ACL fire rated electric cables meets international standard

by Gamini Warushamana

ACL Cables, a leading cable manufacturer in Sri Lanka introduced fire rated electric cables insulated with a fire resistant compound invented by the company.

Quality Assurance Manager of ACL Padmana Wijesundara said the new ACL product meets international standards.

Wijesundara said that most of the imported fire rated cables in the market do not meet the required tests and international standards.

Fires originate in buildings due to accidents, human error, short circuit, loose connection and sparks.

A fire can easily spread over the electric circuits, as the insulating compound of the cables is flammable in room temperature. Normally the insulating compound is a PVC compound, which consists of a Halogen compound, which emits large quantities of black smoke and toxic acids such as HCL. The toxic gas irritates the eyes and impairs vision.

These gases also cause breathing difficulties to people caught in a fire.

There are five tests to check the standard of a fire rated cable, Wijesundara said. They are oxygen index, temperature index, fire test, acid gas generation and smoke density index. There is an ISO international standard as well as individual country standards for these tests. ACL maintains all SLS standards in manufacturing new fire rated cables.

A few years ago ACL attempted to produce a fire rated cable but we had a doubt on the availability of all the standards of the insulating compound used. At the time the testing facilities were not available at the ACL laboratory.

ACL made a huge investment to improve the facilities in the laboratory to do all five tests of a fire rated cable. However, some imported insulating compounds did not meet all five tests and the compounds that pass all five tests were very expensive, Wijesundara said.

ACL Plastics, a sister company of ACL Cables developed an insulating compound that passed the first three tests. ACL uses this compound to produce ACL Fire Guard cables that are now available in the market. The new compound is also PVC and it prevents a fire spreading but does not meet the acid gas generation and smoke density tests.

However, ACL produces fire rated cables that pass all five tests using imported insulating compounds on demand. This product is expensive and therefore is not available in the market.

ACL Fire Guard cables were tested at the internationally recognised PSB Corporation laboratory in Singapore and the report certified that the product passed all three tests and meets the international standard.

In all three tests ACL Fire Guard cables are far above the minimum internationally required standards, Wijesundara said. In the fire test the minimum vertical burning length of a cable within 20 minutes is 2.5m and the ACL Fire Guard burns only 0.5m.

In the oxygen test ACL cables start burning at 32-35% oxygen concentration while the minimum concentration is 29%. In the temperature index the ACL Fire Guard starts to burn at 300 Celsius while the minimum standard required is 250 Celsius.

In some countries fire rated cables are compulsory in the construction of high-rise buildings and public buildings such as schools and hospitals. However, our construction industry still does not consider this aspect of fire prevention and safety, Wijesundara said.

ACL Cables started in 1962, the pioneer in the cable manufacturing industry in Sri Lanka is the largest producer in capacity as well as items produced.

ACL is the main supplier to the Ceylon Electricity Board and it exports a large quantity of its products.

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