Fire tests: standards, methods, problems and solutions.
This conversation began at the beginning of the summer in Munich in the fire testing laboratory of Bosch Security Systems. German colleagues demonstrated their equipment, talked about the principles of its operation, the standards by which the tests are carried out. And answered numerous questions from experts from different countries and journalists. Then the TZ correspondent (our magazine, naturally, also received an invitation to Munich) decided that this conversation should definitely be continued at the editorial round table.
That's what we did. Representative of the Ukrainian company ARTON Vladimir Bakanov and Denis Katkin (MATAEL, Israel) joined the participants of the Munich meeting.
So the next round table of TZ turned out to be international.
In this issue with you:
Roman POLESHCHUK , Robert Bosch — Security Systems, Germany
Denis KATKIN , MATAEL, Israel
Vladimir ZDOR, VNIIPO, Russia
Vladimir BAKANOV, ARTON, Ukraine
Igor NEPLOKHOV, PhD in Engineering, Center-SB, Russia
Question for discussion
What are the tasks and significance of corporate testing laboratories? Prospects for the implementation of Western experience in Russia.
Roman POLESHCHUK
Corporate testing laboratories are very important for manufacturers of fire alarm systems. One of the main tasks is to conduct all the necessary product tests required for certification in order to be sure that they pass. This allows you to save money, since the products are certified the first time, and there is no need to pay for subsequent tests. It also saves time — no additional tests are required in certification laboratories.
In addition, laboratories are actively used in research and development of new products. In fact, they are a prerequisite for new developments. This allows you to increase competence in the field of fire detection.
Denis KATKIN
Corporate testing laboratories are primarily intended to maintain the image of the manufactured products and the manufacturer itself. Having such a laboratory, the manufacturer is confident in the quality of its products. I will say more, a manufacturer who does not have its own testing laboratory most likely does not produce quality products.
Given the tendency of Russian manufacturers to save on unprofitable stages of production and other processes, as well as the lack of performance control over most fire protection systems and the resulting use of the cheapest equipment in 99% of projects, I do not see any prospects for manufacturers to have their own testing laboratories in the near future. Here is a simple economic calculation: the nth smoke detector costs 120 rubles at retail. The manufacturer produces 1,000 of these detectors per day, i.e. 24,000 per month, receiving payment in the amount of 2,880,000 rubles. Subtract 18% VAT and get 2,440,678 rubles. Let's say 50 people work and receive a salary of 30,000 rubles (on average). After paying salaries, 940,678 rubles remain. Subtract the rent of premises, taxes, the cost of electricity (of which several kilowatt-hours are spent on one detector), water, consumables, raw materials and components. Will there be a penny left for your own laboratory? No. Just like the fact that a good smoke detector cannot cost 120 rubles. Good raw materials, materials and electronic components are expensive.
Vladimir ZDOR
The processes of manufacturing products and testing them are inextricably linked. Moreover, some tests are part of the technological chain in the production of products and even precede the production process itself, being an integral part of the process of putting products into production. The scope of tests when putting products into production is determined by the manufacturer based on the requirements of state standards regulating the requirements for this process. The scope of tests carried out in the production process is determined by the process chart and other factory documents.
The certification testing procedure is no longer part of the production procedure, it serves to confirm the conformity of products with the requirements of regulatory documents and is carried out in a specialized accredited laboratory. The scope of certification tests is established in regulatory documents for products of a specific type, in particular, the scope of certification tests of fire alarms is determined by the requirements of GOST R 53325-2000 «Fire-fighting equipment. Technical means of fire automation. General technical requirements. Test methods.»During certification, fire detectors are subject to tests for their intended purpose, resistance to climatic and mechanical effects, and tests for electromagnetic compatibility. The procedure and equipment for testing for resistance to climatic and mechanical effects and for electromagnetic compatibility are virtually the same for any type of detector. For this purpose, test laboratories are equipped with climatic chambers, vibration stands, shock stands, as well as equipment and devices that allow testing for electromagnetic compatibility. Tests for intended purpose are individual for different detectors. For example, heat detectors are tested in a special «Heat Channel» stand during certification, smoke detectors are tested in a «Smoke Channel» stand, and flame detectors are tested on a special optical bench. The requirements for such stands are standardized and provided in GOST R 53325. Laboratories that conduct certification tests of fire detectors must be equipped with the specified testing equipment.
