Manufacturing plants and warehouses with flammable gases or liquid which can form explosive atmospheres due to evaporation should be equipped with systems for the detection of gases and flammable fumes which will reduce the risk of forming an explosive atmosphere in rooms. After detecting threshold concentrations of dangerous gas in the atmosphere, these type of systems, depending on the requirements of the project, should actuate an alarm and ventilation, switch off electrical circuits in the explosion hazard area, shut down utilities in order to eliminate further gas emission to the environment and, in the case of advanced solution, also notify appropriate services.
Recently, the WOLFF GROUP received an order for the delivery of gas detection systems for one of the major manufacturers of aerospace engines. The supplied equipment will monitor the concentrations of organic compounds in the plant, including acetylene and fumes of hydrocarbon mixtures, such as naphtha as well as test oxygen concentrations in the nitrogen inertisation process.
Appropriate gas detection systems were selected based on the provided design documentation. They will be located near potential leakage spots in rooms housing thermal and chemical processing, machine cutting, grinding, precision cleaning and in process gas, chemical and waste storage spaces. We selected 12 passive catalytic sensors of the 47K series, 3 Gasgard XL control modules compatible with five detectors and 2 PRIMAX P oxygen deficit sensors.
After detecting the required concentration, the sensors will implement any number of the following actions:
- actuation of the visual and acoustic alarm,
- closing the solenoid valve on the supply pipeline or cutting off electric power supply to the room, apart from emergency lighting (Ex compliant) and switching on emergency ventilation.
The advantage of the implemented systems are: increased resistance to aggressive work environments, possibility of efficient maintenance and installation, long lifetime and easy gas calibration.
