Early fire detection with infrared technology
Fire protection in waste bunkers
Since 2005, it has been prohibited in Germany to dispose of non-recyclable waste in landfills. As a result, waste incineration has now become the only way to treat household waste. Generally, after collection, and prior to the thermal treatment, the waste is temporarily stored in a bunker. It is this storage process that primarily causes an increased fire hazard. Spontaneous ignition or sparking on metal parts are just two ways of how a fire can start. However, waste bunkers are very difficult to monitor using conventional fire alarm systems. This is because the extremely dusty and humid environment often triggers false alarms or disables the detectors. In addition, most methods and systems only detect a hazard once an actual fire has already developed. The innovative PYROsmart early fire-detection system from the German provider ORGLMEISTER Infrarot-Systeme is much safer as it is able to detect hot spots in waste bunkers even before fire breaks out. This system comprises a high-resolution infrared thermal imaging camera and a video camera which can fully monitor a large waste bunker using a special high-performance pan/tilt drive. The drive ensures that the entire surveillance area is accurately monitored and scanned at all times, whereby the infrared thermal imaging camera records the temperatures in real time. The system includes patented software which uses the thermal images to create a high-resolution, detailed infrared panoramic image.
The modular software enables the user to select the most suitable modules depending on their requirements. Each application offers the best possible choice of software specifications. The user can, for example, freely determine specific temperature thresholds at which various actions are to be performed. This may, for example, be a pre-alarm to warn employees of rising temperatures even before the ignition temperature is reached. If a further temperature limit is exceeded, an alarm is automatically triggered of which the local fire brigade can be notified. It is also possible to control the automatic use of extinguishers so that targeted fire-fighting takes place as soon as a fire is detected. For evaluation purposes, the operator can also access saved log data with all the temperature values. The system is very easy to control via a touchscreen interface.
Over the last few years, the innovative infrared thermography method has become established on the market in a large number of application areas. In the last three years alone, ORGLMEISTER has installed over 200 PYROsmart systems in waste bunkers and hall monitoring systems in the waste management industry throughout Europe. Orglmeister is presenting the PYROsmart system live at its trade fair stand at IFAT. This will also give users a chance to find out more about the new functions of the current software.
