Improvements in the pipeline for fire sprinkler system safety

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Plant Integrity is leading a collaborative project to drastically improve the ease with which fire sprinkler systems can be inspected for damage.

When a fire breaks out in a densely populated building, such as a nightclub, an airport or a convention centre, lives depend on the effectiveness of the installed sprinkler system.

Made up of an extensive network of pipes and sprinkler heads, such systems can be complex and are often enclosed, making thorough inspection and maintenance problematic.

Regular visual inspections of the exterior of sprinkler systems can help detect problems, but a more rigorous internal inspection is significantly more effective at highlighting faults. Most sprinkler systems are "wet pipe" types - filled with pressurised water - and internal inspections require these systems to be drained and deactivated. The whole process is laborious, time-consuming and expensive.

Enabling inspection in service

SprinkTest, a project bringing together a consortium of partners from around Europe, is developing a method of sprinkler system inspection that would circumvent the requirement for the system to be taken out of action to be inspected.

The system under development will be capable of inspecting lengths of pipework and detecting focal corrosion pits in the wall of the pipe, prior to a breach of the pipe wall, without draining or decommissioning the sprinkler system in any way.

Exceptional precision

Utilising ultrasonic guided wave technology - Plant Integrity's specialism - the system will have the potential to inspect entire lengths of straight pipework from a single inspection point and detect millimetre-scale corrosion pits in the pipe wall.

The system will also be able to determine distributed wall loss through corrosion and detect occlusion of the pipe by corrosion by-products or externally introduced foreign material.

A complete solution

SprinkTest will be based around light, portable, sensitive equipment that is capable of both testing on demand and monitoring systems proactively, detecting potential for failure before significant damage occurs.

It will be supported by advanced software that will process signals from the equipment's transducers and extract information that can be used to pinpoint minute defects in sprinkler systems' infrastructure.

The end result will be a practical, portable inspection system delivering quick, cost-effective and detailed inspection of sprinkler system pipework, without disturbing the normal operation of the sprinkler system and its environs.

Sharing expertise

Part-funded by the European Seventh Framework Programme and set to run for two years from its start date of November 2013, SprinkTest's partners include project leaders Plant Integrity, two other research and technology organisations, four small and medium-sized enterprises and the European Fire Sprinkler Network.

For more information contact Plant Integrity Project Leader Matthew Deere on +44 (0)1223 893994, e-mail sprinktest@plantintegrity.co.ukor visit www.sprinktestproject.eu.

For more information please email:

contactus@twi.co.uk