Inert gas extinguishing systems utilize gases like argon or nitrogen to
reduce oxygen levels, effectively suppressing fires without leaving residue,
making them ideal for protecting sensitive equipment. Argon and nitrogen,
being natural components of ambient air, are non-toxic and non-conductive, ensuring safety in occupied areas.
Key advantages of inert gas extinguishing systems include:
- Exceptional effectiveness, even in high-risk or concealed hazard zones.
- Non-conductive and residue-free, suitable for protecting valuable equipment.
- Non-toxic at required concentrations, making them safe for occupied areas.
- Environmentally friendly, with no harmful impact on the atmosphere.
- Widely available, allowing for quick and cost-effective reactivation.
- Cost-effective multi-zone systems for various extinguishing needs.
- High flexibility for modifications, facilitated by the Oxeo storage system.
- Oxeo technology enables more compact storage, requiring less space.
- Constant Flow technology ensures a consistent flow during a fire, allowing for smaller pressure relief flaps.
- The MX Design Manager calculates optimal system solutions for each project, ensuring efficiency and effectiveness.
Inert Gas Construction Details:
1. Fire detection and extinguishing
2. Oxeo storage
system
3. Disable
device
4. Oxeo RD
nozzle
5. Oxeo SPA
nozzle
6. Pressure relief
flap
7. Pneumatic time delay device
8. Pressure
reducer
9. Fire
detector
10. Quantity control valve
11. Safety
valve
12. Pilot
cylinder
Extinguishing gas storage
The extinguishing agent is stored in high-pressure gas cylinders, which are then used in combination, enabling both the
optimization of available space and extendibility of the Oxeo storage system. The filling pressure of every single cylinder is
constantly monitored for leakage with pressure gauges and the results are displayed. Any error messages are transmitted to the fire detection and extinguishing control panel. This means that the quantity of available gas is constantly controlled. The quantity of extinguishing gas to be stocked depends on the fire hazard and the size and nature of the protected facility. The modular
structure of the Oxeo storage system allows for perfect adaptation to the customer’s individual needs and local conditions and offers maximum flexibility, especially for system modification or extension.
How does an inert gas extinguishing system work?
Oxeo Constant Flow technology operates with high-performance pressure regulators mounted directly on the extinguishing agent cylinder valves. At the start of the extinguishing procedure the operating pressure is thus already reduced to a maximum of 60 bar at the output of the extinguishing agent cylinders. In addition, a constant stream of extinguishing agent is created without a pressure spike. In conventional inert gas extinguishing systems on the other hand the gas escapes from the cylinders into the pipe network at the beginning of the extinguishing process with a charging pressure of up to 300 bar.
This creates a pressure spike at the beginning of an extinguishing process as well as a heavy stream of extinguishing agent which rapidly decreases with the duration of the flooding . A crucial advantage : In Oxeo extinguishing systems with Constant Flow , thanks to the constant stream of extinguishing agent, pressure relief flaps can turn out to be 70 % smaller than in conventional inert gas extinguishing systems. The extinguishing areas can be planned more flexibly.
Smaller pressure relief flaps can be more easily integrated into exteriors and the area excess pressure from basements can be conducted via small channels into the open air without any problem. Together with the special nozzles with SPA silencers the constant stream of extinguishing agent without a pressure spike allows a “soft flood” in the event of fire.
The gentler flooding process reduces vibrations on the protected equipment and in particular is gentle on particularly sensitive equipment such as rotating hard drives in server rooms and data centers. When using Oxeo Constant Flow technology the connected conduits and selector valves need only to be designed for the low pressure level of 60 bar maximum, which may result in significantly profitable solutions being implemented in many cases.
Applications
As inert gases are electrically non-conductive and leave no extinguishant residues behind in the event of fire, This extinguishing systems are an outstanding solution to protect valuable goods and irreplaceable cultural objects or prevent electrical or electronic equipment from being out of operation for a long time.
Inert Gas extinguishing systems are also best suited for the protection of special risk areas with flammable liquids and other hazardous substances, such as paint facilities, and of areas with concealed fire sources such as automated storage and retrieval systems. With argon even metal fires can be extinguished.