Fires that occur in electrical panels may cause significant loss of life and property. A significant amount of electrical fires break out in electrical panels. It is possible with our FIPRES solution to detect and receive warnings before the hazard exactly occurs.
Many situations may occur in an electrical panel resulting in overheating or even fire. These conditions may be overloading, selection of incorrect equipment, harmonics or wear. The primary cause of overheating is loose contact connections. Loose contact connections may also lead to other situations mentioned above. As we can see in the pictures above, a loose connection may generate extremely high heating without being visible with naked eyes.
The situations where overheating turns into a fire do not pose a danger only for those working near the electrical panel. Such a situation may also create significant loss. Of course, there will be material damages, but more importantly, power cuts. Downtimes may result in a loss of several million dollars in the cases where the panel feeds a manufacturing process. Fortunately, fires occur less frequently and are extinguished by the extinguishing system. However, minor overheating, which occurs more frequently, for example at main circuit breakers, causes disruptions and losses. An overheating monitoring system may easily prevent such situations.
The FIPRES solution by STREAMER ELECTRIC AG solves this problem in a simple and quite cost-effective way. A label is wrapped around all connections of the electrical panel. When the label reaches its activation temperature (100°C), it releases a non-toxic or non-flammable gas. 100°C is an abnormal temperature (connection points should not be hotter than 80°C), but the temperature has not yet reached a dangerous or harmful level (damages start above 200°C). The gas diffuses into the panel and is detected by a DIN rail-mounted FIPRES sensor called FPA. FPA transmits the overheating information to the user through the MODBUS protocol. Then, the maintenance team can arrive at the site to make the necessary repairs before the danger begins.
In this way, all contact connections inside the panel can be monitored 24/7 against overheating. Dangerous situations, costly damages and downtimes can be prevented. Also, the wireless connection of the labels to the FPA makes this solution applicable to all types of panel configurations. It makes it extremely easy to apply it as a retrofit in the existing panels.
FIPRES does not replace a fire extinguishing system, but significantly reduces the need for use.
