ENGINEERING & OPERATION SOLUTIONS GROUP

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Subject: Standard Operating Procedure for Fire Alarm System

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Fire Alarm System:

Fire alarms are another important security device that helps to seek protection from fire accidents. Fire alarms help
raise a loud noise and alerts as soon as some is deducted by the fire detector. In most cases fire alarm systems act at
the instigation of fire detectors and other devices.

The Purpose of Fire Alarms

A Fire alarm helps to be protected in case of fire breakouts. This device is usually made up of electromechanical or
other metals and it will help to make things better. They create a loud noise and you will be able to evacuate the
building through alternative and safe passages created already for this purpose Fire alarms have helped to save
innumerable lives and properties.

Fire Alarm System

   

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Equipment Description:

Components of a Fire Alarm

Fire alarms are made of many constituents. They can categorized into three major units namely control units, fire
detectors and alarm signal devices.

Control Units

The fire alarm system is controlled by a fire alarm control panel. Like any other security devices fire control panel can
be referred as the head or brain of the fire alarm signal device. You must primarily use it to decide how your fire
alarm or fire detector should operate. Besides this there are two more important units. The fire alarm signal that
performs the main function and fire alarm pull station which transmits signals to the fire alarms through pull boxes.

Fire Detectors

Fire detectors come in two types namely smokes and heat detectors.

Smoke Detectors

Smoke detectors can further be divided into two categories namely ionization smoke detectors and photo electronic
ionization units. A smoke detector will be helpful to deduct fire even before a fire breaks out. A smoke detector will
therefore be able to help you in taking preventive actions at an early stage. Photo electronic ionization detectors can
be used in houses while the other category can be used in offices.

Heat Detectors

Heat detectors also come in two types. They are known as fixed temperature and rat of rise. In the first type the device
will work if the room temperature reaches and optimal level of 1400 F or 1950 F. The other device also works on
standard temperature levels. However they can very well sense sudden and upward fluctuations of temperature.

This device has a limitation when compared with smoke detectors because heat detectors can only recognize high
levels of temperature and it is difficult to save property or people in most cases.

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Alarm Signal Devices

Alarm signal devices are of two categories namely audible and visual. The first one
Emits loud noise and alerts you to escape from the fire outbreak. The loud noise may be in the form of bells or even
sirens. Similarly visuals catch your attention by emitting certain types of lights like strobe light. It is also possible to
intimate the fire service personnel through the sound.

FIRE CONTROL PANELS

A fire alarm control panes is a control device that detects reports and acts on hazardous fires in building.
There are two main types of panels; conventional panels, and analogue addressable panels (Digital Panels). Fire alarm
panel repair must be done by certified technicians only. Manual fire detection points such as manual pull stations,
smoke detectors and heat detectors in a building are all hooked up to a control panel. When a device connected to the
panel is activated, the panel will for example directly call the fire department via a so-called alarm transportation
system.

Normal Mode of Operation:

In normal mode, the control panel does the following functions at regular intervals:

 Poles all SLC devices, panel circuits and four NACs to check for valid replies, alarms, troubles, circuit
integrity and supervisory signals, and so forth
 Checks power supply troubles and batteries at 10 second intervals
 Sends a supervisory query on the optional terminal mode LCD and verifies proper response
 Refreshes the LCD display and the optional terminal mode LCD display and updates time
 Scans for any keypad or control key entries.
 Performs a detector automatic test operation.
 Test system memory
 Monitors for microcontroller failure.

Fire Alarm Mode of Operation:

When a detector activates, the control panel does the following:

 Produces a steady audible tone.
 Activities the system alarm relay
 Flashes the FIRE ALARM LED
 Displays a type Code that indicates the type of device that activated the fire alarm
 Displays ALARM in the status banner on the LCD display, along with information specific to the
device. Sends an Alarm message to the LCD display
 Latches the control panel in alarm.(You cannot return the control panel to normal operation until you
correct the alarm condition and reset the control panel)
 Initiates any control – By – event actions
 Starts timer (such as silence inhibit, Auto Silence)
 Activates the general alarm zone

Responding to a Fire alarm

If the control panel indicates a fire alarm, following to be done:

 To silence only panel sounder:

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 o Press ACKNOWLEDGE/SCROLL DISPLAY key. The local sounder will silence and the FIRE
ALARM LED will change from flashing steady.

 The panel will send an acknowledgement message to the LCD display.

 To silence the panel sounder and any activated outputs that are programmed as silenceable.
o Press SIGNAL SILENCE key. The FIRE ALARM LED and SIGNAL SILENCED LED light
steady.

