Confining fires much faster and more safely
Fire-resistant doors are an integral part of a building's fire protection system. When a fire occurs, they close to form a barrier preventing it from spreading to other parts of the building, thereby safeguarding the lives of the occupants. The EU-funded 'High speed fire stopping sectional door' (NOFIRE) project set out to fill a gap in the market, especially for fire doors for garages and industrial doors. The project team's main objective was to improve security and safety during a fire. NOFIRE has developed an innovative fire door as part of a fire-stopping system. In addition, the project has designed the electronics needed to operate the door and optimised the door's security devices, including a light barrier and a contact band. When a fire is detected, the door starts to close after 3 seconds at 0.5 m/s. As it closes, the light barriers are disabled while the contact band on the door's sensitive edge is activated. If an obstacle is detected, the door reopens at 1.5 m/s; when the obstacle is removed, the door continues to close. NOFIRE has produced a functional prototype of the novel fire door developed by its researchers. It provides the required fire resistance and high-speed movement, and complies with all the security requirements. Now complete, NOFIRE outcomes will contribute to enhancing the competitiveness of all the partners involved in the project. They all foresee a great business opportunity since there are currently no fire doors on the market that are able to match the performance of this new innovative model.
