Unique fire-resistant shelters simplify chemical plant’s control system upgrade

Novel outdoor equipment shelters from Intertec Instrumentation have been chosen to help a leading European chemical manufacturer to upgrade its distributed plant control system.

Constructed using unique composite GRP (glass fibre reinforced polyester) materials, four Intertec shelters will provide advanced fire resistance properties. This attribute will simplify the housing and protection of electronic control and instrumentation equipment at optimised satellite locations within the processing plant.

Additionally, the GRP-based fabrication materials significantly reduces the weight of the shelters compared with traditional metal- or concrete-based constructions. In this application, this weight

reduction will allow the plant operator to further optimise the positioning of the control system by mounting three of the shelters at height on steelwork frames.

The shelters offer F60-rated passive fire resistance, providing a barrier to fire spread for 60 minutes. This is achieved by means of a unique composite material that combines GRP sheets with embedded players of mineral wool.

The shelters provide large interior floor areas up to 55 m2 (5 x 11 m). To help speed this plant upgrade project, Intertec is providing the plant buildings fitted with lighting, a raised floor to accommodate cabling, and ducting for the cooling air with a sophisticated downflow cooling system to protect the electronics equipment.