Award-winning fire protection products

This year's winners in the "Product of the Year 2018" in the categories of plant fire protection, structural fire protection and organizational fire protection are: have been determined.

Category "Plant fire protection

In this category, the oxygen reduction plant has "Oxeo EcoPrevent FC" obtained from the house Minimax. Oxygen reduction systems permanently reduce the air oxygen content by the controlled supply of nitrogen, so that a "fire-safe" atmosphere is created. This normally requires an air compressor, compressed air treatment and a nitrogen generator, which incurs operating costs. According to the manufacturer, the "Oxeo EcoPrevent FC" fire prevention system is significantly more economical. By combining it with a fuel cell system, electricity and heat are generated simultaneously according to the principle of cogeneration (see also SafetyForum No. 5/17, from p. 22). During power generation, the fuel cell produces clean and nitrogen-rich exhaust air as a byproduct. It accumulates permanently during operation without any additional costs and can be used for the operation of an oxygen reduction plant. Fuel cells achieve more than 90% efficiency in converting natural gas into electrical and thermal energy, and save hundreds of tons of CO₂ annually. And since there is no engine rotating in the fuel cell, only chemical processes take place, the technology operates with particularly low maintenance. In combination with the innovative fuel cell technology, "Oxeo EcoPrevent FC" offers an extremely efficient solution. Depending on the degree of utilization, according to the manufacturer, a return on investment is achieved after just a few years and even a profit is generated.

Category "Structural fire protection

The high-performance insulation Calostat (cf. www.calostat.com) from Evonik Resource Efficiency GmbH won "Product of the Year" in this category. The purely mineral insulating material combines fire protection and slim thermal insulation. From a chemical point of view, the main component, silicon dioxide, is sand in a special form. Calostat is classified as "A2-s1, d0" according to DIN 13501. This means that the insulation material is non-combustible (without the addition of chemical fire retardants), is classified in the category of lowest smoke emission and, according to the European standard, has no combustible falling parts. In addition, the product meets the requirements for testing in a fire shaft according to DIN 4102-1 and can thus be treated as a building material of Classification A of the German testing regulations. It is also suitable as a fire bar and is used as insulation and fire protection in other particularly difficult facade areas, such as roller shutter boxes or reveal panels.

Category "Organizational fire protection

The winner of this category is the app "Kevox Go" for iOS and Android cell phones from the company Kevox. It enables mobile fire protection documentation (e.g. fire prevention inspection) on site. In less than a minute, a ready-to-print and ready-to-send inspection, activity or defect report as well as an expert opinion can be created. A photo is taken, a descriptive text is selected or dictated, additional information (e.g. signatures) is included, and it's done! According to the manufacturer, the user can save up to 70% of his otherwise usual documentation work with the app.

The winners were determined in equal parts from the evaluation of an expert jury and the result from an online vote among FeuerTrutz contacts.

Source: FeuerTrutz