Why is fire protection necessary?
- Protection against total loss of the wind turbines
- Shorter downtimes
- Greater acceptance from investors
- Insurability of the wind turbines
- More favourable insurance premiums
- Avoidance of damage to image
- Construction conditions, e.g. in wooded areas
- Protection of the environment
Essential components of the system in wind turbines
- Extinguishing agent container with internal control unit
- Pneumatic trigger elements
- Fine-spray nozzles
- Control valves
Design of the extinguishing concept
In the design of the extinguishing concept, the focus is not on protecting the nacelle as an area but instead on protecting individual objects. In wind turbines, the following critical points are to be protected:
- Control cabinets
- Transformers
- Generators / slipring
- Brakes and clutches
- Hydraulics
Fires can thus be detected quickly and efficiently so that a spread of the fire source is prevented in the initial phase.
Functionality and operation of a fine-spray extinguishing system
The extinguishing system will be automatically activated by a pneumatic trigger in the event of a critical rise in temperature (e.g. 30° above the max imum expected operating temperature). Our fire-fighting system is a fine-spray extinguish ing system which uses special nozzles to spray the extinguishing agent as a fine mist. The droplet size selected is large enough to ensure that the droplets have enough kinetic energy to reach the source of the fire. This is particularly important in wind turbines as there may be air flows in the nacelle which prevent this.
The enormous reaction surface of the mist droplets in relation to the quantity of extinguishing agent means that the fire is quickly deprived of a great deal of its energy. The temperature level therefore falls rapidly, preventing re-ignition. The cooling effect disrupts the thermal reaction conditions in the seat of the fire, thereby reducing the reaction speed so that the fire will be extinguished.
In addition to the cooling effect, the fine-spray technology also has a smothering effect, as is the case with fine water mist fire extinguishing.
To intensify the extinguishing effects described, the extinguishing agent contains a foam-forming additive. The purpose of this is to achieve greater adhesion and thus more successful extinguishing of the burning materials. This mixture plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of the system for specific risks in areas where there are combustible liquids.
Advantages
- Simple installation for new and existing turbines
- Small space requirement for extinguishing agent due to selective ext inguish ing concept
- Prevention of false alarms thanks to patented Spy20 trigger element
- No external power source required
- Also functions in extreme conditions (oil contamination, dust, hazardous climates)
- Virtually maintenance-free – maintenance can be carried out by customer’s own personnel
- Depressurized in operational mode
- Accepted by leading manufacturers of wind turbines