Istanbul Aydın University (IAU) had enormous problems with false alarms caused by its old fire safety system. To ensure reliable protection for the expansive campus consisting of ten buildings – ten faculties and a large technology center – the private university opted for a Cerberus Pro fire safety system from the Siemens Building Technologies Division.
The safety of students, staff and visitors has the highest priority for us,” said Mustafa Aydın, Board of Trustees Chairman at Istanbul Aydın University. Founded in 2007, the school currently has 34,000 students. The previous fire safety solution was a mix of several systems from different suppliers, which resulted in multiple false alarms. This not only affected operations at the university but also posed a significant safety risk: If false alarms occur frequently, it becomes likely that people do not respond adequately in an emergency because they no longer assess the danger correctly. For this reason, IAU decided to replace its old fire safety system with a state-of-the-art solution from a single supplier.
Protecting people, buildings and assets at a university is extremely important – and a major challenge. A university campus typically consists of many different buildings, with each area – from laboratories to auditoriums to the cafeteria – requiring different things from a fire safety system. For this reason, Istanbul Aydın University needed a flexible solution. Another key aspect was to be able to centrally monitor the entire system from the university’s security command center. In addition, it was very important to quickly install and commission the system during the semester without any interruption to campus life. And finally, the new fire safety system had to eliminate the frequent false alarms.
In light of these requirements, Siemens Solution Partner infoMET Technologies recommended that IAU replace its existing systems with the proven Cerberus Pro solution from Siemens. This comprehensive, EN 54-certified fire safety system can be tailored to demanding environments such as universities where a variety of challenging areas require different approaches. What makes this possible is the patented ASAtechnology from Siemens. It uses advanced signal analysis and parameter sets that can be adapted to each concrete situation in order to detect smoke, heat and carbon monoxide extremely quickly and reliably. Fire detectors equipped with ASAtechnology interpret the captured signals in real time, and the selected parameter set dynamically adjusts to the current situation. As a result, detectors with ASAtechnology respond more sensitively in case of fire and are more robust when deceptive phenomena occur.
Among other things, the Cerberus Pro modernization allows a stepwise move to the latest fire safety technologies. For example, replacing the old fire detectors and control panels in several independent phases ensures that the system operates reliably at any given time and offers maximum protection while minimizing disruptions to university operations.
As a pilot project, the main building at Istanbul Aydın University was modernized first. The entire fire safety system and all cabling were updated and a new fire control panel was installed. The modernization with Cerberus Pro was completed within just ten weeks and handed over to the customer. Impressed with the outcome of the pilot project, IAU decided to equip the entire campus, including newly constructed buildings, with Cerberus Pro from Siemens.
The modernization project accommodated the different needs of the various campus areas. 1,500 smoke detectors were installed campus wide, as well 50 multisensor fire detectors in areas with special requirements and one fire control panel in each building. This allows all alarms to be monitored around the clock, both locally and from the security command center. “In addition, the customer is able to check the system through remote access,” explains Bahar Kiliç, project manager at infoMET Technologies. “This allows for full control and rapid intervention in case of an incident.” If a fire does break out, Cerberus Pro also controls elevators and access doors and issues customized instructions through the public address system in each building.
The modernization of the fire safety system at Istanbul Aydın University was completed successfully after just 28 months. Both the customer and Siemens partner infoMET Technologies were extremely satisfied. The executives at IAU were very happy to receive a highly reliable fire safety system with maximum immunity to false alarms and low maintenance costs. Dr. Mustafa Aydın added: “Currently, we are constructing additional buildings on our campus. Since we are very satisfied with the performance of the system also the new buildings will be equipped with Cerberus Pro from Siemens.” When asked why they recommended Cerberus Pro to their customer, Bahar Kiliç, project manager at infoMET Technologies, replied: “We have been working with products from Siemens a lot and know that they are absolutely reliable, there are no false alarms, and they are flexible in their use in different applications.”
For more information, go to www.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies
