beam is helping to make a difference to all kinds of businesses. Many of our customers previously had few other reliable options available to them until the invention of the Fire Beam.
Case Study: Uskmouth Power Station
Newport, South Wales.

Uskmouth is a 360 MW power station with three independent coal-fired units which underwent significant refurbishment in 2000, giving a 25 year life extension to the plant and ensuring compliance with the latest emissions standards. It is one of six coal-fired plants in the UK to have fitted Flue Gas Desulphurisation equipment in advance of the 2004 implementation of the Large Combustion Plants Directive. The Uskmouth site comprises 240 acres of land and has a 1,250 MW connection to the National Grid, presenting opportunities for further development.

The Scenario: When Carron Energy brought the old Uskmouth 'B' power station from the receiver, they embarked on a project to turn the site into a state of the art power production plant. They discussed with their fire detection company, Dragon Fire and Safety, what would be the most cost effective way to provide detection systems.

	Reasons why The Fire Beam was chosen: • The only solution to provide cost effective detection. • Auto commissioning reduces false alarms. • Continuous auto alignment reduces false alarms. • Low level controller for ease of maintenance.

Some of the areas of the plant were straightforward, however, providing adequate detection at a price that could be afforded for the Furnace diesel igniters area of the plant, proved more difficult. Due to the relatively short distances and hostile operating environment, a lot of the common detector types were totaly unsuitable for the budget. Dragon were pleased to present the Fire Beam to their client and it ticked all of the boxes for performance and cost. The installation and commissioning were completed on time, within budget and working well.

Installed by: Dragon Fire & Security Systems
Dragon are one of South Wales' largest independent fire and intruder alarm installers. They have been in business since 1988 and are approved to all the industry's highest recognised standards including NSI (NACOSS GOLD) and LPC.

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Case Study: Formold Thermoforming
Winnersh, Berkshire. United Kingdom.

Founded in 1957, Formold are among the pioneers in plastic thermoforming. With a highly experienced technical team fully supported by the most up to date equipment, Formold are established as one of the European leaders in their field.

The Scenario: Formold moved into a new factory as they needed the added capacity to meet the needs of their rapidly growing business. Their insurance company advised that they would need to upgrade the level of fire protection for their factory in line with current regulations.

	Why The Fire Beam was chosen: • Valuable assets needed protecting. • Minimum disruption to production. • Dusty environment meant that automated compensation protection was required. • Motorised head beam necessary for continuous auto alignment. • Easily connected to the BDM800 interface.

They appointed Steve Ross from ADT Wokingham to complete the project. It was a very difficult environment for the project as there was a lot of contamination in the atmosphere, and the work had to be completed with the minimal amount of disruption to the already working factory staff. Various options were considered including air sampling and conventional point detectors, but The Fire Beam was chosen as it was the only cost effective option that met all the requirements. The three Fire Beams were commissioned in just 1 hour 15 minutes, well ahead of schedule and well under budget.

Installed by: ADT Thames Valley APC Wokingham.
The project was undertaken by the Thames Valley APC of ADT based in Wokingham, Berkshire. This involved design, supply, commission and on-going support.

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Case Study: Signature Private Jets
London Luton Airport. United Kingdom.

London Luton Airport is 50km from central London and is used as a base for budget airlines, charter airlines and private jets. Over $250m worth of private jets can be housed in the hangers and they are in use 365 days a year. The jets are used by business icons and stars from the world of sport and entertainment who need a reliable service that they can depend on with no problems.

The Scenario: Signature is a private jet company with a large hanger at London Luton Airport. They had relied on 6 infrared reflective beams mounted on the hanger door support structure, with the reflectors mounted on the facing brick wall, to provide their fire detection. The beams intermittently went into false alarms when the large hanger doors were opened. As this was often up to 20 times a day, it was an inconvenience that could not be tolerated for such a busy company.

	Why The Fire Beam was chosen: • Valuable assets needed protecting. • Auto alignment eliminated false alarms. • Auto commissioning reduced the installation time. • Low level controllers meant that the beams could easily be maintained from ground level. • Confidence needed to be established by the design, supply and maintenance company, Tecserv.

The fire detection company that supplies Signature were asked to review the performance of the current installation and make recommendations to solve the problem. The solution was to replace the existing reflective optical beam smoke detectors with the Fire Beam. At first only 2 of the 6 existing beams were replaced, and the Fire Beams were used alongside the previous beams for 3 months. During this time the other beams continued to generate false alarms - the Fire Beams did not.

Fault and fire testing was carried out to confirm that all of the detectors were working correctly and these were confirmed as working. Each day the beams re-aligned themselves as the doors opened and closed but there were no false alarms. The Fire Beams saved the day.

Installed by: Tecserv UK
Tecserv UK is one of Britain's most respected names in the design, supply and on going support of active fire protection and security systems. They are the fire protection choice for many of Britain's prestige buildings, from St Paul's Cathederal onwards.

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