At SenseTek we understand the challenges of the waste recycling environment, thanks to our experience and knowledge of the industry.

High Risk

Stored with a wide variety of combustible materials in recycling or waste incineration plants, the risk of a fire is high. The burning behaviour of these substances is very different. The causes of unexpected overheating and fires are complex and varied as the recycling plants and the materials processed like self-igniting parts, flammable liquids, overheated drives and motors, friction or defects in plant components. Up to risk of explosions and often in contact with quantities of flammable material. Especially wrongly disposed accumulators and batteries are risky. The overheat due to a thermal runaway and represent a dangerous source of ignition. During further transport by conveyor belts they are often buried by other materials. In that case a starting fire is hardly detectable.

Conveyor belts

So It is important that not only fires in recycling or waste incineration plants are detected early but also on conveyor belts. During transportation on conveyor belts, sources of danger move quickly from one position to the other. False alarms are often caused by exhaust gases and exhaust pipes from vehicles driving around the premises.Many causes are not immediately recognizable in recycling plants so choosing the right early fire detection can be challenging for a fire detection company.

There are several options to choose from like:

• Point detectors are usually unsuitable for waste recycling environments. Dust will gather in the detection chamber and cause false alarms
• Heat detectors are only suitable in buildings less than 7.5m high which is not common in waste recycling applications
• Beam detectors are an option, but in very dusty applications can cause false alarms due to dust.
• High Sensitivity Smoke Detection (HSSD) is great at detecting a fire early. If you do opt for Stratos -HSSD-2 you need to have extra filters ( CM10970) and an Automatic Purge System. This will protect the detection unit and will also enable you to clean dust from the pipework(more info).
• Linear Heat Detection Cable is the right decision for protecting key risk areas. It’s very robust, swift to detect heat and is ideal for many waste recycling applications like protecting machinery. Examples are, waste bunkers, conveyor belts or machinery.

Making the wrong choice can result in your expensive fire detection system having a short and problematic lifetime, along with disruption and hassle from false alarms. 

To discuss your application with SenseTek, please call +31(0)-6131611.