The Armed Forces of Ecuador installed an integrated security system in order to protect one of the largest powder magazines in that country. SECURITY SALES was present and got to know the final product up close.
by Duván Chaverra Agudelo
Ecuador is a country full of history, culture, pleasant places and friendly people who love their land. I witnessed this recently, when I visited the South American country. But despite all these characteristics, Ecuador, like the rest of the countries of the world, has to protect itself and always be prepared to defend its sovereignty and take care of its inhabitants.
I arrived in Quito, invited by the integrating company Siaproci, with the aim of knowing one of the most important security projects carried out in that country in recent times and that involves nothing more or nothing less than the Armed Forces of Ecuador.
From Quito we travel to the city of Manta, known for being the first tuna port in the world. Very close to there is a town called Jaramijó, where the army decided to strategically locate the powder magazines that store an ammunition that aims to protect the civilian population, especially the people who live in nearby towns, and also take care of the members of the army in charge of operating them.
After a short but hot drive we arrived at the place that motivated our visit. In the middle of an intense sun we toured each of the powder magazines. "The project consists of the installation of an integrated electronic safety system to protect the powder magazines of Jaramijó. The powder magazine is a storage center for the ammunition of the armed forces, a civil construction resistant to possible explosions," said engineer Patricio Fustillos, commercial manager of Siaproci.
This project included the installation of different security systems such as infrastructure, CCTV, fire detection, temperature and relative humidity recording and integration, which will be described below.
Infrastructure
The first solution was to have an appropriate infrastructure to interconnect the different subsystems. A fiber optic ring was created where switches with Garrett brand extreme environment specifications were used. In each powder keg unit there is a switch to which the communication of all the safety subsystems will arrive. Fiber optics to the field arrive from the monitoring center.
Video
For perimeter they placed two cameras of the Icxt brand called Illuminator. They are made up of the camera unit and a high-power illuminator of 75,000 lux, so they are able to activate search lighting or flash illumination at distances greater than 200 meters. In the internal area an Axis IP camera was placed for each door of the powder magazine unit, so that at all times there are recordings about the operations of the storage units. The cameras have certain intelligent video features which allows you to have video alert strategies.
Fire detection
Siaproci took into account that the equipment used had to be special and with classifications for hazardous environments. "A Notifier brand detection panel was chosen, which is capable of integrating the entire evacuation audio system to synchronize alarm events. In the field, extreme condition amplifiers were installed that allow alerting with pre-recorded messages about possible alarm events in the units; the interconnection of the central panel to the remote amplifiers is in digital audio with fiber optic connection."
In each powder keg unit, warning lights and manual stations with explosion-proof classification were placed in a wiring network that runs through all the units. They installed high-performance Notifier sources, which in turn are monitored by the central fire panel and have the ability to solve power failures with backup batteries.
Siaproci also used Vesda suction systems to obtain early warnings in the storage units: "A piping system was installed in each powder magazine to allow vacuuming the internal environment and lead to the analysis of a Vesda unit, in order to have early information of the change of conditions that can lead to problems that cause a fire or explosion", the engineer explained.
Temperature and relative humidity
To record these variables in the units, they selected Dwyer brand sensors that take these two measurements and deliver these values in 4-20 mA to Moxa brand IP conversion modules. So it was possible to have the variables available in an IP channel.
Integration platform
To integrate and manage all the systems mentioned above, Siaproci used the Lenel platform. "It performs the integration of the video and access control subsystems, while managing an alarm manager solution. It is one of the few systems that supports open intercom protocols, in this case we chose OPC to interface the need to have fire data and the humidity and temperature system," added Fustillos.
But to collect the data from the fire panel and the temperature variable system it was necessary to install an OPC integration software. "Honeywell's matrikon developer developed OPC integration software that allows many solutions to be interconnected on open platforms and delivered to Lenel, on these variables in OPC, alarms and events as a server. In this case, the Notifier panel was integrated into this scheme using a Notifier gateway in bus mode over IP. In matrikon OPC Modus was used. To integrate the humidity and temperature variables of Moxa, an OPC Modus interface was also used, developing the historical and real-time record of the variable on the trend capacity of Matrikon", explained the engineer Fustillos.
For future installations
On this structure, the Ecuadorian firm plans to integrate access control as well as thermal cameras and perimeter detection by radar. "The security of several powder magazine commands within the country will be unified in a large monitoring and control center, suitable for the need for synchronization and centralization of security on these national projects."
The CCTV system
We found that each of the 24 chambers installed in the powder magazines are strategically located to fulfill differential functions. These are monitored in a control room, which has capacity for two operators with four 52" monitors. In addition to surveillance and security, this system records the temperature and relative humidity variables of ammunition storage, allowing the user to make decisions about the likelihood of the ammunition."
Results
Captain Miguel Araque, technical leader of the project, expressed to VENTAS DE SEGURIDAD the objectives they had with the project. "For us it is very important to protect the ammunition we store in the powder magazines, but it is even more important to protect the lives of the people who enter these sites and that is why we decided to install a security system with the latest technology."
After observing the project, Captain Araque expressed his satisfaction and assured that with the passage of time the Armed Forces of Ecuador will continue to reinforce security in the jaramijó powder magazines. "This is a very important investment for Ecuador and we will continue to improve the aspects we consider appropriate."
For his part, the engineer Fustillos, corroborates what Captain Araque said, arguing that "the end user is satisfied with the fulfillment of the specifications proposed at the beginning, for this reason he is using the initial platform to expand the implementations, as is the case of the installation of perimeter radars and the enterprise growth plan".
VENTAS DE SEGURIDAD witnessed a large-scale project, with the latest technology and which we seek to make known to all our readers so that it works as an example or guide for the projects of each of the integrators, distributors and manufacturers that follow us.
BOX S
Installed equipment
Thermal Cameras: two
Illuminator Cameras: two
Axis Cameras :22
Fire Audio Amplifiers : 4
Manual stations: 22
Fire early warning systems : 22
Integration
Integrating firm: Siaproci Cia Ltda.
Manufacturers involved: Lenel, Notifier, Icxt, Vesda, Garrett, Pelco, Axis, Matrikon, Dwyer, Moxa.
Contacts: Patricio Fustillos.
Email: [email protected]
Company covered with the installation: Joint Command of the Armed Forces of Ecuador.
Installation dates: September - December 2010.
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