5 Additional performance-based system design requirements
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Statutory Documents - IMO Publications and Documents - Circulars - Maritime Safety Committee - MSC.1/Circular.1430 – Revised Guidelines for the Design and Approval of Fixed Water-Based Fire-Fighting Systems for Ro-Ro Spaces and Special Category Spaces – (31 May 2012) - Annex – Revised Guidelines for the Design and Approval of Fixed Water-Based Fire-Fighting Systems for Ro-Ro Spaces and Special Category Spaces - 5 Additional performance-based system design requirements

5 Additional performance-based system design requirements

 In addition to the requirements in section 3, systems designed with this approach should comply with paragraphs 5.1 to 5.6.

  5.1 The system should be capable of fire suppression and control and be tested to the satisfaction of the Administration in accordance with the appendix to these Guidelines.

  5.2 The nozzle location, type of nozzle and nozzle characteristics should be within the limits tested to provide fire suppression and control as referred to in paragraph 5.1.

  5.3 System designs should be limited to the use of the maximum and minimum temperature ratings of the thermally sensitive fire detection devices tested to provide fire suppression and control as referred to in paragraph 5.1.

  5.4 The capacity of the system water supply should be sufficient for the total simultaneous coverage of the minimum coverage area of table 5-1 and the vertically applicable area as defined in paragraph 3.22, and the requirements of paragraph 5.5.

Table 5-1 Minimum coverage area per type of system

Type of system (Definition number) Minimum coverage area
A. Wet pipe, automatic sprinkler heads (2.18) 280 m2 or area of operation as defined in the fire tests – whichever is larger
B. Deluge system, automatic1 and manual release (2.4) 280 m2 and the overlapping or adjacent section as defined by paragraph 5.5 2
C. Deluge system, manual release (2.5) 2 sections each of min 20 m x B 2,3
D. Other systems (2.6, 2.15) Equivalent to the above systems and to the satisfaction of the Administration

  1 The automatic release should comply with the requirements of paragraph 5.6.

  2 The pump should be sized to cover the largest section for type B systems and the two largest horizontally adjacent sections for type C systems.

  3 B = full breadth of the protected space.

  5.5 The section arrangement for a deluge system with automatic and manual release (system B) should be such that a fire in any location of the border zone between two or more sections would be completely surrounded by activated spray heads, either by activating more than one section or by overlapping sections (whereby two or more sections cover the same area in the vicinity of the border between sections). In case of overlapping sections, such overlap should be a minimum of two times the required spray head spacing of the section in question or five metres, whichever is larger. These overlapping sections need not comply with the minimum width and length requirements of paragraph 3.24.

  5.6 For systems of type B (see table 5-1) an efficient fire detection and fire confirmation system covering all parts of the ro-ro or special category spaces should be provided as follows:

  • .1 the fire detection system shall consist of flame detectors and smoke detectors of approved types. The flame detectors shall be installed under fixed continuous decks according to the limitation and application defined by the maker and the approval certificate. The smoke detector arrangement shall comply with the FSS Code. Additional smoke detectors with a spacing not exceeding 11 m shall be installed under hoistable ramps;

  • .2 a colour TV monitoring system should cover all parts of the ro-ro or special category spaces. Cameras need not be installed below hoistable decks if the camera arrangement can identify smoke (confirm fire) based on positions under a fixed continuous deck; and

  • .3 the relevant section of the deluge system should be automatically released when two detectors covering this area activate. Systems being released when only one detector activates may also be accepted. Automatically released systems should also be capable of manual operation (both opening and closing) of the section valves. The automatic release may be disconnected during on- and off-loading operations, provided that this function is automatically reconnected after a preset time being appropriate for the operations in question.

Parent topic: Annex – Revised Guidelines for the Design and Approval of Fixed Water-Based Fire-Fighting Systems for Ro-Ro Spaces and Special Category Spaces
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