ESTABLISHING A CONSTRUCTION METHOD OF AN AUTOMATIC FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM FOR CABLE TRAY FIRES

摘要

Among the countermeasures to reduce the impacts of cable fires, installing automatic fire detection and suppression equipment may be applicable for cable trays due to the overcurrent incident considering a single failure of the circuit breaker. To establish a method to construct such systems effectively, we applied two types of automatic fire suppression systems using gaseous and bubble foam agents. For cable tray fire suppression tests, we used the overcurrent test equipment installed in the high power short-circuit testing facility in the CRIEPI (Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry) in Japan. Several series of tests subjected to 2kA-class overcurrent of six times the allowable current were performed using FR (Flame Retardant)/ Non-FR high-/low-voltage power cables. During these tests, to reproduce the cable fire, one target cable was continuously energized by ring transformers, which confirmed the reliable fire suppression capability of the cooling and suffocation.