SPONSORED FEATURE | EN12101-3:2015 full compliance delivers safer buildings Full compliance with this enhanced smoke and heat-control systems standard will drive increased safety for building occupants, says Andy Cardy O n 8 April 2017, the smoke and heat-control systems standard changed to include the option to use frequency converters during a fire event. This revision, we believe, is a real game changer, as it offers designers more solution possibilities and significantly improves building occupant safety. Full compliance with this revised standard means that we can offer all three solution choices defined within the standard. So the designer can choose from the following: Fully tested and certified hightemperature fan/VSD range (ducted and thrust fan variants) Bypass the VSD during a fire event De-rate fan-drive motor by 20% and fit voltage waveform filter run tested every day. Dedicated firemode fans are typically only tested a few times a year. As full compliance requires fan manufacturers to undertake extensive third-party fan testing with VSDs as an integral part of the solution (rather than being just an accessory), this HT fan certification revalidation process represents a significant time and resource commitment. To ensure delivery of the best possible customer solution, Flkt Woods teamed up with leading VSD manufacturer Danfoss Drives. Both companies, with a total of 150 years experience within the HVAC industry, are passionate about quality, excellence and fire safety. When delivering a robust and reliable smoke-extract fire-safety solution, there are two significant factors to consider. First, correct axial fan design is critical, especially related to its core component, the impeller, as this is vital to ensuring overall product integrity Car park jet-thrust fan - hot smoke test Fully tested and certified hightemperature fan and VSD range Having successfully completed thirdparty testing of our core fan range, we are proud to confirm that Flkt Woods, together with Danfoss Drives, are the first to announce a fully certified EN12101-3: 2015 packaged HT fan and VSD solution in the UK and Europe. This VSD fan-control solution is the most practical, flexible and costeffective one as it removes the need for oversizing fan-drive motors and having to fit a voltage waveform filter (although this could still be considered). Reliability of a dual-mode fan and matched VSD package is also higher, as fire-mode fans are effectively 40 February 2019 www.cibsejournal.com Flakt DPS Adv.indd 40 21/01/2019 09:00