Contrary to the opinion of many, most fires are not extinguished with water but at the desk during the construction and planning phase – as this is where preventive fire protection takes place, by which most fires are extinguished as they do not even happen at all.
The dilemma in which architects and planners stuck is always the same: Design ideas conflict with fire regulations of the legislature. Compromises are out of the question for safety reasons.
The result so far is often the return of design ambitions:
As, according to § 14 MBO, constructional facilities are to be arranged, build, modified and maintained in such a way that the outbreak and spreading of fire and smoke is prevented and in the event of a fire rescue of people and animals as well as effective extinguishing has to be ensured.
The floor or the roof avoids that the smoke and fire column can draw off upwards. This means that smoke and hot fire gases rise and spread below the ceiling. Dangerous impenetrable black smoke fills the whole room from top to bottom quickly. Since space is completely smoldered during very short time, rescue of human life and targeted extinguishing work are considerably more difficult or even completely impossible.
The amounts of flue gases with their different toxicity can lead to worst losses and their danger is often underestimated.
Water extinguishing systems are used to extinguish fires. Their primarily function is to cool down the thermal load and to damp it with water in advance. Due to this a further spread of fire is to be prevented or at least reduced.
Smoke and heat extraction comprises two areas: Firstly, smoke gases are exhausted already during the first phase of a fire. Secondly, the live-saving escape routes to rescue own or foreign life, as well as to provide attack routes for the fire brigade can be passed through more easy.
The additional discharge of heat through Louvre Windows reduces the thermal load on statically important building parts during the blazing fire phase, thus extends their stability period.
Exhausting of smoke and gas can be carried with either natural smoke and heat extraction devices (NSHV) or mechanically controlled smoke and heat suction devices.
Due to the high flow efficiency provided, short opening times and the wide opening areas, Louvre Windows work as natural smoke ventilation devices. The opening angle of louvres can be set individually from 0-89° (depending on vent- and operation type). In the event of fire, the louvres open to their maximum automatically by getting the feedback signal from the smoke detectors sent from the building control panel. As integrated part of fire protection and smoke ventilation, Louvre Windows ensure free escape routes and optimized smoke extraction in the event of a fire.
HAHN Louvre Windows are certified according EN 12101-2 and have excellent ventilation values.
Interesting for building owners as well as for architects: Fire protection with no extra cost. The decision for Louvre Windows as natural ventilation unit does also cover the fire protection regulations.
There is nothing worse than failure of rescue technology in an emergency.
For this reason, the legislature foresees that fire protection systems are closely monitored. According to safety statistics done by the FVLR (German specialist association for daylight and smoke control e.V.), 98.87% of all smoke ventilation systems maintained were fully functional even after many years.
The identified deficiencies of the remaining systems happened due to mistakes at installation and/or operation of units as well as on maintenance deficiencies. The result of this study confirms that the decision for Louvre Windows is a good and safe decision on long term.
At HAHN Lamellen, service means above all competence and continuity.
HAHN Lamellen's expert consultants accompany architects, window manufacturers and building owners through all phases of a project. With many years of experience and technical expertise, they provide advice during all processes and support with exactly the information and files you need at the time. Individual requests and special dimensions are routine for us and do not upset anyone.