SMOKE CONTROL
February 1st 2004

A fieldbus based system running on fireproof cables is providing intelligent smoke control at Whiteleys Shopping Centre in London to provide safe escape routes in case of a fire. Over 100 field devices are controlled by the fieldbus, that was installed by Keltron Controls. The heart of the system is Keltrons KCL S90C addressable control system, that is based on an programmable controller, an FX0N from Mitsubishi Electric. Smoke free escape routes provide the safe evacuation for most large buildings and are ensured by adjusting motor-driven dampers to remove smoke or add make up air. Each building is divided into a number of pre-determined fire zones, and a smoke handling strategy is developed for every possible combination of zones being on fire. These strategies are loaded into the FX0Ns memory, with one being selected depending on which fire alarms, heat and presence sensors are activated.

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