{"id":3542,"date":"2014-02-26T16:58:26","date_gmt":"2014-02-26T21:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/assuredautomation.com\/news-and-training\/?p=3542"},"modified":"2023-02-20T10:06:56","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T15:06:56","slug":"emergency-block-valves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/assuredautomation.com\/news-and-training\/emergency-block-valves\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Block Valves with Fusible Links & Electro-thermal Shutoffs Increase Safety Factor"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FM<\/a>
FM Fire-Safe Thermal & Electro- Thermal Shutoff Valves with Fusible Links<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The FM Fire-Safe Electro-Thermal Link ball valve is activated by either heat or signal from smoke detector to dump flammable fluids to another source.
\n<\/em>The fire safe thermal shutoff closes to prevent fueling of a fire in petroleum and chemical processing plants.<\/em><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

In his presentation on Emergency Block Valves (EBV)<\/a> to the AIChE sponsored Global Congress on Process Safety, Joe Viviano, a process engineer at Technip, cited PG&E\u2019s true cost of not using EBVs on a pipeline: the damages and claims for the 2010 San Bruno, CA, gas main break exceeds over $1 billion. Regulators agree that EBVs would have mitigated the damage by reducing the hour and 47 minutes it took to manually shut off the gas. Viviano challenges flammable media system operators by asking: \u201cWhen are you really going to get it shut down if it\u2019s manual? And when can you get it isolated? \u2026 Considering a lot of fire systems only have a 30-minute rating, there\u2019s a lot of other subsequent damage that occurs from not being able to shut off your source soon enough.\u201d (Sources:\u00a0AIChE Paper Number 150c: \u201cEmergency Block Valves \u2013 A Guide to Selection<\/a>,\u201d Joseph A. Viviano, P.E., 2012; Mercury News, San Jose CA)<\/p>\n

Evaluating EBVs on a cost basis using Dow\u2019s Fire and Explosion Index methodology, an operation can save $350,000 on an installed plant valued at $5,000,000 \u2013 as well as save $300,000 per day of down time resulting from a leakage and potential fire incident. These savings are based on estimated damage value of 70% of installed value and a 10% savings from EBV\/SIS systems, typical in the industry.<\/p>\n

Simple, proven, and Factory Mutual (FM) approved valve assemblies incorporate Emergency Block Valve (EBV) shutoffs with thermal, and even better — electro thermal shutoffs, such as the FM Fire-Safe Thermal and Electro-Thermal shutoffs<\/a>, available from Assured Automation\u00ae.<\/p>\n

According to Henry Febo of Factory Mutual, thermal shut-offs are widely used and provide a generally accepted, inexpensive layer of safety. An automatic trigger to shut the flow of flammable media in the event of fire, answers the question, who turns off the fire-safe valve during a fire — the fusible link assembly automatically stops the flow of flammables.<\/p>\n

Although the usage of thermal shutoffs is relatively widespread in the industry, process designers are only beginning to learn about, and adopt electro-thermal shutoffs. This allows the EBV to be automatically shut off in response to a signal as well as in response to heat and manual manipulation. The electro component can be triggered by a number of sensors, including smoke detectors or pressure drops, adding another layer of automatic protection.<\/p>\n

The multiple layers of protection offered by an FM FireSafe Electro-thermal shutoff <\/a>assembly include:<\/p>\n

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  1. Thermal shutoff in the event of fire<\/li>\n
  2. U.L. listed Electro shutoff in the event of a signal from a smoke detector, gas sensor, or pressure drop sensors<\/li>\n
  3. Local manual shutoff in the event of tank leakage<\/li>\n
  4. Remote manual shutoff in the event of leakage of toxic vapors<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To make it simple for process engineers to design, quote and order electro-thermal and EBV assemblies such as the FM approved Fire-Safe Shutoff, Assured Automation\u2019s has released an online configurator to select assembly components. The configurator gives assembly options for:<\/p>\n