Engineering and machining have critical importance for an organisation, the machines themselves are highly valuable assets and in a fire scenario are likely to be compromised which brings a halt to operations. Lengthy downtimes, timescales for replacement parts or machines, costly repairs and the bureaucracy of dealing with insurance companies adds unwanted stresses to a company that will already be struggling to manage its supply chain. This can be avoided with an effective, high-performance means of automatic fire protection.
Fires in CNC machines are highly unpredictable and difficult to tackle using traditional methods of fire protection such as hand-held extinguishers that require the presence of an individual - adding an additional risk by potentially causing injury or posing a serious threat to life. Full building sprinklers can save the overall shop structure but will result in the loss of the affected machine; while the water damages other machines and creates implications with the clean-up for the entire shop.
Reacton Fire Suppression’s CNC Machine fire protection systems are compact and high-performing. The systems themselves utilise our indirect technology, when a fire is detected the UL-approved detection tube bursts which triggers the activation of the system. This proprietary tubing is ideal for providing detection inside the machine - right at the heart of the potential fire as it is heat-reactive and is immune to the coolant sprays and vibration inside the working area. From this the suppressant agent is released via the discharge network which consists of hoses and nozzles.
The extinguishing agents that we typically supply for CNC machine protection consists of clean agents: both 3M™ Novec™ 1230 and FM-200™. These clean agents are the most tried and tested on the market, providing excellent fire protection and preventing reignition. They require no post fire clean-up, nor will they contaminate the cutting fluid. We also supply dry powders, including Class D powder, for CNC machine protection. Dry powder provides rapid-fire knockdown and ensure there is minimal damage to your CNC machine in the event of a fire and can work in operation where a clean agent is not practical.
For our CNC machine systems we offer various optional extras to maximise the standard of protection for your critical asset, for example a manual actuator and pressure switch. Pressure switches are utilised where continuous monitoring of the system pressure is required. Many machine shops run “lightly unattended” or “lights out” with no staff present. Once the pressure drops below the pre-determined set point the contacts will transfer and allow for a signal to be sent to your required device or building management system. The most common use of the pressure switch is to trigger the E-Stop on the machine, shutting down the machine and mist collection to provide maximum effectivity from the fire suppression system. Without shutting the machine down the fire could restart as the gas dissipates, or without shutting off the mist collection the gas may be quickly sucked out of the machine.
For more information on Reacton Fire Suppression products, please get in touch with the team by emailing info@reactonfire.com or call us on + 44 (0)800 0306526.
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