Fire Alarms & Detection Systems

2888 Words12 Pages
Contents 1 Introduction 3 2 Category Of System 4 3 System Design 9 4 Equipment And Accessories 11 5 Future Considerations 15 6 Conclusion 17 7 Bibliography 18 1 Introduction This discussion paper aims to look at the design of a fire alarm detection system and its use in a new office build development. It looks at how the various different aspects of the modern day fire system have been changed and improved over the last ten years, the advancements in technology and the legislative measures that lay behind these changes. The paper also looks at the negative consequences of upgrading existing Fire Alarm and Detection systems and the difficulties in applying modern technology to them. 2 Category Of System The first consideration when designing a fire alarm and detection system is for the designer of the system to determine what level of coverage is required, generally this is achieved by selecting what is known as the category of the system. Categories of fire detection can be broken into the following three basic groups: Manual protection – Category M systems Protection of Property – Category P systems Protection of Life – Category L systems These categories of system are further broken down into sub-categories. The following describes these sub-categories of fire alarm systems and provides an explanation of their implications to the system designer. Category M Cat M – This is the most basic level of fire detection system and incorporates manual call points only as the method of signalling the presence of a fire. From a design perspective, specifiers are required to site manual call points (please refer to section 4 for details of system components) at each exit to a building. Additional Call points would be required in larger buildings where persons are capable of travelling over 45meters1 without encountering either an exit

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