Equipment powerdown in case of fire

The authors present the findings of a study conducted in 1989 to determine viable alternatives for removing power from telecommunication equipment under emergency conditions such as fire in the equipment area. After reviewing the characteristics of commercial fire alarm system, the essential requirements for a fire alarm and emergency powerdown system are discussed. These include fire detection, power shutdown, selectivity, reliability and security, and some cost considerations. A system comprising hydrogen chloride detectors and a novel multiplex sampling method is proposed to attain fast response with reasonable complexity. It is concluded that while the hardware and software building blocks for implementing selective powerdown are available, further work would be required to understand the complex trade-offs between service protection and equipment protection.<>