Previously the big companies like Siemens, Tyco, Kidde, DuPont, 3M and others had the right to maintain clean agent fire suppression systems like FM200 and NOVEC 1230. Now the market is more and more open for middle-sized companies as well.
It is very important what type of machinery you need and use. From this article you can have an overview on the machines connected to FM200 and NOVEC filling.
A fő kérdések, amelyek segítenek dönteni, hogy mely gépeket válasszuk a kémiai oltóanyagok kezeléséhez
- What is the gas that you would like to work with? FM200, NOVEC, both, or other agents such as HALOTRON, HFC227ea, HFC125, HFC23?
- What is the maximum pressure of the system that you would like to handle? 25 bar, 42 bar, 50 bar, 70 bar?
-
What is the function that you would like to use?
- Only fill empty cylinders from a big tank?
- Top fill already filled cylinders from a tank?
- Recover the remaining FM200 or NOVEC gas from a big tank?
- Empty and recover the remaining pressurized gas from a cylinder?
-
What is the size of the gas cylinders that you would like to handle?
- Minimum and maximum diameter of the gas cylinder
- Minimum and maximum length of the gas cylinder
- Weight of the cylinders
After you have all this data, we are at the point where we can choose the machines for your needs.
Functions and basic definitions
What does it mean: top filling?
There are cases when you fill empty cylinders. In this case, the pressure in the source cylinder helps the pump to do the job. In case you would like to transfer more gas or liquid into an already filled cylinder, then the pump is working against the pressure of the cylinder to be filled.
There is a pressure difference between the source cylinder and the target gas cylinder. The pump has a DELTA pressure. This is the pressure difference that the pump can work against. It can be useful when the cylinders were opened because of an alarm. Some gas was released, but not all.
Recovery from tank
In case you fill from big tanks, typically 500-800 liter, into gas cylinders, you have to clearly separate the machines that pump only liquid from the machines that pump gas phases as well. If a machine is not ready to recover the gas phase from the tank, then you will lose 15-20 kg gas.
Taking into consideration the high FM200 prices, the loss will be big. In case you have a machine that is able to recover the gas phase from the tank, you will keep that money in your pocket. You have to check the efficiency of the recovery. Regularly it is written in %.
Recovery from pressurized gas cylinders
There are situations, typically before retesting of gas cylinders, when you have to empty the already pressurized cylinders. In this case you could have several options. Of course, we do not want to lose the gas, so here we are talking about two options.
The first is when you fill the pressurized FM200 or NOVEC 1230 into another already retested cylinder. The second option is when you collect the gas into a bigger tank and then you depressurize and clean that gas, for example with our separator unit and filtering unit. In this case the machine has to be ready to handle the pressure on the inlet side as well. You have to check the efficiency of the recovery. Regularly it is written in %.
Summary on basic filling and recovery machine for FM200 and NOVEC 1230
| PNEUMATIC UNITS | |||||||||||||
| UNIT | CLEAN AGENT | FILLING | TOP FILLING | RECOVERY UP TO |
MAX PRESSURE UP TO |
PRESSURIZATION WITH N2 |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE 36TM | HALOTRON® | FM200TM | NOVEC1230TM | HFC227ea | HFC125 | HFC23 | PORTABLE EXTINGUISHERS |
CYLINDERS | |||||
| THB/BP | X | X | X | X | > 99% | 15 bar | X | ||||||
| THB/G1HP | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | > 99% | 25 bar | X | |
| *THB/5 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | > 99% | 50 bar | X | |
| *THB523/H1 | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | > 99% | 70 bar | X |
*with 2 pump
| ELECTRIC UNITS | ||||||||||||||
| UNIT | CLEAN AGENT | FILLING | TOP FILLING | RECOVERY UP TO |
MAX PRESSURE UP TO |
PRESSURIZATION WITH N2 |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FE 36TM | HALOTRON® | FM200TM | NOVEC1230TM | HFC227ea | HFC125 | HFC23 | PORTABLE EXTINGUISHERS |
CYLINDERS | ||||||
| 103/FM | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | – | 60 bar | X | ||
| 100/103FM | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | X | <95% | 60 bar | X | ||
| UNIT | FILLING | RECOVERY FROM SOURCE TANK, GAS PHASE | RECOVERY FROM CYLINDER, LIQUID PHASE | RECOVERY FROM CYLINDER, GAS PHASE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103-FM | 6 kg/min | NO | Yes, up to a level. | NO |
| 100/103-FM | 6 kg/min | max 95% efficiency, 0,7 kg/min, max. 21 bar | Yes, up to a level. | NO |
| THB/BP | 6 kg/min | max 99% efficiency, 0,7 kg/min, max. 50 bar | YES | 15 bar |
| THB/G1HP | 6 kg/min | max 99% efficiency, 0,7 kg/min, max. 50 bar | YES | 99%, DELTA pressure max 25 bar |
| THB/5 | 6 kg/min | max 99% efficiency, 0,7 kg/min, max. 50 bar | YES | 99%, DELTA pressure max 50 bar |
| THB523/H1 | 6 kg/min | max 99% efficiency, 0,7 kg/min, max. 50 bar | YES | 99%, DELTA pressure max 65 bar |
THB/523 H1 model for Halon and other clean agent filling and recovery.
If you can, use separate filling machine for Novec and FM200. Why?
The FM200 has a natural 10 bar gas cushion. When you want to clean or empty the machine after FM200 filling, it is rather easy. The remaining liquid phase on the lower part of the pipes will become gaseous in a short time and will be released from the machine. After this you can fill the NOVEC 1230 without proper contamination risk.
A slight problem could happen in case you want to clean the machine after NOVEC usage. The NOVEC has just a very small gas cushion. In case the NOVEC clean agent remains in the lower parts of the machine piping, then it will be there for a longer period. It could contaminate the FM200.
Mixing for clean agent is important
For fire system usage, you have to pressurize the FM200 or NOVEC with nitrogen. Our machines regularly can make the pressurization automatically with a connected nitrogen gas cylinder. After the cylinder reaches the necessary pressure, it needs some time to have proper mixing between the nitrogen and the clean agent.
Without forced mixing, FM200 complete mixing could take 2-3 days. With NOVEC, the natural mixing could take 30-50 days.
That is why in case of NOVEC usage it is a must to have a proper mixing unit, which can shorten that 30-50 days mixing time. If you do not mix properly, then the pressure could drop until the complete mixing. This could cause a false alarm of the fire suppression system.
CLICK Here for an article about some clean agent facility installation in Romania.
