Topics of Interest
Prysmian is investing in Safety and decided to organize this site
to enable the diffusion of scientific knowledge to all Electricity Professionals, Opinion
Leaders, Authorities and End-Users so they can be updated and act with coherence in the European
Common Market.
This part of the site is intended to provide a coherent framework to evaluate the
contribution of cables to safety during fire:
• starting form the physiological effects of smoke and gases which are the real
threat in case of fire
• confirming that it is possible to evaluate the threat generated by combustion
products through modern techniques (FTIR) for measuring the composition of the gases
cocktail (quantity and quality) of the effluent during the development of a fire
• revealing that the acidity parameter present in the Euroclassification of cables was shown to be a
good predictor of irritant effects when compared with the FEC index calculated from effluents
measured as above
• showing the threats in case of fire by simulating with modern computing
the diffusion of combustion products in a building and the behavior of occupants in case of a fire
alarm
• illustrating that the adoption of low fire hazard cables could
significantly reduce the fire hazard
• giving an overview of the treatment of hazards of combustion products as
related to electric cables over the last 40 years.
The last part of this section is dedicated to the route to CE Marking under
the CPD
Hazard of combustion
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The target of this paper is to provide scientific bases to the statement
(manifest, but generic) that the main cause of injury and death in fires is incapacitation
resulting from exposure to fire effluent (smoke and gases). During fires, physiological effects
dominate and determine time to incapacitation. The sequence of physiological hazards in developing
fires can be applied to fire safety engineering design of buildings and to the evaluation of
products for use in them using appropriate calculation methods for assessment of time to
incapacitation.
|
Purser Physiol Effects
(323 KB)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Smoke and Acidity
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| A threat in case of fire is the quality of combustion product; an evaluation
of the threat generated is possible if the composition of the gases cocktail (quantity and quality)
of the effluent during the development of the fire is known. The FTIR technique used in this
project has given high reliability in detection of combustion gases and can be conveniently used
with the prEN50399 fire scenario to fully investigate the reaction to fire of cables.
|
|
Sundstrom Report FTIR CEMAC cable
(210 KB)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The acidity parameter has been used for many years by the cable industry to
indicate the corrosive potential of effluents from burning cables. This research revealed that this
parameter was shown to be a good predictor of irritant effects when compared with the FEC
index calculated from effluent measurements by FTIR.
|
|
Messa Smoke Effluents
(199 KB)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Escape Simulation
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Other studies have clarified that gases and smoke are the real threat in case
of fire, that it is possible to measure cable fire emissions with modern techniques (FTIR), that
acidity is a good predictor of irritant effects of cable emissions. It is now necessary to
investigate the correlation between these parameters and cable applications. Thanks to modern
computing it is possible to measure the threats in case of fire by simulating the diffusion of
combustion products in a building and the behavior of occupants in case of a fire alarm. The
University of Lund conducted a study using input data from the measurement of components of
combustion made using the prEN50399 fire test scenario and found that the adoption of non
halogenated cables could significantly reduce the fire hazard.
|
|
Escape Simulation
(499 KB)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cable Industry sector report - Hazards of combustion
products
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The objective of this paper is to give an overview of the development,
current status and possible future direction of the way that cable manufacturers address the
hazards of combustion products when electric cables are burnt. The cable industry approach and
current position has been largely customer driven and the industry provides products with a wide
range of reaction to fire performance to reflect the varying customer requirements
|
|
Journeaux - Hazards of combustion products
(874 KB)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Construction Products Directive
|
