NFPA Journal - May/June 2019 - 62

TECH
Three components of smart technology have
been added to this dry sprinkler valve. Two
pressure sensors attached below the valve's
gauges continuously collect information on
air and water pressure. Cables connect the
sensors to an interface device, attached to
the valve's pipe, which wirelessly transmits
that information to a database where it can
be used by facility managers, inspectors, and
others to identify potential problems.

AIR PRESSURE SENSOR

WATER PRESSURE SENSOR

"sensors, microprocessors, data storage,
controls, software, and ... an embedded
operating system," the article added.
The marriage of smart devices to
fire and life safety can be traced to the
Smart Firefighting Project, a 2012 effort
by the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST). The project
lasted years and outlined goals for
decreasing fatalities, injuries, and property losses from fires through the use of
smart technologies in firefighter equipment and apparatus as well as in the
built environment. A 2015 report on the
project, "Research Roadmap for Smart
Fire Fighting," found that while "some
smart systems are already implemented,
huge challenges remain in terms of
engineering these products and systems
to attain their full potential."
Four years later, experts are beginning to paint a different picture. As
codes and standards have started to

62 | NFPA JOURNAL * M A Y / J U N E 2 0 1 9

recognize the potential of smart technology, manufacturers are finally ready
to push their products into a market
ripe for development.
For building safety professionals, this
represents an exciting time. The addition of smart technology to fire and life
safety building systems will present
many benefits with minimal risk, said
Robert Solomon, director of NFPA's
Building Fire Protection Division. "I'm
fascinated by this stuff," he said. "The
more data we can collect and use from
these devices, the more efficiencies we
can create."
Smart technology is a prevailing
theme at the upcoming NFPA Conference & Expo in San Antonio, Texas,
in June, and a number of conference
events will explore the ways smart tech
is already integrated-or soon could
be-into fire and life safety building systems, both in and outside of the home.

Terry Victor is passionate about eliminating what he believes are outdated,
ineffective practices for the inspection,
testing, and maintenance of fire protection equipment. In today's digital
age, better practices are available, he
contends. Victor, senior manager of
industry relations at Johnson Controls,
sits on over a dozen NFPA technical
committees, and he will co-present two
education sessions related to smart
building technology at C&E.
As an example, a requirement in
NFPA 20, Standard for the Installation
of Stationary Pumps for Fire Protection,
is intended to determine if the casing
on a fire pump gets too hot when the
pump is in operation. "Right now, the
inspector goes into the pump room,
runs the pump, and puts his hand
on the casing-if it's his opinion that
the casing isn't getting too hot, then
it's fine," Victor told me in a recent
interview. "So this all depends on how
tough the guy's hand is." It goes without saying that this practice is far from
an exact science. Heat tolerance on
the skin varies from person to person,
which is why seasoned chefs can grasp
a sizzling pot that would cause most
people to recoil in pain.
A much better solution, Victor said,
would be to affix a smart device to the
fire pump casing that could monitor
its temperature and immediately send
an alert to the facility manager if the
casing becomes too hot. Such a system
is more reliable and accurate, he added.
Overall, only 25 to 35 percent of fire
and life safety building systems across
the country are being inspected as they
should be currently, Victor estimated.
That's in large part due to a shortage
of qualified inspectors. So, instead of
sending inspectors on the road, where
they can only get to a few job sites a
day, a more efficient process would
employ smart devices that these inspectors can monitor from a laptop, he said.
"Some people worry smart technology will eliminate jobs, but in my
opinion that's not the case," Victor said.
"We would still need these people to
look at the data from these devices and
understand what they're seeing. But
instead of an inspector physically going

JOHNSON CONTROLS

'A lot of efficiencies'

PRESSURE WATCH
NFPA Journal - May/June 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NFPA Journal - May/June 2019
