Beam detection has always been seen as the most economical way to protect large areas, but in the past this was seen as unreliable. Building movement and accessibility made beam detection unreliable, difficult, time consuming to commission and hard to maintain. Only now, with the introduction of The Fire Beam’s advanced technology, is reliability no longer a problem and beam detection be used with complete confidence.

The Fire Beam will self-align itself to the centre of the reflector when commissioning and will automatically keep alignment when building movement occurs. This intelligent motorisation will mean less false alarms therefore saving time, resources, reputations and ultimately money.

So what makes The Fire Beam different?

Two main attributes make The Fire Beam stand out from the crowd. A motorised beam head that continually self-aligns, and a low level controller from which all major functions can be performed.

The Motorised Head

Up until now, aligning an optical beam could well have been a nightmare, often giving uncertain results that can lead to false alarms. By utilising motors within the beam head The Fire Beam can make commissioning a safer and more accurate procedure. Our unique method of using high quality stepper motors allows us to make micro adjustments of just 1/40 of 1 degree to the beam head. This is automatically controlled by software which finds and continually monitors its position in relation to the reflector. A simple commissioning procedure ensures that you achieve perfect alignment every time and that your beam will keep that alignment.

Building movement is the enemy of beam detection, as the smallest movement of a building through heat changes or settlement will move a beam off its target (imagine a couple of degrees of movement in a 100m building). The Fire Beam will continually monitor any movement and re-align itself automatically. How many times have you had to return to a site and re-align beams at high level, and at what expense?

The Low Level Controller

Low level control means just that. Once you have the head in place and wired in, you can make any changes and adjustments you want from ground level. You can:

  • commission the beam from ground level
  • manually move the beam head
  • view the air quality
  • view the status of the beam
  • change sensitivity thresholds
  • change the time to fire and fault
  • make the alarm latching or non latching
  • turn on and off the green flashing light
  • see fire and fault counts
  • see how much compensation has been made for dirt build up (you will only have to clean the head and reflector when it needs it)
  • complete a self test
  • turn the beam on and off (it will reset itself after 8 hours)
  • adjust output and receiver settings
  • and even monitor the temperature at the beam head!

Additional Features

Up to 160 Metre Range: With new enhanced optics you can cover distances up to 160 metres, meaning for distances over 100 metres you no longer need to use two beams, saving both time and money.

Very Low Power: using only 3.5mA any state opens up a whole world of options. In some cases you can loop power the beam, for instance using an Apollo xp95 mini switch monitor allows you do just that and turns the conventional Fire Beam into an addressable unit.

IP65: means no ingress whatsoever making The Fire Beam ideal for environments, such as food processing halls, as it can be hosed down. IP65 also means nasty little creatures can’t set up home inside and jeopardise the effectiveness of the detector.

Easy Clean Lenses: The Fire Beam has been designed to be easily cleaned due to its flat surfaces. Unlike other beams all the moving optics are safely encased inside the waterproof enclosure so you won’t accidentally knock the beam out of alignment. This means The Fire Beam can easily be cleaned from ground level using something like a no-climb pole and suitable attachment.

Using The Fire Beam saves time and money

Great cost savings can be made over spot and air sampling systems. For example, just one beam can be used instead of 16 spot detectors so cost savings can be considerable. Furthermore, wiring to a single head is more cost effective than fitting yards of air sampling tubing.

Our advanced technology will greatly reduce commissioning time. It is commonplace for us to see 25 beams fully commissioned in less than one day. You simply start with one beam and move onto the next, then the next, all from ground level. Spending hours working at height trying to align beams is a thing of the past. Furthermore, self-alignment in normal service means not having to go back and re-align the beam after building movement – again saving time and the expense of lifting equipment, not to mention the disruption this causes your customers.