HONEYWELL GENT
NOVAR SYSTEMS LTD
CARLTON PARK
NARBOROUGH
LEICESTERSHIRE LE19 0LF
Tel: 0203 409 1779
Fax:
Suppliers of: Complete Fire Detection systems, Commercial Fire Alarm systems, Voice Alarm systems, Fire Detection products, Commercial Fire Alarms, Commercial Voice Alarms, Emergency Lighting products, Fire Detection Consultancy, Emergency Lighting
Honeywell Gent, formerly Gents’ of Leicester, is a British manufacturer of life safety equipment based in Leicester. With over 150 years of experience, it is a leading manufacturer of innovative and flexible fire detection products.
Honeywell Gent’s fire detection systems are developed to the highest possible standards. As a market leader, we have a broad range of Analogue Addressable and Conventional fire detection systems. In addition to this, we have built up our expertise in Voice Alarm systems and have a range of systems to suit to most applications.
Gent has developed an extensive set of BIM models to support the ever growing demand - one of the first fire equipment manufacturers to provide BIM models. In addition, a full range of 2D CAD drawings are also available to support traditional building design techniques.
Honeywell Gent offer the following Product Ranges:
Honeywell Gent’s Vigilon system is the most comprehensive life safety system available in the market today. The combination of the powerful software in the control panel and the intelligent loop powered devices delivers a flexible, easy to use system for all types of buildings. The Vigilon system offers a complete range of control panels that can be installed as standalone panels from 1 to 6 loops or as part of multi-panel networks.
The strength of Vigilon and Nano lies in the combination of powerful control panel software with Honeywell Gent’s market-leading range of intelligent devices. All devices are loop powered, delivering a flexible, streamlined system in any type of building. Requiring just a single two-core cable to connect the loop, every device includes an integral short circuit isolator to reduce installation cost and increase system integrity.
Repeat and Mimic panels for easy operation.
Connected Life Safety Services (CLSS)
What if you could transform the way fire systems are commissioned, monitored and maintained with one tool? Honeywell CLSS places connectivity at the heart of fire safety, providing real-time visibility to enhance timely, accurate decision making.
Conventional Fire Detection Systems
From control panels through to Manual Call Points, Detectors, Bells, Door Releases and Sounders, Honeywell Gent provides a cost effective Conventional fire detection system, scalable for sites of all types. With the Xenex control panel at its hub, Gent can cover up to eight zones. Integrated with the low-current S-Cubed range of sounders incorporating sound, speech and strobe in a single device, Gent ensures each site has high levels of coverage with above average response rates during an emergency.
Honeywell Gent’s range of Aspirating Smoke Detection, also known as Air Sampling Detection (ASD) systems can detect fires at an incredibly early stage, often before visible smouldering takes place, before an open fire occurs and before intense smoke develops.
OSID (Open Area Smoke Detection)
OSID provides reliable, cost-effective smoke detection for open spaces where fire detection presents unique challenges and where early warning is not always the priority.
The Honeywell Conventional Flame Detection range comprises of 2 families: the FSX range being suitable for industrial type applications, Zone 1 hazardous area units and the FSL range being Zone 2 hazardous area units.
Voice Alarms and Loudspeakers
Honeywell Gent offers a complete range of Voice Alarm systems integrated with the Vigilon Detection system to suit a wide range of sites and applications.
Emergency Voice Communications
An Emergency Voice Communication System (EVCS) is a fixed, secure, bi-directional, full duplex voice communication system to assist fire fighters during emergencies in high rise buildings or large sites where radio communication cannot be guaranteed to work due to interference from the fire corona.
WINMAG Graphics Management System is an invaluable software tool for any size of network that allows for complete management of the fire detection and alarm system from a central PC.
The Li-ion Tamer Rack Monitoring system is a device that monitors lithium-ion battery off-gas events. Off-gas events occur early in the failure mode of lithium-ion batteries and very early detection of these events allow proper mitigation steps to be taken to avoid a catastrophic thermal runway failure.
The Response Paging System offers the latest innovations in wireless paging and monitoring. It’s a cost effective and flexible paging system that offers the ability to quickly respond to activated alarms.
Discover Honeywell Gent’s latest range of fire Ancillary Devices.
Further technical information is available to download from the BPi download library of from the Manufacturer’s own website.
Gents EN54-23 Certified Devices Get a First at University of Leicester
The University of Leicester’s high quality academic reputation has earned it a position in the top 2% of universities of the world, and a ranking in the top 20 of UK major national league tables.
Like all educational establishments, the welfare and safety of its students is the University of Leicester’s highest priority, whether it is security procedures in the teaching halls or fire protection in the student accommodation. There are 23,000 students attending the University and a significant proportion of these reside in the multiple accommodation blocks based close to the main campus.
One of the University’s accommodation blocks, part of Oadby Student Village, has recently undergone a refurbishment of its fire detection and alarm (FD&A) system as the existing system became obsolete. Marston Fire, based in Loughborough in Leicestershire and a Gent 24 approved Elite System Integrator, carried out the install having won the contract when the business was put out to tender.
Oliver Marston, managing director, Marston Fire, oversaw the installation and was involved in the tender process from the initial stages. Marston said: “The original brief was to replace the existing fire alarm system that was obsolete and the only solution that would meet all of the University’s requirements was the Gent system that we put forward. We had to use the existing wiring that was already in place and install a brand new panel and detection devices.”
