Introduction


BLE has, for a number of years, been at the leading edge of smoke & fire curtain technology providing our customers with innovative and cost effective solutions to overcome the problems associated with Smoke and Fire control. Our smoke & fire curtain systems, which are gravity fail safe, incorporate the latest in electronic technology making them one of the most advanced yet cost effective systems on the market.

We have recently carried out a number of fire tests on our SD60 & FC240 systems, our SD60 Automatic Smoke Curtain achieved a 1 hour rating at 1000º C and our FC240S Automatic Fire Curtain system achieved a rating of 4½ hours when tested to BS: 476: Part 22. Our latest addition to our fire curtain range is a 4 hour tes to BS 476: Part 22 for FC240M overlapping curtains, allowing us to cover large openings using multiple roller systems. Both SD and FC systems are now also tested to UL standards.

All our manufacturing processes and Quality Control procedures are certified to meet the full requirements of BS EN ISO 9001:1994 and products are designed and manufactured in full compliance with the appropriate UK, European and American regulations.

Description

When a smoke or fire curtain is required to deploy in an emergency situation it is probable that the mains supply to the control panel may have already failed and that the cables linking the curtains to the control panel might become damaged. Under these circumstances with no power available the curtain will have to deploy by gravity. For this reason the BLE SD60 and FC240 systems are always deployed by gravity, every time the system is tested it is a 100% confirmation of the fail safe operation of the system.

A test in which a curtain is powered down under normal test conditions from either mains power or the battery supply is only proving that it can deploy when powered. This does not confirm an ability to fail safe.
SD60 and FC240 are gravity fail safe Automatic Curtain systems utilising the latest in electronic technology. The systems meet the requirements of British, European & American standards, a list of which can be seen in this catalogue. All BLE smoke curtain systems are manufactured in accordance with our BS EN ISO 9001 certification.

Operation

Under normal conditions the curtain is retracted in the head box and is held in position by the electronics contained within a remote enclosure mounted on the motor end of the box. The bottom bar will be resting against the under side of the box or below the box if a stopping bar is installed, the stopping bar will then rest against the box. In the event of a fire condition or operation of the test key switch the group control panel removes the power to the curtain motors. The curtain descends in a controlled manner under the power of gravity and stops in the lower position when all the fabric is unwound from the roller. When the signal is reset the group control panel re connects the power to the motors which will retract the curtains to the up position.

Should the mains power fail to the group control panel the supply is automatically switched to the integral standby battery. The curtain remains in the retracted position for approximately 3 hours. The curtain will remai fully operational until the battery low voltage cut off reads a voltage less than 85% of the nominal, the curtains will then descend under the power of gravity to the operational position.