The Cutting-Edge Union of Engineering Procurement and Construction in Smoke Control: A Success Story for Green Pea, Farinetti's New Investment
By Ivan Barra, Sales Manager at Rosso Officine, and Gabriele Gerbi, Owner of SAPI Studio
The Design
The project involves the construction of a shopping center spread over four floors, one of the few new shopping centers over two stories above ground. Specifically, the project, according to UNI 9494-2 standards, was developed for the construction of a SEFFC system for smoke control in activity 69.c, covering an area of 10,499 sqm of gross floor area and 5,500 sqm of sales area.
This architecture necessitated the use of a forced smoke and heat ventilation system for the basement, ground floor, first floor, and second floor. Each floor serves as a fire compartment, and since the first and second floors exceed the maximum surface area prescribed by regulations, they have been divided into two smoke compartments each, using curtains that lower in the event of a fire, dividing the compartment into two.
The height of each compartment is 4.8 meters, and the smoke extraction system has been designed to leave a smoke-free space of 2.5 meters from the finished floor level in case of fire.
The designed system consists of two F400 extractors located above the building's roof and connected to intake ducts that reach various floors through a utility shaft compartmentalized from the rest. From each smoke compartment, 75,000 m³/h are extracted.
The ducts leading to individual compartments branch off from the main ducts mentioned earlier and pass through the served compartments. Between the main ducts and the secondary ducts of each compartment, suitable smoke control dampers equipped with actuators, connected to the SEFFC management system, have been installed.
In emergency conditions, extracted air flows out of the spaces through specially designed vents/grilles on the secondary ducts, sized to ensure the correct flow rate as per UNI 9494-2 standards.
The secondary ducts pass through two smoke compartments for each fire compartment. Therefore, the section of duct located in the smoke compartment farthest from the main ducts is equipped with extraction grilles, while the section of secondary ducts closer to the main ducts is equipped with dampers with grilles, so they can be closed if the fire affects the farthest smoke compartment.
The air supply system consists of three inlets along the west side of the structure, from which multi-compartment ducts reach four totems on the ground floor. The totems feature multi-compartment ducts that extend vertically from the ground floor to the second floor. Each totem has two or three grilles with smoke control dampers for air intake at a maximum height of 1.5 meters from the finished floor level. In case of fire, 39,000 m³/h of clean air is introduced into each fire compartment at a maximum speed of 2 m/s.
The Implementation of the System
The project was executed by Rosso Officine S.r.l., founded in 1955 and based in Morozzo (CN), a specialist HVAC producer operating in the fire protection sector for years, producing and implementing SEFFC Smoke Extraction Systems.
Rosso Officine's choice, proven by numerous special applications in the 360-degree HVAC field, was to provide a unique and complete system for hot smoke extraction in case of fire (EPC "Engineering Procurement and Construction" in the SEFFC systems field).
In addition to the SEFFC system, Rosso Officine supplied over 30 AHUs and more than 1 km of micro-perforated ducts for air treatment in various areas of the shopping complex.
In detail, the SEFFC FUMO VENT system installed at Green Pea includes:
- Smoke extractors
- Air intake fans
- Control panels for extractor startup in QE Fire Mode
- Multi-compartment and single-compartment ducts for air intake
- Multi-compartment and single-compartment ducts for air extraction
- Smoke control dampers on ducts near automatic smoke curtains
- Smoke control dampers on extraction grilles
- Smoke control dampers on air intake totems
- Adjustable smoke extraction grilles – Smoke Control System
Given the importance of the project, Rosso Officine, through its technical office, developed the construction of all the FUMO VENT system ducts between the various floors in 3D (Revit), providing significant economic and technical advantages throughout the construction process.
In addition to 3D engineering, a dedicated aeraulic calculation for the Smoke Control system was developed. The innovative system ensures the correct and safe operation of the SEFFC system.
It is possible to calibrate the grilles at various extraction points, defined by the design study according to UNI 9494-3, section 6.10.4, with a specific calculation and simple adjustment of the B-CONTROL grilles on the COND-S ducts.
The system, unique in its kind, allows smoke control along the entire length of the ducts, even with possible modifications during construction regarding the ducts' path and dimensions.
The SEFFC system extractors and various smoke control dampers are activated by the fire alarm system, with over 30 fire scenarios and logics defined by the engineering study.
All tests and inspections were carried out by specialized technicians in compliance with UNI 9494-3.
Rosso Officine's R&D division continues to innovate, with ongoing investments as a leader in SEFFC systems, introducing new systems: AIR-VENT and FUMO VENT - FIRE DET.
A new chapter to be written soon in the Antincendio magazine!