Colombia. With a superior capacity to serve 20 million passengers a year, El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá is the largest airport in the Andean region. The new facilities were equipped with a complete fire protection system, able to adapt to the modern construction design, with high and curved ceilings.
The wet extinguishing and pre-action systems of the control tower and aeronautical center of El Dorado Airport, inaugurated at the beginning of 2016, were executed with Victaulic products, which offered unique solutions and added values that granted benefits both in the execution of the project and in its performance and maintenance in the future. Much of Victaulic's Firelock™ product range was used for this project, and then I detail specific applications with the benefits offered by Victaulic solutions.
With the installation of the Victaulic modules in all levels of wet sprinkler network in the control tower, a more compact installation in the project was possible as it is the only module that in a single casting includes pressure measurement, flow sensor, flow peephole, test and drainage. These advantages of the Victaulic modules allowed to use less space in the installation at each level and to have fewer potential leakage points in the future, which will surely be an advantage in terms of maintenance compared to the installation of other brands in which there are several assemblies to reach the same Victaulic module in one piece.
The construction of the pump room was executed with rigid couplings Victaulic, Style 009N FireLock EZ™, which allowed to install the work in less time. The use of these couplings makes it possible to install the piping systems without the need to disassemble the couplings during the installation of a joint, which is a unique feature of Victaulic couplings. Not only are they much faster to install, but they generate more reliability by being a product that is not required to modify as it originally came from the factory. In addition, the correct installation of the couplings can be verified with only a visual inspection, which facilitates the inspection work before pressure tests. These couplings do not have a torque requirement for bolts and nuts.
In addition to the couplings, Victaulic Series 771H up-stem (OS&Y) gate valves, 705 Series supervised butterfly valves, Series 717 check valves, and all connections such as teas, concentric reductions, eccentric reductions, and others were installed. All Victaulic components met the project's pressure testing requirements. The use of Victaulic Style 009N FireLock EZ couplings contributed to the effective installation of the pump room piping system. When it comes to maintaining the system, each slotted joint can be disassembled and reused, facilitating this process.
On the last level of the control tower, the heart of the tower is located and is where the air traffic controllers are located with their expensive and strategic equipment for the operation of the country's aeronautical activity. Due to the importance of the equipment, a pre-action fire protection system was installed on this floor. Victaulic was the brand that offered the security for this system since in the event of a failed event the system cannot be triggered because the equipment would get wet, and therefore the aeronautical operation of the country would be suspended indefinitely.
On this floor the Victaulic NXT 769 pre-action valves were installed with all their necessary components for activation. Thanks to our compact and easy-to-use design, it was possible to install the valves in the small rooms intended for this. With other systems it would not have been possible to install them under the same conditions. Victaulic pre-action valves come assembled and pressure-tested, from the factory, which gives more reliability in the installation since it is not required to assemble the components on site, which can become a factor of failure immediately or in the future during the operation of the system.
Definitely, this imposing control tower of 85 meters high is the aeronautical heart of Colombia and is the type of projects where only the best products, such as those of Victaulic, are up to the required standards and is where the added values of each of our products become most tangible.
By Julio Herrera, sales specialist of fire protection systems for Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela of Victaulic and Wilfredo Blancarte, sales manager of fire protection systems for Mexico and Central America of Victaulic
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