Vladimir BAKANOV
Any production is unthinkable without a corporate testing laboratory. The manufacturing enterprise is obliged to conduct incoming quality control of components and materials, as well as outgoing quality control of manufactured products in the volume of acceptance and periodic tests. In addition, any production cannot exist without modernization of its products, and this already puts forward the need to conduct standard tests. After all, in the process of serial production, the manufacturer modernizes products for many different reasons:
consumer comments;
rationalization of production;
implementation of an effective innovation;
error elimination;
implementation of new standards, etc.
Naturally, when upgrading products, adjustments are made to the technical documentation for the manufactured products. The procedure for making changes to the technical documentation, as well as standard tests of products during their modernization, is stipulated by a number of regulatory documents: GOST 15.001, GOST 15.309, GOST 2.503, etc.
Compliance with the established procedure for carrying out work on upgrading products is especially important in our industry, which is directly related to the safety of human life and property.
The certification body plays an important role as a supervisory body in this procedure, since the license agreement between the certification body and the manufacturer of the product determines such a procedure when any changes in the design of the product and production technology that affect the parameters of the product checked during certification require mandatory prior approval from the certification body. Violation of this procedure is a condition under which the manufacturer may be deprived of a certificate for this type of product.
A corporate laboratory is simply necessary if the enterprise is focused on an innovative path of development. A developer of new types of products cannot do without a testing laboratory, because he needs to know the parameters of the closest analogues not only on the basis of passport data, check the parameters of the prototype samples of the newly developed product declared in the technical specifications, conduct acceptance tests of prototypes and qualification tests of the pilot batch of the product when putting it into serial production.
However, for small and medium-sized enterprises, which are the most mobile in terms of developing new products, the burden of acceptance, qualification, and periodic testing may be simply unbearable. As well as the creation of a standard testing laboratory, which must be equipped with all types of testing equipment, qualified personnel, and even production facilities to accommodate such a laboratory. After all, regulatory documents for the relevant products often require very complex and expensive testing and measuring equipment, which, in turn, must be properly maintained, undergo periodic certification and inspection.
It is the certification centers and their accredited laboratories that can solve the problem of quality control of products when they are put into production and periodic confirmation of quality during serial production.
At the very first stages of work, the product developer must decide which tests he can conduct on his own, and which ones must be conducted in a third-party accredited laboratory. Given the specifics of regulatory requirements for putting products into production and conducting certification tests in the post-Soviet space, there are many unresolved problems. After all, a developer from Germany or Great Britain does not need to develop such a regulatory and technical document as technical specifications, first conduct qualification tests and immediately after them certification tests of the product type, conduct periodic tests in the scope of certification, as well as periodic inspections of production by specialists of the certification center.
Igor NEPLOHOV
In my opinion, in the field of fire automatics we are significantly behind the West in both standards and technology. For example, the European standard EN 54-9-82 on test sites for fire detectors was issued about 30 years ago. Fourteen years later, GOST R 50898-96 «Fire alarms. Fire tests» was issued, but a laboratory for fire tests was never built, and in 2009 it was cancelled with the introduction of GOST R 53325-2009. In the draft of the new edition of GOST R 53325, fire tests of fire alarms have been included in the certification test program — and with its introduction, it will finally be possible to evaluate the effectiveness of our smoke fire alarms.The importance of corporate testing laboratories cannot be underestimated; fire alarms must be highly effective in conditions of early fire development. Without a significant amount of full-scale testing, it is impossible to develop a product for any purpose, and this fully applies to fire alarms. Moreover, the range of tests is significantly expanded taking into account the range of operating conditions.
Leading foreign companies conduct fire tests not only on standard test sources, but also design sources that are quite common in fires. In addition, various interference effects are modeled and the most effective methods of protection are determined, for example, from cigarette smoke, steam, dust, aerosols, etc. These studies allow us to develop new principles of early detection of a fire hazard and design new fire detectors that provide an increasingly high level of fire protection. Moreover, the use of fire protection systems that provide earlier detection of a source is stimulated abroad by a significant reduction in the cost of insurance. When using addressable analogue systems, the discount on fire insurance for a facility can be 50%, and as a result, over the past 15 years, the share of addressable analogue systems on the European market has increased from 20% to 70-80%.
The prospects for introducing Western experience in Russia are very limited, since our standards practically do not stimulate the use of more effective systems.
Question for discussion
Methods of applied research and laboratory equipment. What tests are carried out in the process of developing new products and in the process of serial production?
Roman POLESHCHUK
The EN54-7 standard clearly describes the procedures and test equipment for each test fire source (TP). All certification test laboratories carry out tests strictly in accordance with these requirements. It is very important that each TP can be accurately reproduced and carried out in the same way in each certification test laboratory. To ensure this, European laboratories follow strict rules.
