UltraSense™ Failures in Mission Critic

UltraSense™ is a modular monitoring and early-warning detection platform from Fireaway Inc., the manufacturer of Stat-X^® condensed aerosol fire suppression. A networked base unit is paired with the sensors a site needs, chosen from more than 80 sensor types: thermal imaging, flammable gas, temperature and humidity, power quality, vibration, leaks, dust, and corrosion among them. The base unit reports to the operator’s monitoring, building management, or control system.

Its purpose is to find the conditions that precede equipment failure and fire, such as an overheating connection, a venting battery cell, or a flammable gas release, early enough for the operator to act. Where Stat-X provides suppression once a fire has started, UltraSense provides the monitoring and early warning that precede it.

How it works

The base unit connects to the network over standard Ethernet and can be powered over Ethernet. Sensors connect to the base unit with RJ45 cabling, sensor hubs expand the number of connected sensors, and daisy-chain sensors run in series along busway, cable runs, or equipment racks. Wired and wireless configurations are supported, so a system can start with a few sensors on one enclosure and grow across a facility on the same base equipment.

Sensor readings are viewed through the base unit’s web interface and passed to existing systems over SNMP, Modbus TCP, and MQTT, with Modbus RTU over RS-485 as an option. Warning and alarm thresholds are set per sensor, and alerts are delivered by email, SMS, SNMP trap, or relay contact. Monitoring software that runs on the customer’s own systems is also available.

Applications

• Battery energy storage systems, from container to cabinet scale
• Switchgear, transformers, and busway
• Data center white space, colocation rooms, and edge data centers
• IDF, MDF, and network rooms
• Solar inverter and combiner enclosures
• Wind turbine nacelles

Application-by-application detail is on ultrasense.net.

Sensor categories

• Thermal: Thermal imaging sensors in four sizes, infrared spot sensors with 5°, 12°, and 35° fields of view, and daisy-chained temperature sensors for continuous hot-spot monitoring of connections, breakers, and bus bars.
• Gas: The Flammable Gas Sensor (ULT-R-GAS-FLAMMABLE) measures 11 flammable gases from 0 to 100 %LEL, reports a VOC index, and is calibration free. It is the off-gas and thermal runaway detection sensor for lithium-ion battery storage.
• Environmental: Temperature, humidity, airflow, air pressure, water leak, dust, ozone, and corrosion sensors.
• Power: AC power quality, AC power failure, AC current, DC voltage, grounding, battery monitoring, and fuel level sensors for inverter, combiner, and distribution enclosures and standby systems.
• Mechanical and access: Vibration, door, and motion sensors.

Part numbers and datasheets for each sensor are on the UltraSense products page.

UltraSense and Stat-X together

Fireaway’s approach is prevent, detect, suppress. UltraSense provides the first two stages and Stat-X the third, and the two are installed in the same enclosures: battery containers and cabinets, switchgear and control cabinets, transformer and inverter enclosures, and wind turbine nacelles.

UltraSense alerts and relay outputs can be used as inputs to the fire alarm and releasing control panel that controls a Stat-X system. Release of the suppression system remains the function of that listed panel under NFPA 72 and NFPA 2010 or the equivalent local codes, which set the release logic, time delay, and abort functions. How the two are combined is decided in system design and reviewed by the authority having jurisdiction.