Fire

Factory’s emergency lighting

by Mark Rowe

The Eurovetrocap warehouse outside Milan makes glass and plastic containers for the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries. With so much on-site active machinery and equipment, the firm sought to ensure the premises and staff were well protected in the event of an emergency.

For large packaging factories like the Eurovetrocap site, busy with hundreds of workers and complex machinery on-site, an emergency lighting system was called for.

Installers AZG Antincendio srl were hired to specify and fit the life safety systems. Giuseppe Lazzarini, Manager Proposal Firefighting Systems at AZG Antincendio srl, said: “When it came to this industrial project, we wanted to select a product range that could reliably support people out of the building in an emergency. However, we also needed solutions that were both economical for the end-user and suitable for installation in the warehouse’s large production area – which includes many machines and high shelves. Hochiki’s unique, self-testing emergency lighting system, FIREscape fit these requirements perfectly.”

Fully compliant to EN 1838 standards, FIREscape’s network is accessible due to an addressable EL-2 control panel and its wall-mounted user keypad (EL-KP) – with two of each installed at the Eurovetrocap warehouse. Connecting the system, each panel can also host two lighting lines with up to 127 devices per line. Any number of FIREscape panels can then be connected together using LAN cards (dependent on number of IP addresses, supporting hardware and processing power).

The self-testing system constantly monitors the status of the luminaires. Likewise, the EL-2 control panels have been developed to locate and identify problems such as an uncharged or faulty device, enabling facility managers – who are notified of issues via the keypads – to address any issues.

Installing the FIREscape range reduces long-term maintenance expenses for building owners, the product developers add. The installation and maintenance of the lighting lines doesn’t have to be carried out by an electrical engineer thanks to the use of low voltage cabling.

The FIREscape series is also a much greener solution; a standard FIREscape luminaire consumes less than 0.5W when charging, dropping to 0.1W when fully charged, lowering the overall energy consumption of the system and reducing CO2e emissions. In comparison to similar mains-driven fluorescent lighting units, which typically consume 12W, the energy savings made from choosing the FIREscape luminaire are significant it is claimed. Over ten years, for example, FIREscape can reduce running costs by up to 89 per cent when compared to traditional lighting, and typically offers a return on investment by year three after installation, the makers add.

Alberto Ferrari, Technical Sales Manager at Hochiki Italia, said: “The Eurovetrocap warehouse project was not without its challenges. To ensure the lighting was completely compliant with EN standards – which require one lux at one metre from the ground, we had to use Dialux software to make precise calculations during the design phase, as luminaires had been installed in the building at 12 metres high. Once this was addressed, we were pleased that the project was a great success.”

And Giampaolo Herrmann, CEO at Eurovetrocap added: “We are delighted that our new emergency lighting system is able to provide occupants and employees with the ultimate level of protection. At the same time, the solution is also helping us meet our environmental and efficiency requirements, which has another degree of value to the works which have been carried out for us by the team.”

Visit: https://www.hochikieurope.com/italia.

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