The intelligent fire emergency lighting and evacuation guidance system is widely used in hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, office buildings, schools, stadiums, cinemas, airports, waiting rooms (terminals), indoor pedestrian streets, and urban traffic tunnels. It can calculate real-time evacuation routes based on automatic fire alarm information, automatically generating suitable paths for different locations and fire situations. By following the guidance of the evacuation indicator lights, individuals can safely reach the nearest exit without encountering hazardous fire sources.
1 Features of the Intelligent Fire Emergency Lighting and Evacuation Guidance System
The Intelligent Fire Emergency Lighting and Evacuation Guidance System is composed of system components such as fire emergency lighting fixtures, emergency sign lighting fixtures, emergency lighting controllers, emergency lighting centralized power supplies, and emergency lighting distribution boxes, featuring the following functions and characteristics.
(1) Human-Machine Graphical Interface and Equipment Visualization: The intelligent fire emergency lighting and evacuation guidance system utilizes computer graphics interfaces, architectural floor plans, and fire equipment layout plans to display the electronic map of the building. This allows for a direct inquiry into equipment status, showing installation locations, status, and quantities.
(2) Achieving intelligent dynamic evacuation through smart software. The software can comprehensively simulate various disaster scenarios, such as fires within buildings, and quickly adjust the evacuation plan based on the actual conditions of the fire scene and the system's database. It provides safe evacuation guidance paths, automatically turns on emergency lighting and evacuation sign lights, and adjusts the arrow indicators on emergency signs in hazardous areas, realizing intelligent dynamic evacuation [1].
(3) Safety and Reliability: The emergency indicator lights in the system operate at a safe voltage of DC24V/DC36V, ensuring reliable emergency lighting and power supply to guarantee the personal safety of firefighters.
(4) Protect Lighting Fixtures and Reduce Costs. The fire emergency lighting in the system can be of the centralized power supply type without a battery, powered by the system's centralized power source. This reduces the maintenance workload associated with traditional self-powered fire emergency lighting, simplifying maintenance. Additionally, the system can automatically monitor battery status and manage charging/discharging, extending battery life and reducing costs [2-3].
(5) Convenience Maintained. The system host allows for monthly and annual inspections of fire emergency lighting within the system. It provides self-check fault alerts and signal prompts for precise location of the corresponding lights, assisting system maintenance staff in completing the necessary system operations. The operation is simple and the maintenance costs are minimal.
Application of Intelligent Fire Emergency Lighting and Evacuation Guidance System in Construction Projects
The office building of a certain construction project (industrial project) consists of one underground level and seven above-ground levels. The basement is used for parking and equipment rooms, while the above-ground levels house various functional spaces. The total floor area is 11,993 square meters, with a building height of 32 meters. It is classified as a second-class public building, featuring a fire-resistant grade of level one and a reinforced concrete core tube frame structure. A centralized control-type fire emergency lighting and evacuation guidance system is selected, which includes an emergency lighting controller (centralized control type), emergency lighting distribution box (with centralized power supply), fire emergency lighting fixtures, and fire emergency sign fixtures, as shown in Figure 1.
2.1 Emergency Lighting Controller
The automatic fire alarm system's main unit is installed in the first floor fire control room, with the emergency lighting controller mounted on the wall inside. The main display screen of the emergency lighting controller is positioned between 15 and 18 meters in height, with a working width of 2 meters on the front operational surface. The emergency lighting controller's power is supplied by a dual-power switching box within the fire control room, requiring an end-of-line switch. In the event of a fire, when the normal circuit is disconnected, the emergency circuit automatically engages, powering the emergency lighting circuit. The backup power supply operates for 180 minutes. The control system for this project utilizes a decentralized centralized power supply, with decentralized centralized power supplied by emergency lighting distribution boxes in each fire compartment. The emergency lighting controller should be capable of automatically or manually controlling connected devices according to pre-set logical relationships, automatically generating optimal evacuation routes based on the location of the fire, promptly changing the direction of evacuation signs, guiding personnel疏散, and dynamically displaying this information on the emergency lighting controller.
2.2 Emergency Lighting Distribution Box
Emergency lighting distribution boxes are installed in each floor's electrical room or shaft, with their power supply coming from the emergency lighting dual power supply switch box. The power supply for the flat evacuation areas is provided by the main power of the emergency lighting distribution box in a trunk or radial configuration.