 The control panel sends a signal silenced message to the history buffer.

 Check the alarm message for the location and type of trouble.

 Correct the condition causing the alarm.

 After finishing the alarm condition, press SYSTEM RESET key to return the control panel to normal
operation (indicated by the “System Norma” message). The control panel sends a “System Normal” message
to the LCD display.

SMOKE DETECTORS:

All smoke detectors consist of two basic parts: a sensor to sense the smoke and a very loud electronic horn to wake
people up. Smoke detectors can run off of a 9-volt battery or 120-volt house current.

Ionization smoke detectors use an ionization chamber and a source of ionizing radiation to detect smoke. This type of
smoke detector is more common because it is inexpensive and better at detecting the smaller amounts of smoke
produced by flaming fires.
Inside ionization detector is a small amount (perhaps 1/5000th of a gram) of americium-241. The radioactive element
americium has a half-life of 432 years, and is a good source of alpha particles.

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Another way to talk about the amount of americium in the detector is to say that a typical detector contains 0.9 micro
curie of americium-241. A curie is a unit of measure for nuclear material. If you are holding a curie of something in
your hand, you are holding an amount of material that undergoes 37,000,000,000 nuclear transformations per second.
Generally, that means that 37 billion atoms in the sample are decaying and emitting a particle of nuclear radiation
(such as an alpha particle) per second. One gram of the element radium generates approximately 1 curie of activity
(Marie Curie, the woman after whom the curie is named, did much of her research using radium).
An ionization chamber is consists of two plates with a voltage across them, along with a radioactive source of ionizing
radiation, like this:

The alpha particles generated by the americium have the following property: They ionize the oxygen and nitrogen
atoms of the air in the chamber. To "ionize" means to "knock an electron off of." When you knock an electron off of
an atom, you end up with a free electron (with a negative charge) and an atom missing one electron (with a positive
charge). The negative electron is attracted to the plate with a positive voltage, and the positive atom is attracted to the
plate with a negative voltage (opposites attract, just like with magnets). The electronics in the smoke detector sense
the small amount of electrical current that these electrons and ions moving toward the plates represent.
When smoke enters the ionization chamber, it disrupts this current -- the smoke particles attach to the ions and
neutralize them. The smoke detector senses the drop in current between the plates and sets off the horn.
The amount of radiation in a smoke detector is extremely small. It is also predominantly alpha radiation. Alpha
radiation cannot penetrate a sheet of paper, and it is blocked by several centimetres of air. The americium in the
smoke detector could only pose a danger if you were to inhale it. Therefore, you do not want to be playing with the
americium in a smoke detector, poking at it, or disturbing it in any way, because you don't want it to become airborne.
Smoke detector consists of a printed circuit board, an ionization chamber and an electronic horn
The ionization chamber is an aluminium can containing the ionization source, that the can has slots in it to allow air
flow. The can itself acts as the negative plate of the ionization chamber.
Underneath the can is a ceramic holder that contains the positive plate of the ionization chamber. Under that plate is
the ionization source, WHICH YOU WANT TO BE SURE TO NOT DISTURB.

 )

 Sends a “System Normal” message to the LCD display.

 Restores troubles automatically – even if troubles are not acknowledged.

 If multiple trouble conditions exist in the system, the LCD displays automatically step through each
trouble every 3 seconds in the following order:

o Alarms, in order of address

o Supervisory, in order of address
o Troubles, in order of address

 Press the ACKNOWLEDGE/SCROLL DISPLAY key and display stops on current event for 1 minute, then
begins to automatically step through remaining troubles. To manually step through remaining troubles, press
ACKNOWLEDGE/SCROLL DISPLAY Key.

Emergency Operation Mode:

During FIRE,

When a detector activates, the control panel does the following:

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  Produces a steady audible tone.
 Activities the system alarm relay
 Flashes the FIRE ALARM LED
 Displays a type code that indicates the type of device that activated the fire alarm
 Displays ALARM in the status banner on the LCD display, along with information specific to the device.
Sends an Alarm message to the LCD display.
 Latches the control panel in alarm.(You cannot return the control panel to normal operation until you correct
the alarm condition and reset the control panel)
 Initiates any control – By – event actions
 Starts timer (such as silence inhibit, Auto Silence)
 Activates the general alarm zone

Normal Shut down Procedure:

To shut down the system in normal mode, power supply to the main control panel to be disconnected. This system is
provided with battery back up to be in operation during power failure in the event of FIRE. This supply of Battery
backup has to be disconnected to shut down the system.

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