Hochiki Europe webinar explores benefits and challenges of multi-sensor detectors

The thought-provoking panel discussion involving an installer, an engineer and other life safety experts, also benefited from the wisdom of Will Lloyd from the Fire Industry Association (FIA). The discussion covered the most pressing issues regarding multi-sensors, including discrepancies with product certification, Best Practice for testing and maintenance and current barriers to correct system installation and subsequent usage.

Highlights from the round table discussion are available on YouTube, providing some key takeaways for installers, engineers, end users and, indeed, all those practitioners interested in the latest life safety trends.

Experts who took part on the day were Paul Adams (marketing manager at Hochiki Europe who also served as chair for the event), Terry Hailes (managing director of Cornerstone Fire), Paul Gatens (technical sales and support specialist representing Detectortesters), Will Lloyd (technical manager at the FIA), Martin Green (regional sales manager for Hochiki Europe) and also Neil Eves (systems manager at Hochiki Europe).

False alarm reductions

Some key points from the event included discussions around the importance of false alarm reduction. A key benefit of investing in multi-sensor devices is their ability to reduce such issues. studies have proven that advanced multi-sensors can outperform more basic models in this area.

Speaking about this issue, Neil Eves observed: “For facilities managers, investing in intelligent multi-sensor devices provides the long-term benefit of reducing false alarm events and operational costs, which cost the tax payer around £1 billion per annum. Ensuring absolute reliability and a completely failproof device is even more critical as there are many elements at play which can result in false alarms.”

Eves went on to state: “Hochiki Europe’s ACD-EN solution (pictured) offers total piece of mind thanks to its highly sophisticated algorithm which continually monitors readings from the environment from the moment of installation.”

Carbon monoxide detection

The panel also discussed issues around certification of multi-sensor products and the growing requirement for devices to incorporate carbon monoxide detection into their programming to better calculate the presence of a real fire.

Eves continued: “Hochiki’s ACD-EN devices monitor for levels of carbon monoxide that are emitted during the early stages of a fire, even before visible smoke and heat are produced. This helps to reduce false alarms, while providing an early indicator of an emergency situation.”

Further, he commented: “The reduced false alarm function means the sensor automatically adjusts the sensitivity of the sensing element over time and continually learns from its environment to further prohibit activation during a non-event. This means the sensor will always be as sensitive as it needs to be.”

Hochiki Europe’s series of high-level expert conversations aims to support industry peers and promote the highest standards within the fire safety sector by way of free-to-view educational resources. The next round table event is being held later this month and will focus on life safety in care home environments.

*Further information is available online at www.hochikieurope.com