An integrated fire protection system based on Advanced Electronics panels has been installed in a new college in Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

A mimic panel at the ROC college in Nijmegen

ROC Nijmegen offers 12,000 students courses in secondary vocational and adult education. It is housed in nine buildings interconnected by a glass-roofed atrium and in addition to teaching areas, the college includes a day care centre, food and retail outlets and a job centre.

The system was designed and installed by Advanced’s local partner Hertek in partnership with electrical contractor Kropman Installatietechniek. Two Mx-4400 four-loop panels are connected to over 500 Apollo XP95 and Discovery devices, a repeater panel and three bespoke Advanced mimic panels, which provide a graphical floor plan, LED indication and key-switch control.

The fire, repeater and mimic panels are connected together using Advanced’s Ad-NeT+ fault tolerant network, which is capable of withstanding a single fault between nodes without loss of communications to any single panel. Up to 200 panels (nodes) can be connected on the network with a total loop length of 20km, using standard two-core fire resistant cable. The network at ROC Nijmegen allows the status of all 500-plus devices to be interrogated on any of the fire panels, repeater or mimics.

In the event of a fire, the Mx-4400 panels control a range of systems and provide phased evacuation, with the complex being split into two evacuation zones – the day care centre and the rest of the college. The lifts are sent to pre-selected floors, ventilation shutters are opened for smoke control, sprinklers are activated following a ‘double knock’, the access control system automatically opens all doors and barriers, and an alarm is sent to the fire brigade.