Acell premiers Smart Panel fire-supression system

Acell Industries Ltd. (Dublin, Ireland), developer of a cost-effective architectural panel technology covered previously in CW (short.compositesworld.com/AcellArch), has announced Smart Panel, an innovative building fire-suppression system. Smart Panel, a cored architectural panel, contains a proprietary fire suppressant paste that is connected via electrical wires to a conventional smoke alarm. The panel can be situated in walls or the ceiling of an interior space. When triggered by the smoke alarm, the paste undergoes an exothermic reaction and effectively blasts the resulting powder material onto the fire through a Venturi effect, extinguishing it within seconds. The safe, instantly deployable, rapid-response fire suppres- sion system tackles virtually all types of fire, yet reportedly leaves zero residue and does no property damage in domestic applications. The chemical mixture requires no oxygen, which means that even after the powder has deployed, people can still safely exit. The company is bringing Smart Panel to market in part because, as of April of this year, all homes in the UK will be required to have fire-suppressant systems, either water sprinklers or a powder-based system like Acell’s. View a video of the panel in action during a fire test.