APF Magazine Features Unifire's New Monitors

Unifire's upgraded Force monitor (water cannon) systems have been featured in Asia Pacific Fire Magazine's Issue 39 (September 2011). The following text of the article is reprinted here with permission from Asia Pacific Fire (APF) Magazine, ©2011 www.mdmpublishing.com.

Upgraded Offering. 

Unifire AB of Sweden has recently upgraded and expanded its suite of electronic control systems for its popular Force series remote control, water/foam monitors for fixed firefighting applications.

Thanks to these latest developments of both electronic hardware and software, Unifire now claims to be capable of rapidly deploying powerful, customised, fully networked monitor systems that can work with almost any third-party, electronic peripheral device. These systems are individually designed to meet each client’s functionality requirements.

According to Unifire’s Director of International Sales & Marketing, Roger Barrett James: “Unifire constant development of the many advanced fire suppression systems we design for our clients has particularly been spurred by our clients’ requests for semiautomatic and fully automatic fire detection and suppression systems, which combine our Force monitors and any of a variety of fire and flame detection technologies, valves, cameras, display screens and joysticks, With the introduction of our latest developments in our suite of electronics hardware and software, we can now easily and quickly design and deploy fully networked firefighting systems that combine virtually any electronic device on the market, regardless of their communication protocol.”

Unifire’s networked systems are reckoned to offer a number of competitive advantages for fixed installations with multiple monitors. They are highly flexible and customisable, very quick to design and implement, and they are extraordinarily easy to troubleshoot, expand, service and upgrade. They use Unifire’s off-the-shelf hardware and software, circumventing the time, expense and complications involved when utilising third-party control systems.

Among the hardware devices that make this possible is the Unifire Control System. This device is a PLC (programmable logic controller), which serves various functions in the network. The UCS allows for a large number of inputs and outputs, and it routs network communications. It also has a built-in display screen and a user interface, allowing technicians to troubleshoot, view system data and performance, adjust settings, and more.

The UCS units allow Unifire to create networks in many configurations to serve almost any function and layout desired. Programming all system functions is simple and straight forward. Adding and/or changing functions in a system is achieved simply by adding new nodes and/or updating system software. Unifire’s systems can now, via off-the-shelf USB flash drives, accept software and even firmware upgrades. They can even record all network activity onto USB flash drives for instant analysis.

Some of the many applications include: automatic fire suppression systems, such as those comprising Force monitors, fire detectors, cameras, alarms, valves and remote controls; remote control systems in which multiple monitors are controlled from one or more control panels and/or radios; and more traditional installations of a single monitor that also requires the control of valves, lights, switches, monitors, and similar peripherals devices.

For more information go to www.unifire.com.