Apparatus and method for testing a fire suppression system
An apparatus for testing a water deluge system having a wet side and a dry side separated by a valve comprises a blower configured for coupling to an inlet of the water deluge system. The blower provides a supply of pressurised air through the water deluge system from the inlet to one or more outlets of the water deluge system. A sensor arrangement is associated with one or more of the outlets and configured to measure the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets and then output one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets. A communication arrangement conveys the one or more output signals from the sensor arrangement to a processing system configured to determine from said one or more output signals the flow rate of the air supply at the one or more outlets.
1 . An apparatus for testing a fire suppression system, the apparatus comprising:
a blower configured for coupling to an inlet valve of the fire suppression system, the blower configured to provide a supply of pressurized air through the fire suppression system from the inlet valve to one or more outlets of the fire suppression system;
a sensor arrangement comprising:
at least one sensor configured for coupling to or operatively associated with one or more of the outlets of the fire suppression system, the at least one sensor of the sensor arrangement configured to measure the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets of the fire suppression system and output one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets;
at least one sensor configured for coupling to or operatively associated with the inlet valve to the fire suppression system, the at least one sensor configured to measure the pressure of the air at the inlet valve and output an output signal indicative of the pressure of the air at the inlet valve; and
a communication arrangement configured to convey the one or more output signals from the sensor arrangement to a processing system configured to determine from said one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets and said output signal indicative of the pressure of the air at the inlet valve the flow rate of the supply of pressurized air at the one or more outlets.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fire suppression system is a water deluge system having a wet side and a dry side separated by a valve.
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the fire suppression system is an inert gas fire suppression system.
4 . The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the fire suppression system comprises or takes the form of a nitrogen gas fire suppression system.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises, is coupled to, or is operatively associated with, the processing system.
6 . The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the processing system is configured to determine a condition of the fire suppression system by comparing the flow rate of the supply of pressurized air at the one or more outlets to a reference signal.
7 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the blower comprises or takes the form of an electric blower.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the blower comprises, is coupled to, or is operatively associated with, a variable frequency drive (VFD).
9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising at least one of:
an air conditioner configured to control the humidity of the air supply;
a moisture filter provided at an inlet of the blower.
10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises sensors coupled to or operatively associated with a subset of the outlets of the fire suppression system.
11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises sensors coupled to or operatively associated with all of the outlets of the fire suppression system.
12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the sensor arrangement comprises one or more temperature sensors coupled to or operatively associated with one or more of the outlets of the fire suppression system and configured to measure the temperature of the air at said one or more of the outlets.
13 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the sensors of the sensor arrangement is configured to be removably coupled to the fire suppression system.
14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the sensors of the sensor arrangement is configured to be permanently coupled to the fire suppression system.
15 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor coupled to or operatively associated with the inlet valve comprises at least one of:
one or more sensors configured to measure the flow of the air at the inlet valve;
one or more sensors configured to measure temperature at the inlet valve.
16 . A fire suppression system comprising the apparatus of claim 1 .
17 . A method of testing a fire suppression system using the apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:
providing the supply of pressurized air through the fire suppression system using the blower;
measuring the pressure of the air at the inlet valve of the fire suppression system and outputting the one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the inlet valve;
measuring the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets of the fire suppression system and outputting the one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets; and
conveying the one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the inlet valve and the one or more output signals indicative of the pressure of the air at the one or more outlets to the processing system configured to determine from said one or more output signals the flow rate of the air supply at the one or more outlets.
18 . The method of claim 17 , comprising determining a condition of the fire suppression system from the output signals.
19 . The method of claim 17 or 18 , comprising at least one of:
measuring the flow rate of the air at the inlet valve;
outputting an output signal indicative of the flow rate of air at the inlet valve; and
conveying the output signal to the processing system;
comparing the output signal indicative of the flow rate of air at the inlet with the output signals from the outlets; and
determining a condition of the fire suppression system by comparing the flow rate of the air supply at the one or more outlets to a reference signal.
20 . The method of claim 17 , comprising at least one of:
comparing the results of the test method with a previous wet test;
subsequently performing a wet test and comparing the results of the test method with the subsequent wet test.
21 . The method of claim 17 , comprising:
performing the test method at a first time period to provide a first test data set indicative of the condition of the fire suppression system;
performing the test method or an inert gas test at a second time period to provide a second test data set indicative of the condition of the fire suppression system; and
outputting the first data set and the second data set.
22 . The method of claim 21 , comprising performing a comparison of the first data set and the second data set to determine a condition of the fire suppression system.