The safe choice Pirelli has been producing Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSOH) cables for more than 20 years. LSOH cables have generally been a niche product, for special uses. The new Afumex range, building on Pirelli s experience and continuous R&D activities, now allows the high performance and safety features of these products to be used in a much wider field of applications. Now real safety is possible and easy Fire resistant LSOH cables Continuos operation in fire for emergency and vital circuits (IEC331, IEC754, IEC1034, IEC332-3) LSOH and fire retardant Prevent spread of fire and guarantee safety for people and property (IEC754, IEC1034, IEC332-3C) Ecology Line Flame and fire retardant Prevent spread of fire (IEC 332.1, IEC 332.3C) and contain no harmful metals (e.g. lead) Traditional standard cables No specific safety requirement Ecology Line The evolution of safety
PIRELLI CABLES AND SYSTEMS www.pirelli.com Ediz. 1-09/2000
AFUMEX LSOH CABLES The safe choice
...for people Halogen gases (e.g. HCI) decrease muscular reactivity and are highly corrosive: they can cause devastating damage to electrical/electronic devices, building materials, furnishing, etc. don t make it worse... The danger of fire to human life is often taken for granted until there a disaster. Although cables rarely prove to be the cause of fire, they can be a vehicle for flame propagation and generate smoke, corrosive gases and other toxic fumes. These gases spread much more quickly than the actual flames of a fire, and reach life threatening levels with alarming velocity. Many fires in the past have unfortunately been a testament to PROPAGATION T,% CONCENTRATION HUMAN TRESHOLD TIME Emission propagation MINUTES Fire propagation Temperature Emission Smoke, CO 2, CO, other toxic emissions and highly corrosive halogen gases are released during fire. Smoke reduces visibility impairing capacity to escape, generating panic, and multiplying difficulties for fire fighters. CO 2 increases breathing frequency and generates panic. CO reduces blood oxygen concentration leading to death. SMOKE EMISSION 100 CO EMISSION 600 75 VISIBILITY TRESHOLD 400 50 200 25 concentration MINUTES MINUTES LSOH cables Standard cable LSOH cable Standard cable this. Fumes spread faster......and reach deadly levels very quickly Fumes are the No1 killer in a fire. HALOGEN EMISSION 600 400 200 MINUTI LSOH cable Standard cable Due to these factors, the concept of safety for electric cables has evolved from the limitation of fire propagation to the limitation of emission. This new concept of safety provides greater coverage of all the risks associated with fire. Pirelli has developed an effective response to the new concept of safety: Afumex cables. Fire is dangerous: CO (ppm) DISTANCE...and for property TRASMITTANCY (%) HALOGEN (ppm)
Afumex is the solution for total confidence The new family of Afumex cables is based on LSOH (Low Smoke Zero Halogen) materials and complies to the most important European standards for Low Voltage (LV) and Building Wire (BW) cables. The aim of the Pirelli Afumex project was to develop thermoplastic materials with high level of mechanical and electrical performance and excellent fire propagation resistance (according to the IEC international standard). The development of the AFUMEX cable range has been the direct result of ongoing research and development activities in the field of plastic materials by Pirelli. Due to recent advances, patented by Pirelli, AFUMEX cables introduce substantial improvements over traditional products, especially in terms of performance under emergency situations, such as fire. Following stringent and repeated testing, Pirelli has been able to generate evidence supporting the advantages of the AFUMEX cable range, as follows: A) extremely low emission of carbon monoxide (CO), substantially below inhabitable levels. CO is particularly dangerous due to the complete absence of any colour or odour. B) no halogen gas emission. Of all the halogen gases the most dangerous is hydrochloric acid (HCl) and can be particularly aggressive with the electronic equipment and components as well as being harmful for the human respiratory system. C) low emission of opaque smoke, substantially under the minimal threshold of visibility, there by assisting evacuation procedures and allowing emergency services to carry out rescue operations more easily. D) conformity with the levels of safety stipulated in the international standard IEC 332 Part 3, for the propagation of fire. E) in harmony with the philosophy of European standards for safeguarding our environment (ISO 14000), the complete absence of lead in any of the cable materials enables AFUMEX to be disposed more easily (a problem for traditional products). A REAL-LIFE TEST TO SHOW THE AFUMEX PERFORMANCES This test simulates a real fire. 1 kv Cables (3x2.5 mm 2 ) are placed in vertical formation inside a controlled room. Visual inspection and quantitative analisys show the completely different behaviour of Afumex (on the right) compared to standard cables (on the left). After only 60 seconds, the standard cables have given off a large quantity of dense black smoke. While Afumex cables guarantee high levels of visibility for an extended period of time. 20 SECONDS 40 SECONDS 60 SECONDS standard Afumex standard Afumex standard Afumex
Cables to cover many applications from 450/750 V to 0.6/1 kv Industry APPLICATIONS Afumex cables provide safety where expensive equipment or crucial processes are at risk. Control rooms, switchboards, panels, white rooms are a typical application (i.e. in powerplants, petrochemical industry, electronics, mines, paper industry). Infrastucture Where a large nuber of people congregate, often in an unfamiliar environment (such as in airports, stations, indoors sports stadiums, concert arenas etc.), fire becomes potentially very dangerous. Afumex guarantees the necessary level of safety, both by avoiding panic-generating fumes and toxic gases and also by aiding the intervention of fire fighters. Commercial A wide number of applications are covered by Afumex. In case of fire Safety for people in hotels, hospitals, schools, cinemas, discos, banks, commercial centers, offices is threatened by a number of factors and reaction time in case of an emergency can be slower than normal. Afumex provides the extra time for a safe escape. Residential The level of safety in our homes can be significantly increased by the use of Afumex cables. Afumex, whilst being a worthwile improvement in all situations, becomes essential when the property is of particular interest (historical buildings, valuable furnishings) or if it poses potential risks in case of fire (e.g. low speed of evaquation)