IMAGINE 10 000 TEMPERATURE READINGS MONITORED AT ONE CENTRAL POINT USING ONE FIBRE OPTIC CABLE!
AP Sensing GMbH visited Sperosens (Pty) Ltd for the installation, implementation and launch of the first Fibre Optic Linear Heat Detection (LHD) System in South Africa. Potential customers visited Sperosens over a number of days to see this one of a kind technology breakthrough first hand.
Daniel Gerwig, Sales Engineer from AP Sensing in Germany entertained guests with his unique way of presenting the technology and various applications possible.
Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) utilizes laser light and fiber optic cables to measure temperature. An infrared laser pulse is sent through the fiber. The incident energy is back-scattered from the glass molecules throughout the entire length of the fiber. These minute light signals contain information about the temperature of the glass at any given point in the fiber, in accordance with the Raman Effect . The back scattered light is measured and then analysed for temperature.
The position of the temperature reading (along the fiber length) is determined by measuring the time delay of the returning light pulse, similar to a radar echo.
• Monitor Temperature along conveyor belts, inside sub-stations and MCC Rooms, inside coal bunkers, inside power cables and tunnels and many more to Optimise Maintenance, Detect Fires and overheating and environmental temperatures
• Characterise any Environment Continuously for Process Optimisation
Up to 10km of Fiber Optic Cable can be used to sense heat on each 1m section to 1°C accuracy enabling users to monitor 10 000 temperature readings from one central point using one 10km fiber optic cable.
DTS can monitor temperature under harsh conditions over long distances to optimize maintenance, detect fires and overheating, and measuring environmental temperature. .
AP Sensing’s linear heat series minimizes your operational costs and performs extremely reliable by using a standard fiber optic cable which has no active components or electronic sensors within the exposed zone. Fiber optic cable is also immune to electromagnetic interference.
Depending on cable grade, the fiber cable can also be directly exposed to flames while still measuring accurately. Firefighting effectiveness can hence be monitored throughout the fire event.
Applications include temperature monitoring along conveyor belts, inside sub-stations, switchgear cubicles and MCC rooms, inside coal bunkers, inside power cables, in mining tunnels and on cable racks plus many more.
Advantages are accuracy, ease of installation, immunity to EMC, dirt, dust and humidity and very little maintenance over an exceptionally long lifetime.
The solution integrates easily into your existing management platform (SCADA systems) by dry contacts and/or communicating directly over Ethernet (TCP/IP), using standard protocols.
One of the most famous applications of the Linear Heat Series in Europe is the Eurotunnel fire monitoring system to activate and control the suppression system. The Channel Tunnel is 38km long, the longest undersea tunnel in the world; it connects the United Kingdom with France. After experiencing a devastating fire in September 2008 the safety requirements were reviewed. Full-scale qualification tests were carried out in Germany. These tests were performed under live fire conditions with intense temperatures from 5MW fire loads, which equates to a fire involving 40 cars. The results were extremely convincing, resulting in full UL and FM approvals.
The system offers many benefits including fast activation and good control capability. This allows easy access for rescue services and enables effective firefighting. AP Sensing’s Linear Heat Series was installed as the fire monitoring system of choice taking road and rail tunnel safety to a new level.
Sperosens was appointed as the sole distributor for the AP Sensing temperature measuring solutions product range for South Africa.
