Introducing the New
FL4000 Intelligent
MSIR Flame Detection System
Feature Article:.

Breakthrough Flame Detector Provides
Superior False Alarm Immunity
By Ardem Antabian, Product Line Manager

 FL4000 flame detector Fire monitoring and detection is one of the single most important safety challenges in all facilities involved with the production, refining and distribution of oil, natural gas and petrochemicals. Fire is also a critical threat in many other industries, including automotive food/beverage, pharmaceuticals, pulp/paper, printing, textiles, warehousing and more.

Accurate and reliable fire detection has always represented a technical challenge. The main difficulty lies in distinguishing between the spectral radiation emitted by actual flames and the radiation from nuisance sources. The failure to detect actual flames can be disastrous. False alarms are problematic too, initiating automated suppression equipment, consuming extinguishment materials and often requiring a complete plant shut-down and costly re-start sequence.

Until now, flame detection has been based on multi-spectral optical flame detectors integrated with expert signal processing systems. This type of system relies on an expert to design a fixed set of conditions. These devices meet basic flame detection needs, but are prone to false alarms caused by reflected sunlight, arc welding, lightning, hot piping, machinery, human operator movement and more.

Our new FL4000 flame detector is the industry's first flame detection system to combine precision multi-spectral infrared (MSIR) flame sensing technology with highly intelligent neural network processors. The result is a breakthrough flame detector that provides the industry's most reliable discrimination between actual flames and nuisance false alarm sources.

Read the full article, which provides an overview on this breakthrough technology.
 


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Industry Briefs:.

OSHA Helps Sustain Safety
in Hurricane Recovery
Informational materials produced by the Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration are helping employers and workers better address safety and health hazards associated with hurricane clean-up and recovery. "Our goal is safe and healthy workers," said Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA Jonathan L. Snare. "These materials provide concise, expert information that will help workers avoid the vast array of hazards they will encounter during the Gulf Coast clean-up and recovery operations."

Read the full article...

Senate Starts Work on
Refinery Capacity Bill
Less than 2 weeks after the US House of Representatives passed a bill on the same subject, the Senate took up legislation aimed at increasing domestic refining capacity. The Environment and Public Works Committee held a hearing Oct. 18 on S. 1772, the Gas Petroleum Refiner Improvement and Community Empowerment (or Gas PRICE) Act. Chairman James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) insisted that the bill was not simply a reaction to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. "Rather, S. 1772 builds on the committee's consideration of issues facing the refining sector since its hearing in May 2004," he said in his opening statement.

Read the full article...