The performance of walls, columns, floors and other building elements when exposed to fire conditions is of extreme importance in ensuring safety to both the public and neighbouring structures. In order to acquire information on this performance, it is necessary to measure the fire-resistive properties of the materials and assemblies in question.
Fire Resistance Test Furnace is the apparatus that helps evaluate the fire resistance of a horizontal or vertical construction assembly, column, or support, and provides a method of quantifying the ability of products such as doors and dampers, and building materials to withstand exposure to high temperatures. This is done by evaluating a number of performance elements such as; the load-bearing capacity, the ability to provide fire containment and the thermal transmittance of the materials and systems.
Features & Benefits
- The capability of carrying out test on vertical and horizontal test specimens that are mounted on custom made restraint frames.
- A Hydraulic Tilting System is provided to enable the Furnace to be positioned either upright for testing items such as walls and doors, or on a horizontal plane for testing floors and ceilings.
- A furnace refractory lining comprised of insulating fire bricks, refractory castables and mineral boards. The roof is lined with profiled bricks and anchored with cast refractories in situ.
- A furnace casing made of mild steel plates reinforced with steel C-Channels, I-Beams and steel sections to counter structural distortion due to heat steel casing lined with mineral fibreboard on the cold face and refractory insulating bricks anchored back to the wall with high temperature cast in-situ blocks, on the hot face.
- 4 sets of viewing ports made of heat resistant quartz glass are placed at strategic locations on the long side wall. This will enable the operator to view the complete test specimen during a fire test.
- A light weight alumina fibreboard sliding door enclosed within the insulated, air-cooled frame. This will shield off the furnace heat when the viewing ports are not in use.
- 20 sets of Refractory Nozzle Mix Burners. Each burner will have a flame supervision unit to ensure that all combustion units operate on a fail safe mode at all times. 10 burners are installed on each of the left side and right side of the furnace wall. Each burner is designed to use liquefied petroleum gas.
- A Furnace Combustion Control Panel designed to operate on both fully automatic and manual control modes.
- Automatic ignition of the burners is through the use of one push button switch. This fires up the burners based on a preset heating curve, such as that described in BS 476 Parts 20-24, EN 1363 and the IMO Hydrocarbon Curve. Manual burner control enables individual burners to be ignited at will.
