Monitoring the Pump Flow Rate with KATflow 200 in a Deck-Integrated Fire Suppression System on a Yacht Helicopter Deck

KNAACK & JAHN Schiffbau GmbH, headquartered in Hamburg with additional locations in Bremen and Kiel, is a reliable partner to its maritime clientele—which includes shipyards, shipping companies, and suppliers both in Germany and abroad. The well-coordinated team of specialists at KNAACK & JAHN Schiffbau GmbH designs, builds, and refurbishes sophisticated control systems on a project-by-project basis, such as thermal oil and fresh water systems, exhaust systems, complete engine rooms, or piping systems for ship decks and fire zones.

In connection with a customer-commissioned general overhaul of a yacht, a fire protection retrofit of the existing helicopter landing pad fire suppression system was to be carried out. So-called classification societies—technical inspection bodies that also serve as insurance companies for ships—classify ship fire suppression systems into different categories ranging from H1 to H3. Prior to the retrofit, the yacht in question was equipped with a manually operated fire suppression system featuring a fire nozzle, which was to be supplemented by a manually triggered, automated suppression system with so-called pop-up nozzles. The following technical specifications applied to the new system:

• The pump capacity should enable the foam supply required for firefighting—at a flow rate of 6 l/min/m²—to be delivered via a riser pipe across multiple decks to the firefighting location within 30 seconds.

• The fire suppression system should provide a total foam supply sufficient for five minutes of firefighting. The foam-water blanket applied is lighter than kerosene and smothers potential fires by forming a film between the air and the combustible material.

To verify the required pumping capacity of the new helicopter landing deckfire suppression system and to measure the seawater mixed with the firefighting foam, a portable ultrasonic flow meter of the KATflow 200 type from Katronic was used during commissioning. With this intuitive handheld device, multiple measurement points can be measured and evaluated in a very short time. The clamp-on transducers can be removed within seconds and reattached to pipes from the outside at other locations, allowing for quick, easy, and comprehensive inspection of extensively branched piping systems. The KATflow 200 was used on copper-nickel-iron (CuNiFe) pipes with and without an external paint coating, in the nominal diameter range between DN 40 and DN 100. For KNAACK & JAHN Schiffbau GmbH, the use of flow measurement technology provided “a straightforward and quick method for checking the system parameters,” according to Mr. Oliver Ehlers of the Fire Fighting Systems department at KNAACK & JAHN Schiffbau GmbH.