NOFIQ® Business Critical Protection

Where can I use NOFIQ to protect my business?

Every building has an electrical switch gear cabinet and/or meter cupboards and control panels. These are the places where a fire can easily occur without your knowledge.

Fire is very destructive. Not only the fire but rather the resulting smoke and soot damage; these have major consequences. Rapid detection and warning before the "real" fire breaks out is therefore of great importance.

NOFIQ focuses on situations where the effects of fire and/or smoke damage are high.
For example:

How common are fires in switch gear cabinets?

Most recently, a fire in the north of Netherlands originated in the fuse box.
The fire spread with disastrous consequences. Both the causes and consequences of this dreadful event had a great impact on man and environment. As a result of this fire a wall collapsed and three firemen were tragically killed.

Then there was a fire in a switch area of a sewage plant in Alkmaar, Netherlands. In this case a complete switch cabinet burned out and other cabinets suffered great smoke and soot damage. The sewage plant also was briefly fully out of use. Probable cause is a short circuit.

Fires also occur in retail sector meter cupboards, switch gear cabinets and control panels.
In the last year there have been several fires with serious consequences. For example a complete shopping mall burned down and several supermarkets were lost. Also an adjacent apartment building had to be evacuated.

What is the advantage of using NOFIQ?

Through quick action and response the NOFIQ system ensures minimal damage caused by the fire. Less damage = less costs.
Every second counts during a fire.
The current fire protection provisions, such as a fire alarm and/or a fire sprinkler system will also detect and fight a fire. But when a fire starts in a switch cabinet these provisions will react much slower than NOFIQ. The probability is that a panel will be destroyed and that the fire, smoke and soot will spread to the surrounding area eventually with serious consequences. In short, the consequential damages can be quite high.

With NOFIQ as a preventive measure, early stage detection and suppression of a fire in a switch cabinet will be very quickly nipped in the bud.

It is estimated that approximately 8% of the total number of registered fires are the result of defects in equipment. Causes of these fires are short circuits, overloading, faulty equipment, improper maintenance and components subject to wear.

Can I apply NOFIQ everywhere?

The NOFIQ20 and/or 80 detect for both carbon monoxide (CO) and temperature increase. The detection levels provide a reliable evidence of a fire before activation.

The detection levels of carbon monoxide (CO) and temperature have been verified by extensive testing. These tests were conducted in switch cabinets with and without ventilation. The carbon monoxide (CO) sensor will detect a fire a very early stage (pyrolysis phase) and send an "early warning" PRE ALERT.

For a fire alarm and activation of the extinguisher the following values must be achieved:

A CO value of 20 PPM or more and a temperature difference of 2ºC per minute and/or an increase in temperature to 50 ºC;
Or a temperature difference of 5 ºC per minute and/or an increase in temperature to 54 ºC. The human factor is excluded in the NOFIQ system. The system cannot be activated manually or accidentally.

The NOFIQ system takes care of continuous monitoring of all components. Every change is immediately passed on from the NOFIQ components. Every five (5) minutes a "heartbeat" is sent across the network to the NOFIQ BASE.
The NOFIQ BASE will register these and when a component fails to send a heartbeat the NOFIQ BASE will record and report it as a failure. Even in case of a power failure or low battery this will be reported.
For the protected object, the NOFIQ 20 and/or 80 continuously monitor for carbon monoxide and the temperature inside a cabinet.
When the limits are exceeded NOFIQ will directly warn with a pre-alert or a fire alarm. Any activity and/or failure is communicated to the surroundings. The BRL K21014 standard defines what requirements and parameters have to be met. Based on these parameters, the NOFIQ system received a product certificate.