ESSMANN case study
"Smoke and heat extraction systems for a disco"
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The La Luna disco opened in new premises in Dortmund-Mengede in spring 2004. After changing hands, the building had to be completely converted and a new fire protection concept incorporated.
Project definition
- Installation of a mechanical smoke and heat extraction system capable of extracting around 200,000 m³/h, plus fresh air openings, that do not exceed a speed of 3 m/sec.
- Daylight openings that can be used to provide fresh air.
- The building has an inaccessible canopy roof supported by six hollow trusses. In addition, the building is home to an underground car park, whose load-bearing capacity is not sufficient to support a truck-mounted crane for assembly work.
- Since the usable area inside the building is actually located in an enclosure beneath the canopy, any direct connection to the outer shell would involve considerable time and expense.
ESSMANN solution
ESSMANN flue gas ventilators were mounted directly onto the hollow trusses supporting the canopy on specially designed pedestals. Several openings were made in the ceiling inside the disco to ensure that the roof ventilators will extract any smoke through the suspended ceiling and out through the roof in the event of a fire. 10 ESSMANN finned ventilators were mounted on the end walls of the building and act as fresh air openings. Sufficient dimensioning of the fresh air openings is crucial if a smoke and heat extraction system is to function properly. Five ESSMANN skylight domes in the lower ancillary areas provide both daylight and the requisite fresh air openings. Helicopter installation was chosen as a cost-effective and practical solution, since the load-bearing capacity of the underground car park prevented the use of a truck-mounted crane and the distance from the street to the place of installation would have required a crane with an extremely long arm. This minimised the time needed to install the 10 ESSMANN flue gas ventilators.
Customer benefits
- Wide-scale smoke and heat extraction: Mounting the ESSMANN flue gas ventilators on the hollow trusses ensured wide-scale smoke and heat extraction and eliminated the need for an elaborate channel system to extract smoke and heat within the building, which would have been necessary if the ventilators had been mounted on the walls.
- Significantly reduced costs: The separate smoke and heat extraction system in the suspended ceiling also eliminated the need for complex channels and suction points, resulting in a significant reduction in costs.
- No need for expensive door opening mechanisms: ESSMANN wall-mounted finned ventilators provide the fresh air needed for mechanical smoke extraction (MSE) independently of the entrance doors. As such, negative pressure cannot build up inside the building after the flue gas ventilators have started up, even if the entrance doors are closed. The doors open easily in an emergency, without additional pressure resistance. This solution eliminated the need for expensive, automatic door opening mechanisms.
- Reduced energy costs: The ESSMANN skylight domes provide natural daylight to the work environment whilst at the same time acting as fresh air openings. This reduces the energy costs associated with artificial lighting and the fresh air flow also extracts smoke and heat from the ancillary areas.
- Central switch cabinet control: The ESSMANN flue gas ventilators and all fresh air equipment (i.e. ESSMANN skylight domes and ESSMANN finned ventilators) are controlled from a central switch cabinet.
Result
The project was completed within the building owner's budget, despite the difficult conditions that ESSMANN had to work with. Since the entire project took only six weeks from planning to final acceptance, the disco was able to open on schedule.