Emergency Lighting Distribution Box Requirements: The equipment itself should have an address code and be equipped with the function to automatically switch to emergency lighting upon normal power failure. Each output circuit has a voltage of DC 24 V/36 V, with a rated current not exceeding 10 A per circuit, and an installation power of 120/180 W per circuit. The number of lamps connected to any output circuit should not exceed 60, and the total number of output circuits should not exceed 8. The centralized power supply range for this building does not exceed 8 floors. The capacity of the centralized power supply within the emergency lighting distribution box is designed as 1,000 W and can be installed in an electrical shaft, which should be properly fire-sealed as required. The emergency lighting distribution box system with its own power source for this project is shown in Figure 2.
2.3 Emergency Fire Lighting Equipment
Fire Emergency Lighting Requirements: LED sources must be used with working voltages of DC 24V/36V, achieving a luminous efficacy of not less than 80 lm/W. Anti-glare measures should be in place, with a flame-retardant lampshade and a metallic lamp housing. An indicator light should be visible from the exterior surface to show normal and fault states. The 5W lighting fixture, tubular lighting fixture, and 12W round ceiling-mounted lighting fixture can be equipped with radar sensors for automatic on-delay and off functions. The radar sensor requires the fixture to operate at full power when activated. For office lobbies, conference rooms, and other densely populated areas with a floor area exceeding 400 m2, the horizontal illuminance on the ground should not be less than 3.0 lx. In electrical rooms and fire control rooms that need to remain operational and staffed during a fire, normal lighting levels should be provided. Lighting in fire control rooms is powered by the double power supply switch box within the fire control room, ensuring normal operation during emergencies.
Fire Emergency Sign Lighting
For emergency lighting and evacuation sign lighting selection, the project should use Type A luminaires and opt for energy-efficient light sources. Emergency sign luminaires should be installed at the bends of evacuation corridors and in the stairwells of basements. Rooms where the distance from the farthest point to the room's exit exceeds 15 meters should have fire emergency sign luminaires. The fire emergency exit indicator lights indicating the exits should face the interior of the building for visibility, and be mounted 0.1 meters above the door frame. Evacuation indicator lights set in corridors and stairwells should be mounted on the walls, with the bottom edge 0.5 meters from the ground, in compliance with the system's technical standards.
Fire Emergency Lighting and Evacuation Guidance
3.1 System Overview
The fire emergency lighting and evacuation guidance system is primarily composed of emergency lighting controllers, fire emergency lighting centralized power supplies or emergency lighting distribution boxes, and fire emergency lighting fixtures. This system is entirely independently developed by Acrel, in compliance with the current national industry standards, and is capable of data exchange and sharing with platforms such as the AcrelEMS corporate microgrid management cloud platform or fire automatic alarm systems.
When used in conjunction with a fire alarm control panel, this system continuously monitors and controls the equipment within the system, facilitating daily management and maintenance, and ensuring stable system operation. Based on this, it guarantees accurate redirection of fire emergency sign lighting during fires, illuminating emergency lighting, assisting people inside the building in choosing evacuation routes, guiding safe escape directions, and protecting public safety. It alleviates concerns over potential safety issues for various users.
3.2 Application Scenarios
Fire emergency lighting and evacuation signage systems designed for a variety of industries including residential, hotel, office buildings, shopping complexes, tunnel galleries, rail transit, underground parking, warehouses, and factories.
3.3 System Structure
4 System Features
4.1 Main System Operation Interface
The toolbar, flat display, layer list, and status bar provide a clear view of the monitoring device's operational status, allowing for direct navigation to the specific location of any fault based on the content displayed in the status bar.
4.2 Lighting Configuration Interface
View all lighting status and quantities.
4.3 Information Interface
Users can view historical operations, fault, and event information, and can search by date.
4.4 Permission Management Interface
The system primarily consists of emergency start, emergency stop, and manual fire alarm. The emergency start and stop are used to test whether the emergency functions of the equipment are operating normally, while the manual fire alarm test specifically checks the system's startup under the conditions of an actual fire.
5 System Hardware Configuration
5.1 Emergency Lighting Controller Selection
5.2 Emergency Lighting Central Power Supply
5.3 Explosion-proof Emergency Lighting Central Power Supply
5.4 Type A Central Power Concentrated Control Lighting Selection
Conclusion
In the new era, intelligent fire emergency lighting and evacuation guidance systems provide necessary illumination and quick, safe evacuation route information for individuals within buildings, enhancing the efficiency of evacuation and reducing the harm caused by disasters. With the advancement of science and technology and new requirements of building regulations, the system must continuously innovate and be tailored for each project to offer more intelligent and robust safety guarantees.
