![]() ![]() The panel may employ a graphical representation of the zone boundaries on a floor plan (zone map) using textual descriptions, illuminated icons, illuminated sections, or illuminated points on the map corresponding to initiating circuits connected to the fire alarm control panel. The state of each initiating device circuit within a zone displays at the fire alarm control panel using visible indications, such as a flashing LED/light or an LCD display. A very simple system may have a small number of zones.Īn Initiating Device Circuit (known as a Signalling Line Circuit (SLC) in addressable systems) connected to multiple devices within the same "zone" of protection, effectively provides 3 distinct states of information about the zone to the panel: Normal, Trouble, or Alarm. ![]() Floors of a multi-storey building are one type of zone boundary. To facilitate location and control of fire within a building, the structure usually is subdivided into distinct identified areas or zones. In a conventional fire alarm system, the information density or resolution is limited to the number of such individual wired circuits installed. These sensors are designed to dramatically decrease the circuit resistance (a "closed" state) when the environmental conditions on any sensor exceed a predetermined trigger threshold. Conventional panels are used less frequently in large buildings than in the past, but are still seen on smaller projects such as small schools, stores, restaurants, and apartment buildings.Ī conventional fire alarm control panel employs one or more electrical signalling circuits (each a pair of wires), connected to initiating devices (usually smoke detectors, heat detectors, duct detectors, manual pull stations, and sometimes flame detectors) wired in parallel. " Conventional" panels have been around ever since electronic components became small enough to make them viable replacements for the historic electromechanical control panels. These panels are not common today, but can sometimes be found in older buildings such as those on college campuses or hospitals.Ĭlassic electromechnical coded panels using relays and coded interruptor wheels are functionally obsolete, and have been largely replaced. However, it could also be used as its own zone, with the connected horns or bells sounding continuously instead of in a particular code. Normally, this would be used in a system with coded pull stations to re-transmit the coding strikes from the pulls. Common one-zone codes were 4-4-0 and 17-0-0 (which is similar to the 120 bpm March Time setting used on later panels this in turn has been replaced with an interrupted four-count uniform temporal code 3 pattern used since 1996).Īlternatively, the panel could be made with no code wheels, using only what was called the gong relay. Most of the time, the panel would only have one zone, and therefore, only one code. Smaller panels could be set up in one of two ways. Lists of codes had to be maintained, sometimes with copies posted above pull stations (this setup is commonly seen in older wings of hospitals). Large panels could take up an entire wall in a mechanical room, with dozens of code wheels. ![]() an alarm in zone 1 would sound code 1-2-4, while zone 2 would sound 1-2-5), which, depending on the way the panel was set up, would either do sets of four rounds of code until the initiating pull station was reset (similar to a coded pull station), or run continuously until the panel itself was reset. A coded panel is similar in many ways to a modern conventional panel (described below), except each zone was connected to its own code wheel (i.e. There are four basic types of panels: coded panels, conventional panels, addressable panels, and multiplex systems.Ĭoded panels were the earliest type of central fire alarm control, and were made during the 1800s to the 1970s. ![]() The panel may also supply electrical energy to operate any associated initiating device, notification appliance, control, transmitter, or relay. The panel receives information from devices designed to detect and report fires, monitors their operational integrity, and provides for automatic control of equipment, and transmission of information necessary to prepare the facility for fire based on a predetermined sequence. Fire Alarm Control Panels Fire Alarm Control PanelsFire alarm control panels are control panels you will use in conjunction with your fire control system and emergency activation points.How do they work?They work by linking up your control panel with certain 'zones' of control that will have their own fire detection or fire activation points that will then signal the control panel to sound the alarm.A fire alarm control panel ( FACP), fire alarm control unit ( FACU), fire indicator panel ( FIP), or simply fire alarm panel is the controlling component of a fire alarm system. ![]()
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