Custom Fire Suppression System for New Stadium: Acromag Case Study

Challenge:

Develop a custom engineered fire suppression system for a new indoor football stadium. Regulations require protection against fire hazards which could occur during monster truck rallies or other events that may have flammable material on the stadium floor area.

Solution:

Akron Brass StreamMaster II Electric Fire Monitors (water cannons) with Style 5177 nozzles (1250 gpm) capable of being controlled remotely and Acromag XT1121-000 Ethernet remote I/O with 16 discrete I/O and i2o peer-to-peer technology.

Result:

As a result, the system was installed and commissioned ahead of schedule, satisfying the stadium owners. After performing actual operation and distance tests, a state fire marshal approved the system.

Summary:

In conclusion, the solution uses (4) remote controlled water cannons mounted above the first level of seating at the 20-yard lines on both sides of the field. When activated, the water stream from each Monitor must travel 275 ft, the center of field, and be controlled remotely. An operator control panel (OCP) with an operator console is located in the stadium security room. The operator would control the direction of each Monitor and open/close each water valve.

The system includes four Monitors together with (4) custom electric motor control panels (MCP). The operator console, with four joy sticks and switches, is wired to the OCP. Inside the OCP, there are (4) Acromag XT1121-000 Ethernet remote I/O modules that receive discrete inputs from the operator console. Communications between the security room and Monitors utilize a high-speed fiber optic network.

Each Monitor is then controlled by a joy stick with four settings; up, down, left and right. Additionally, there are rotary switches for water valve open/close, fog and stream. One XT1121-000 module in the OCP sends commands to another XT1121-000 module located in the field MCP. The technology between the two Acromag XT modules is i2o; a peer-to-peer Ethernet communication. Further, the field XT1121-000 module has outputs that match the inputs to control the Monitor. Likewise, this i2o pair is repeated for all four Monitors.

Click here to learn more about Acromag i2o technology.