Chicago Section

DUE TO SCHEDULE CONFLICTS, THE PRESENTATION WILL BE A RECORDING.

Regularly we see consumer product recalls due to fire hazard. In the last years over 15 million appliance units have been recalled for defects that could cause a fire. Statistics show that 30% of all fires are caused by electricity, mostly starting within electrical devices and appliances. The existing fire protection measures are good, but do not yet include active fire protection within devices. New technologies make it possible to install mini fire extinguishers directly in the electronics. In case a fire starts, the mini fire extinguisher can extinguish the fire reliably and irreversibly cut the power to avoid re-ignition. The method will reduce the risk of fire consequential damages, reduce recall costs and increase safety according to the motto “making safe products safer”. This technology can be associated with the term device-integrated fire protection. UL named it CIFEAs (Circuit Interrupters with Fire Extinguishing Agent) and wrote the UL 60692, an amendment to the UL 60691 standard. Further, the German certification body of the property insurance association VdS certified the first components and created an extinguishing test method. The methods developed from UL and VdS are used to start the creation of an international standard. The benefit for society, consumers and manufacturers are clear. New technology needs support and someone to share the word.

Further the latest edition of UL 749 will allow CIFEAs to pass the cheese cloth test.

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