VdS rolls out new guidelines for reliable visual fire monitoring
Large dimensioned spaces (such as tunnels or many sales, production and storage areas) as well as the critical environments of the wood, textile or recycling industries are difficult to protect with classic fire detection technology.
The development of increasingly precise mathematical algorithms now also enables visual fire monitoring by camera equipment. These systems detect smoke and flames automatically, usually based on visible spectral components and predefined patterns. They thus serve as an important supplement to monitoring by traditional fire detection systems.
European standards for these new technologies do not yet exist. At the request of its partners, VdS has therefore developed Guidelines for safe visual fire monitoring systems. Manufacturers now receive the extensive confirmation of their systems´ reliability and effectiveness including resistance to disturbance variables such as sinusoidal oscillations, electromagnetic interference as well as fluctuating supply parameters.
Bettina Bormann, responsible for fire detection systems in VdS Product Management, explains: “The new Guidelines were based on successful innovation testing for Bosch. Video-based systems have long been used both in the security sector and in fire protection, but an applicable standard for the testing of video camera devices in fire protection has so far been missing.
Compiling the application-specific requirements for these products and developing suitable test procedures, we were able to draw on practical experience in order to support the numerous developments in the field of fire protection. The new test procedure makes the reliability of these special systems objectively assessable and thus verifiable”.
The Guidelines VdS 3847en, “Video camera devices for visual fire monitoring”, can be downloaded free of charge from vds-shop.de/en.
The reliability of such systems is now clearly verifiable internationally with the worldwide accepted VdS-Approval. Often VdS-specifications later form the basis of EU- and other safety standards.