Denis KATKIN
A self-respecting manufacturer has the opportunity to check all the characteristics of its products without exception in its laboratory. In some cases, some of the characteristics, which generally cannot change during serial production beyond the tolerances, are checked in external laboratories, private or state. The type and number of tests depend on the tasks set for the laboratory. For example, testing for the purpose of calculating the mean time between failures requires the availability of test equipment that allows for the general «aging» of the finished product at an accelerated pace. During such testing, statistical data is obtained that are entered into the calculation formulas. This is an example related to development. A manufacturer who has not conducted such testing has no right to indicate the mean time between failures in the technical documentation for products. Tests during serial production are carried out for each product for all the main technical parameters, including assembly quality. Ideally, tests are carried out continuously for a day or more for each product.
Equipment for such tests is selected individually for each type of product.
Vladimir ZDOR
The main objective of the first certification tests is to confirm the conformity of the products with the requirements of the standards. Subsequent certification tests of the same products, carried out at certain intervals (for fire alarms — once every 5 years), are carried out with the main goal of ensuring the stability of the characteristics of the manufactured products and the preservation of the parameters regulated by the standards.
The procedure for conducting fire tests of fire detectors can be singled out separately. Fire tests are conducted according to standardized methods. These methods are given in the European standards of the EN 54 series, international standards ISO 7240, and at present the requirements for conducting fire tests and the corresponding harmonized methods are reflected in the new version of GOST R 53325 planned for introduction in 2012.
During fire tests, fire detectors, depending on the factor they control (temperature, smoke, electromagnetic radiation of flame), are exposed to fire factors created by combustion of various materials: wood, cotton fabric, polyurethane foam, flammable liquids burning with smoke emission (n-Heptane), and flammable liquids burning without smoke emission (ethyl alcohol). The type and quantity of flammable load are standardized. Tests are carried out in a room with dimensions (10 x 7 x 4 m). The flammable load is placed in the center of the room on the floor, and the detectors are installed in the ceiling zone, which is a fragment of a circle with a radius of 3 m, the projection of the center of which is located at the location of the test source. Measuring instruments are also mounted in this zone.
Fire tests, in accordance with the new version of GOST R 533325, are included in a certain way in the scope of tests conducted within the framework of certification. However, the procedure for conducting fire tests requires very expensive testing equipment, a special stand, which can no longer be called a laboratory (in fact, such a stand is a laboratory itself), takes a lot of time, and, accordingly, is expensive in itself. Considering that laboratory tests are quite sufficient to confirm the stability of the characteristics of the manufactured products, and also that for detectors whose design has not been changed, and their quality characteristics tested on laboratory stands have remained the same, the results of repeated fire tests will be a priori identical, it is inappropriate to conduct fire tests within the framework of repeated certification tests. In this regard, the new version of GOST R 533325 regulates only the mandatory availability of fire test results during certification, which can be conducted either within the framework of the first certification tests, or generally obtained before the certification work in an accredited testing laboratory. Thus, the introduction of the requirement to conduct fire tests as part of certification will affect the increase in the cost of only the first certification tests or pre-certification training.
Vladimir BAKANOV
The types of tests, test methods and the testing and measuring equipment used are determined by the regulatory document for the type of product being manufactured. When developing a product, the developer must provide for tests at different stages of development in the technical specifications for R&D, and acceptance tests are carried out according to the technical specifications. Here, much depends on the developer's experience, the novelty of the development and the development specification itself. Another matter is putting the product into serial production — here you cannot do without qualification tests. And the scope of these tests, control methods and the equipment used, as has already been said, are determined by the regulatory document for this type of product. GOST 15.309 also determines the procedure for conducting tests during serial production. Periodic and acceptance tests must fully comply with all tests prescribed by the regulatory document for the type of product. The problem here is that the regulatory document today is oriented in the Western manner — towards conducting certification tests. A significant part of the scope of certification tests are long, energy-consuming tests that can only be carried out using random control methods. These are the ones that are usually included in the list of periodic tests. Acceptance tests usually include checks of those parameters that can change during serial production. It is necessary to organize the technical process of production and interoperational control so that the required minimum of parameters are checked during acceptance tests — only in this case will production be effective. Defects in the serial production process occur at all its stages. To detect such defects at the earliest stages, not to allow them to reach the final quality control — this is the main task of organizing advanced production technology. The parameters to be checked, control methods, its frequency, the equipment used at the stages of interoperational control are determined by the developer and the manufacturer. It is good when these subjects are specialists from the same enterprise, often they also develop the necessary non-standard testing and measuring equipment. If it is possible to create and implement high-performance technological and testing equipment for interoperational control, then it is possible to carry out 100% control of «semi-finished products» and, on this basis, reduce the volume of acceptance tests.