The solution that was selected for the project was the Vigilon Compact panel together with Gent’s brand new EN54-23 certified S-Quad devices.
Marston continued: “This was the very first installation of Gent’s new S-Quad devices and when the discussions took place about the benefits of the new VADs, the customer was very keen to use them. The University is already familiar with Gent’s products as their FD&A systems are installed in a number of buildings across the main campus, so it was an ideal opportunity to try out the new devices.”
The S-Quad devices conform to the European Standard EN54-23, which specifies the criteria for Visual Alarm Devices (VADs). Prior to EN54-23 there was no way to determine the effectiveness of a VAD, so the requirement was introduced primarily to standardise the VADs rating and performance.
The VADs usually provide a primary alert for deaf or hard of hearing people, or for areas with high background noise. In the University of Leicester’s student accommodation the visual alarms were designed to meet BS5839 pt1 and EN54-23, providing 0.4lux. This allowed the VAD’s to be used as the primary source of indication for the building’s residents if required.
Marston Fire carried out the installation at the end of April 2014. As the building was occupied, one of the biggest challenges for the project was the very short timeframe for completion.
Marston said: “We installed the system in the morning and it was fully operational the same evening so it took less than a day to complete. The existing product was removed early in the morning and the new Gent solution was up and running later that day.
“The main challenge, apart from the speed of turnaround, was to remove all the existing equipment as it was not compatible. Once we changed over to the new system we used the new loop diagnostic software from Gent. We tested the system alongside the Gent development team which provided an extra measure of assurance and gave us a health check on the existing cabling in line with the manufacturer’s recommendations.”
Dan Ascough, business manager, Gent by Honeywell, said: “The FD&A solution was completed successfully and the University has since praised the speed and professionalism of the installation team. The system is providing the University with the highest possible fire detection and evacuation technology, the higher power strobe output in the new S-Quad VADs will ensure the students are safeguarded in any fire scenario.”
Honeywell Gent - An interview with the co-inventors of Self-Test
Honeywell’s patented Self-Test technology was honoured by the 2023 Edison Awards with a Gold Medal for innovation. The Self-Test series of fire detectors enables both smoke and heat fire detectors to be tested remotely using a compact module that fits inside the footprint of existing detectors.
Self-Test co-inventors, Ben Wolf, and Mike Barson have shared their journey to innovating Self-Test in an interview with the team at Honeywell Fire:
Why did you think of the need to innovate the testing of smoke devices?
“I work closely with the talented engineers that we have at Honeywell and there was a development which I thought was interesting - it was a super sensitive detector. We started looking at self-verification as a form of monitoring to ensure the detector would function correctly and this led to experimenting with resistors to create a small trace of smoke to perform a functional test in the detector, which worked, and we got the funding to prove the concept”, says Ben.
Ben continues, “Testing fire detectors is essential to any fire system to ensure that they will work when required to save lives. We know that the fire industry often struggles to fully perform the testing required by the code of practice in buildings due to many practical reasons such as access restrictions or the impact on occupants and processes. We thought this technology could really help overcome these issues and help to achieve 100% functional and compliant testing. We now have an innovative technology that can add huge value to the industry and ultimately make buildings safer.”
What were the key challenges faced during the innovation of Self-Test?
Michael says, “The main challenges were finding a suitable material for the optical Self-Test aerosol generation, which would not evaporate over a long service life, drip-out in transport, be chemically stable, non-toxic, and would not contaminate the smoke chamber with deposits and produce many repeatable tests. After testing many materials, we finally used a high temperature paraffin wax heated with a coil to produce an aerosol, which then enters the smoke chamber and is blown-out via the smoke entry points.”
With Self-Test now on its way to market, how do you feel that this new technology will be adopted?
“We need to work hard to make sure that everyone really understands the value that it drives in terms of efficiency and safety. This technology adds value in the life of an installed fire system, which everyone can benefit from. We are hoping that this will disrupt our current offerings in a big way because we really believe that this technology is a much-needed step in the right direction for us, the industry, and building owners and occupiers. Change is always inevitable, and we feel that we have invented a technology that is industry leading and market disrupting, but in a good way,” says Ben.
What was the Eureka moment when you realised that this technology could really work?
Ben says, “It was after we proved that you could use this technology to do consistent testing of detectors and we could consistently receive an indication that the smoke entry points were clear from any kind of blockages. It ticked every box and the realisation sunk in that we now had a solid technology and process that completely automated the functional testing requirements of a fire system.”
Looking to the future, where you do predict the fire industry will innovate further?
“Through connected services there is the ability to understand big data and how it can be used in improving life safety systems. There are many systems that go into a building that can all become much more efficient when connected through the cloud. Fire systems are typically installed throughout the building and can be the portal to connect buildings effectively. We are also discovering that sustainability and net zero opportunities can be realised through the adoption of connected services”, says Ben.
Which industries do you both think will benefit the most from Self-Test?
“Every building can benefit but there are some sectors that will find significant benefit such as healthcare, hospitality, correction facilities, educational buildings/student accommodation, and manufacturing plants. All of these verticals have unique access complexities and protocols to comply with.”
And finally, Michael, how did it feel to win the Edison Gold Award?
“On a personal level it was an incredibly positive experience, and it does make you feel proud to win and be in the company of the other category winners and fellow finalists. It was very interesting to talk to other people about their businesses and ideas. The process encourages you to reflect on what we do and what the future could be.”
