Fire & Gas Detection

and Protection
Purpose:
Required for protection of
Personnel and assets.

Keys:
Hazardous Area
Gas Detection
Fire Detection
Fire Protection

Hazardous Area
-In Oil & Gas industry Combustible
Materials such as Hydrocarbons and
Hydrogen gas and Toxic gases such as
H2S are handled.
-Combustible materials become
Flammable in the presence of
atmospheric Oxygen.
-If Flammable material comes into
contact with an arc or spark or a hot
surface, an Explosion may occur.
Hazardous Area
-Exposure to Toxic Gas above certain
levels may be dangerous to human life.
-Therefore improperly handled
combustible or toxic material may
cause a loss of life and materials,
which has to be prevented by suitable
design practices..
-To prevent electrical devices from
causing an explosion due to generatoin
of an arc/ spark or hot surface, various
protection techniques are employed
viz. IS, Ex proof, Purging, Non
incendive, Increased Safety, Oil
Immersion, Encapsulation etc.
Gas Detection
Gas leak may occur due to:
- Operational Requirements
(Blowdown, Vents etc)
- Failure of Equipment and fittings

Type of Gas:
- Hydrocarbon
- Hydrogen
- Hydrogen Sulphide (Toxic)

Types of Gas Detectors:
- Catalytic Bead
- Infra Red (Point or Line of Sight)
- Electrochemical, Semiconductor

Fire Detection
Fusible Plugs(Non Electrical)
Flame Detector (UV, UV/IR)
Heat/ Thermal Detectors (Fixed,
Rate of Rise)
Smoke detectors
Fire Protection
Active Protection
Passive Protection

Active
-Sprinkler/ Deluge
-FM200/CO2/ Halon
-Foam

Passive
-Firewall
-Protective Coatings


Sprinkler/ Deluge
Fire Water System:
Two or three independently operated
fire water pumps are located
separately so that single fire incident
does not put all these pumps out of
action.
Sprinkler (Wet System)
-Pipework of Fire Water under
pressure with Quartzoid Bulbs
suitably placed along its length.
Deluge (Dry System)
-One Pipework of Pneumatic supply
with Quartzoid Bulbs suitably placed
along its length and Pressure Switch
sensor. Second Pipework of Fire
Water with a Deluge Valve that
opens upon sensing of Low pressure
in first network due to a broken bulb.
- Deluge Valve for each system is
located outside of but adlacent to the
protected area (e.g DV for Main
Deck is located on Cellar Deck and
vice versa.)
Clean Agent
Used to protect the areas where primary
risk is of Electrical fires. E.g Control
Room, Switchgear, battery room, turbine
enclosure etc
Discharge of Clean Agent is generally
activated by coincident Smoke detection.
Control Box containing the following is
placed at the entrance of the protected
enclosure:-
- Audible Alarm to indicate that CA will be
discharged after time delay of 20 seconds.
- Key Operated Switch to Inhibit the
discharge.
- Pushbutton for Local Manual Activation.
- Indicating Lamp for Inhibit condition
- Indicating Lamp for About to
Discharge.
- Indicating Lamp for System
Discharged.
Firewalls
Firewall is used to limit the
spread of fire from one area to
another. These prevent the
passage of smoke and flame as
well as prevent temperature rise
on the unexposed surface.
Designed as per SOLAS (Safety
of Life at Sea) regulations.
Alarms Annunciations
General Alarm:
- It is activated upon detection of fire,
gas, MAC or any ESD.
-Audio Visual alarm (Red flashing, 2
secs on/ 2 secs off).

Toxic Gas Alarm:
- It is activated upon detection of toxic
gas.
- It is a 1.4 sec ramp, sawtooth wave
(slow increasing, fast reducing).

Abandon Platform:
-It is manually activated by a rotary
switch located in control room, near
survival craft, helideck.
-Audio Visual Alarm (Blue lamp, Siren
tone)

Mimic Display:
It provides the operator with
information on type and location of a
hazard. The system gives a
geographical layout of installations
including the following items:
Fire, Smoke, Flammable Gas, Toxic
Gas, Fire Extinguishing apparatus
status, ESDs, MAC