Igor NEPLOHOV
The methods for conducting fire tests are described in detail in the European standards of the EN 54 series and are included in the draft of the new edition of GOST R 53325 almost without changes. It should be noted that for the correct conduct of tests on test sites it is necessary to use a radioisotope meter of the concentration of combustion products. This is the so-called control ionization chamber (CIC), the acquisition and use of which is associated with the execution of a lot of permits due to the presence of a radioactive element in it. And for testing multicriterial detectors with a CO gas channel, a precision carbon monoxide concentration meter is also required.
In the process of developing new products, a full range of product tests should be carried out to confirm the correctness of the selected circuit, design and technological solutions, as well as the element base in the entire range of supply voltages, operating temperatures, humidity, etc. During the release of serial products, the scope of tests is significantly less. Control of the modes of electronic components of each sample is carried out by connecting needle contacts to all test points of the printed circuit board simultaneously by means of computer analysis of the operating modes of the elements according to a special program. This method is usually used abroad in the production of electronics for any purpose, including fire detectors, since it allows identifying failure of elements and poor-quality soldering. In this form, the currents of the standby mode and fire, time characteristics, parameters of the output to the remote indicator, etc. are controlled for the detectors. Usually, during this procedure, the signal level in an optically clean environment, the fire threshold, the initial level of drift compensation, etc. are programmed. The sensitivity of the detectors in the smoke channel, which, of course, should be in each production facility, is selectively measured.
Question for discussion
Independent fire laboratories, as is known, exist in the USA, EU countries, Russia, and Ukraine. What is the essence of their status? How do their roles, functions, and degrees of influence on the market differ?
Roman POLESHCHUK
They have a very big influence. Only they can perform the tests required for certification. In the US and EU they are very important. The status, roles, functions and influence of European and North American laboratories on the market are the same.
Denis KATKIN
I can tell you using Israel as an example. There are not many independent laboratories there due to the fact that the state institution, namely the Standards Institute of Israel, which has the exclusive right to approve the use of products on the market, copes with its tasks 100%, and throughout history there have been no questions about the quality of the products it has approved. Considering the high demands of the market and the large number of various consumer protection organizations, the conclusion suggests itself that with the correct organization of the product quality control process, there is no need for independent laboratories. Independent laboratories are needed where there are no state testing laboratories or there are doubts about the quality of their work. Accordingly, only in such cases is their influence on the market noticeable.
Vladimir BAKANOV
As far as I know, there are several centers in the EU countries that are accredited to conduct tests according to the EN 54 series of standards, including those detectors that are tested using test fires. Only in Poland are there two such centers. In Ukraine, fire tests according to the DSTU EN 54 series of standards are currently carried out by only one laboratory — VC Rostock, Kyiv. In Europe, test laboratories are usually part of a complex that includes a research institute, a certification center and even an insurance company. In Ukraine, the VC Rostock test center is a separate organization that has received the rights to conduct the relevant tests. Several laboratories have the rights to test components of fire alarm systems in our country, but they are not accredited for all components, and primarily for fire alarms. In Ukraine, there are also several certification centers that have the right to issue certificates of conformity with state fire alarm standards. But when these centers certify fire alarms, they have to use the services of the above-mentioned laboratory. So far, Ukraine has neither a certification center nor a laboratory that would have the right to conduct tests for compliance with European standards of the EN 54 series. It should be noted that the laboratory staff are active members of working groups and often the heads of these groups of the technical committee TK25, and the director of this laboratory is the head of subcommittee No. 4 of TK25. This committee, together with a public organization — the Ukrainian Union of Fire and Technological Safety (USPTB), carries out a serious set of works on the preparation and implementation of regulatory documentation in the country.
Igor NEPLOKHOV
In developed countries, certification centers are financed by insurance companies. It is the insurers who need reliable information on the efficiency of fire alarms presented on the market. Moreover, as a rule, in each country there is only one certification center. For example, in the UK — LPCB, in Germany — VdS, in the USA — FM. Insurance companies in each country recognize fire certificates only of their certification center. Accordingly, manufacturers certify fire detectors in all countries to which they are supplied.
Moreover, some certification centers, such as the English LPCB, issue their own standards for new types of fire detectors to ensure the possibility of their certification and use until the appearance of a standard in the EN 54 series.
(Continued in the next issue)