It is the worst imagination for all firefighters that the air stays out, because the respirator mask fails, while they are rescuing humans out of a burning smoky house. So that the brave men and women don’t have to be afraid of their lives, it is a manufacturer regulation to control all respiratory mask frequently after every assignment. Because of this regulation the monitoring professionals from Labtec Eschelbornn, Germany develop automatic test benches, so that all devices are ready to use in no time. The question is who controls these sensitive devices, if they are working properly and who figures out the errors? After all human lives depend on that. Through a newly developed testing procedure with “triple ground” in connection with a barcode scanner of PANMOBIL this safety gap is closed now. It is the long needed monitoring of the monitoring.
No flame assignment without security check
All respiratory safety mask of firefighters and Co. have to be frequently tested of functional efficiency. The manufacturer assign in which periods and intervals that has to happen so that warranty and safety problems don’t get the chance to appear. The masks contain all kinds of components like small spiral springs, membranes and valves. After every rescue mission there is a risk that the parts abrade because of the fire, stick together because of perspiration or are completely damaged, so that they aren’t usable anymore for assignments and have to be replaced. Even after cleaning procedures in the disinfection compartments, it has to be checked if everything is still on place.
Therefore Labtec as the only independent manufacturer offers its customers a fully automatic procedure. It will be pulled on and the rest will be tested by the device automatically. It records for the manufacturer and the insurances everything in a digital protocol if everything is dense, and for example, if all the membranes of the mask yield properly. All testing results of the mask will be captured in an individual protocol. These can be filed away or stored on the database for future tests.
Many supplier in the market offer these way of automatic testing, so the system is nothing revolutionary. But what hasn’t existed, yet is a real review of the results and if all tests are correct. Assuming the testing device itself is not working properly and reports that a broken respiratory mask is usable – that would be disastrous! Therefore it is very important to the safety experts from Labtec, for an accurate testing, to compare if they got the correct measuring results from the system.
Worldwide innovation: respiratory protection test benches with multiple measuring techniques
“Our new test bench contains for the first time existing a redundant measuring technique – a so called monitoring on double ground”, explains Labtec CEO Manfred Linner. “It helps the customer to validate the measurement units more safely! Therefore a barcode scanner takes care of a secure identification of the mask in the first step followed by a double testing procedure with two independently working sensors.”
If a respiratory mask need to be tested, first it will be scanned with a mobile barcode scanner “powerlineECCO” to see which mask they are dealing with, if it is already been tested or still needs to be tested. The mask and its accessories for example tubes will be scanned – thanks to barcode labels or RFID tags (for example the 125 khz RFID chip from Dräger) accurately identified and saved via Bluetooth directly from the scanner into the digital protocol of the test benches. If the system realizes that the mask has not been tested, yet the procedure starts automatically, impermeability, vacuum or excess pressure will be measured. Precious problem: These data will be captured with only one sensor with the usual existing systems. If it is not working correctly it leads to severe safety problems.
Instead of only one sensor Labtec´s test bench offers something new: two sensors, which work completely independently from each other in their construction. The first sensor is a digital sensor with an accuracy of 0,5% and the second analog sensor, a so called pneumatic sensor, which measures independently from a power supply or other components of the test bench, the same data again and reconciles them. Practically a monitoring of the monitoring. The user has the guaranty that the data that he receives is correct. If two different data are measured, the testing system signals loudly a mistake. If that is the case the whole test bench needs to be controlled, repaired and recalibrated.
Comprehensive overview of the material thanks to the barcode scanner
No parts will be missed for the monitoring due to the scanning of the barcodes or the RFID labels on the masks and its accessories, which also provides more security unlike the previous procedures. With the scanner of the powerlineECCO series, you can at all times monitor if a mask, a regulator, an air bottle or a pressure regulator has been tested or if it still needs to be. “The powerlineECCO is been used very well for our triple testing procedure, it is a very good combination of a barcode and RFID reader”, enthuse Manfred Linner. “The charming part of the ECCO: it captures barcodes with a strong rounding on the tubes. A lot of manufacturer struggle with a barcode that has a strong rounding and therefore cannot be captured. The ECCO is small and handy, we can reach all the mask parts with it very comfortably.”
No flame assignment without security check
All respiratory safety mask of firefighters and Co. have to be frequently tested of functional efficiency. The manufacturer assign in which periods and intervals that has to happen so that warranty and safety problems don’t get the chance to appear. The masks contain all kinds of components like small spiral springs, membranes and valves. After every rescue mission there is a risk that the parts abrade because of the fire, stick together because of perspiration or are completely damaged, so that they aren’t usable anymore for assignments and have to be replaced. Even after cleaning procedures in the disinfection compartments, it has to be checked if everything is still on place.
Therefore Labtec as the only independent manufacturer offers its customers a fully automatic procedure. It will be pulled on and the rest will be tested by the device automatically. It records for the manufacturer and the insurances everything in a digital protocol if everything is dense, and for example, if all the membranes of the mask yield properly. All testing results of the mask will be captured in an individual protocol. These can be filed away or stored on the database for future tests.
Many supplier in the market offer these way of automatic testing, so the system is nothing revolutionary. But what hasn’t existed, yet is a real review of the results and if all tests are correct. Assuming the testing device itself is not working properly and reports that a broken respiratory mask is usable – that would be disastrous! Therefore it is very important to the safety experts from Labtec, for an accurate testing, to compare if they got the correct measuring results from the system.
Worldwide innovation: respiratory protection test benches with multiple measuring techniques
“Our new test bench contains for the first time existing a redundant measuring technique – a so called monitoring on double ground”, explains Labtec CEO Manfred Linner. “It helps the customer to validate the measurement units more safely! Therefore a barcode scanner takes care of a secure identification of the mask in the first step followed by a double testing procedure with two independently working sensors.”
If a respiratory mask need to be tested, first it will be scanned with a mobile barcode scanner “powerlineECCO” to see which mask they are dealing with, if it is already been tested or still needs to be tested. The mask and its accessories for example tubes will be scanned – thanks to barcode labels or RFID tags (for example the 125 khz RFID chip from Dräger) accurately identified and saved via Bluetooth directly from the scanner into the digital protocol of the test benches. If the system realizes that the mask has not been tested, yet the procedure starts automatically, impermeability, vacuum or excess pressure will be measured. Precious problem: These data will be captured with only one sensor with the usual existing systems. If it is not working correctly it leads to severe safety problems.
Instead of only one sensor Labtec´s test bench offers something new: two sensors, which work completely independently from each other in their construction. The first sensor is a digital sensor with an accuracy of 0,5% and the second analog sensor, a so called pneumatic sensor, which measures independently from a power supply or other components of the test bench, the same data again and reconciles them. Practically a monitoring of the monitoring. The user has the guaranty that the data that he receives is correct. If two different data are measured, the testing system signals loudly a mistake. If that is the case the whole test bench needs to be controlled, repaired and recalibrated.
Comprehensive overview of the material thanks to the barcode scanner
No parts will be missed for the monitoring due to the scanning of the barcodes or the RFID labels on the masks and its accessories, which also provides more security unlike the previous procedures. With the scanner of the powerlineECCO series, you can at all times monitor if a mask, a regulator, an air bottle or a pressure regulator has been tested or if it still needs to be. “The powerlineECCO is been used very well for our triple testing procedure, it is a very good combination of a barcode and RFID reader”, enthuse Manfred Linner. “The charming part of the ECCO: it captures barcodes with a strong rounding on the tubes. A lot of manufacturer struggle with a barcode that has a strong rounding and therefore cannot be captured. The ECCO is small and handy, we can reach all the mask parts with it very comfortably.”
