Fires in electrical engineering applications cause devastating damage. Conventional fire alarm systems often react too late. The achtBytes Monitoring Solution offers a proactive approach: Continuous temperature monitoring in enclosures detects potential causes of fire. Maintenance staff receive automated early warning messages to act in time and prevent damage.
What do you think is the number 1 cause of fires in Germany? At 32%, the main cause of fires in Germany is electricity. This means that every third fire in Germany has its origin in electrotechnical applications.
The damage caused by fires to companies is often underestimated. Despite insurance, only 23% of companies (just under one in four) manage to recover from such damage. A good two-thirds either do not resume business operations at all or must file for insolvency within the following three years. The small remainder are sold or must merge because they cannot get back on their feet under their own steam.
The reasons for this are the direct loss of production over a longer period and the associated loss of customers, which is difficult for many companies to cope with.
Especially in the case of fires in enclosures and control cabinets, the conventional building fire alarm system is of only limited help in most cases. The building fire alarm system only reacts as soon as the smoke has spread in the room and reached a smoke sensor. However, if the smoke starts in a control cabinet or enclosure, usually too much time has already passed.
There are solutions on the market to automatically extinguish the fire inside a control cabinet or enclosure. However, this has disadvantages. Damaged by extinguishing agent residues and the effects of heat, the enclosures must be replaced and the systems, deprived of their controls, temporarily fail.
The achtBytes Monitoring Solution, on the other hand, intervenes earlier. Instead of containing and minimizing a fire that has occurred and reacting to the damage, we rely on continuous temperature monitoring in the enclosure.
The plant operator benefits from a proactive early warning service for the critical control systems housed within the enclosures. Using well-structured and personalized dashboards, achtBytes constantly monitors all essential thermal management aspects of the application's infrastructure. The system allows the plant operator to customize settings, such as temperature, humidity, or CO2 concentration thresholds, based on practical needs.
Automated alerts provide the necessary flexibility for proactive system maintenance. Staff are activated with sufficient lead time to find the underlying cause of reported temperature overshoots even before damage has occurred.
By detecting potential issues early on and taking swift action, achtBytes ensures that damage can be completely prevented, rather than just minimizing it.
Moreover, the achtBytes Monitoring Solution can be complemented with an independent, automatic fire-fighting system if needed. Although this fallback-solution should not be the primary strategy, it serves to contain any developing fire in emergencies. Overall, comprehensive fire protection measures could also lead to lower costs for fire protection policies.
Regarding risk management, fire protection represents a promising entry point for implementing the achtBytes IIoT platform. However, our platform goes beyond that, offering an array of opportunities for customizing and enhancing applications within the industrial setting.
For instance, users can easily integrate additional sensors and actuators into productive processes and streamline them within automated workflows. The hardware utilized for the fire protection scenario also allows for accommodating further applications, such as monitoring a machine's energy consumption.
Ready to revolutionize your operations? Contact us today to schedule an online demo and see how achtBytes can transform your business. Don't miss out on this opportunity!