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Rajiv Gandhi International Airport – Hyderabad

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The airport is named after former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who had undergone pilot training in Hyderabad. Built over an area of 5,500 acres (2,200 ha), it is the largest airport in India by area. It is owned and operated by GMR Hyderabad International Airport Limited (GHIAL), a public–private consortium. It has also ranked in AirHelp’s list of top 10 airports in the world. The fourth busiest airport in India by passenger traffic, it handled almost 21 million passengers and over 140,000 tons (150,000 short tons) of cargo between April 2022 and March 2023.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport is India’s first greenfield airport built under a public-private partnership model. The airport has an integrated passenger terminal, a cargo terminal, and two runways. There are also aviation training facilities, a fuel farm, a solar power plant and two maintenance, repair, and operations (MRO) facilities.

AT A GLANCE – Product Focus

SECO N 2440 Single Chain Actuator (Top & Bottom hung AOV) Push/Pull force – 400N, Clamping/Holding Force – 4000N.

CECA 24 Locking Actuator (Top & Bottom hung AOV) Thrust force – 800N.

OS2 SHEVTEC 8A Controller with BBU The controller delivers up to 8A to drive 24V motorized actuators with 72-hour BBU.

OS2 Manual Control Point To allow the fire & rescue service or an authorised personnel to manually override the Smoke Venting System

CHALLENGE

Enabling the client’s and architect’s vision to have a state-of-the-art, perimeter façade smoke ventilation and fresh air intake systems, using Automatic Opening Vents (AOV).

SOLUTION

SE Controls were enlisted with the design of the system from the correct product fit to designing complex cable laying strategy, including triple height areas, based on OS2 Controllers and SECO Manual Control Point locations as directed by the Architect and MEP consultants mapped to the fire strategy. Timely supplies for a project of this scale are always a challenge and are met with on-time deliveries. Complete installation up to commissioning was commissioned out to our trained & specialist ‘Approved Installer’, who is working along with the project’s curtain wall fabricator and MEP contractors to fulfil this vision.

The solution was to provide Actuators that fit the purpose and design intent of perimeter façade smoke and fresh air intake ventilation to the Free Area Requirements given to us, with compatible control systems to enable the opening of these AOVs and Automatic Fire Man Access Doors on the building envelope.

All our actuators are tested to the stringent code of EN12101-02 and compatible OS2 Controls with up to 72hours of battery back-up as per EN12101-10, including SECO Manual Control Points which relay the system status to each MCP, tested to EN12101-10.

Though our Region, at this stage, does not have a code of practice for this system, we ensured the system was designed, to the extent possible, to meet with BS7346-8 Code of Practice for planning, design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of these Smoke Control Systems, for this, and other projects we are awarded in our Region.

THE RESULT

Today RGIA, due to the forward-thinking vision of the developer and increasingly stringent norms in fire safety is fully protected with not only ours but other state-of-the-art equipment for firefighting and life safety from an Active and Passive fire prevention standpoint. This has future-proofed the project as well for years to come.

As with all systems of this type, there are two key roles:

• To protect escape routes, venting smoke away from them to allow occupants to evacuate the building, and also keeping the perimeter of the fire floor relatively smoke-free, ensuring reduced chances of a flashover as well.
• Provide greater access to the firemen, allowing them to tackle the fire more effectively.

For the past 40 years, SE Controls has been at the forefront of the development of innovative control systems that harness sustainable natural elements creating safer, healthier indoor environments. Our product range is tested in accordance with the relevant EN12101 harmonised suite of standards for smoke control compliance and designed in accordance with the BS7346-8 Code of Practice for planning, design, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of Smoke Control Systems.

BENEFITS OF THE SYSTEM

Fire safety is of major importance in any building but especially so in one like RGIA and any public infrastructure buildings with high footfall, which annually are visited by hundreds of thousands of passengers. The Smoke Clearance System is therefore seen as a primary life safety system and brings two key areas of benefit:

From a safety point of view:

• Keeps fire floor’s perimeter, public escape, and access routes relatively free from smoke.
• Improves visibility within the building allowing the fire service to facilitate operations, and occupants to be able to see better.
• Delays and/or prevent flashovers and full fire development. Thereby reducing property damages from a developer’s point of view.
• Reduce the effects of heat on structural components during a fire. Also, purely from a CapEx and OpEx standpoint, passive smoke ventilation systems as such, for large public infrastructure or multi-use buildings are a better option than having a mechanical extraction system. Care must be taken when calculating Free Areas and we can assist you on this front as well.

COMMUNICATION

Our communications began from the time the project was awarded to one of India’s leading Curtain Wall fabricators known to take up such challenging large-scale projects, along with design meetings and brainstorming sessions with the architects, façade consultant & the client themselves. This system requires multi-disciplinary coordination both off and on-site which was handled by our in-house design team, CX members as well as our ‘Approved Installers’ on-site.

THE FINAL WORD

With increasingly complex façade systems being designed in our Region today, we must take a step back and see, how to bring a good mix between form and function. Having a good mix will ensure the most cost-optimized system can be designed and implemented, thereby allowing for large-scale adaptation and acceptance of such advanced systems in all the upcoming projects in our Region. When it comes to fire and life safety, in the short term, the success of the system purely relies on all the stakeholders coming together to plan, prevent and protect both the occupant’s lives, as well as providing the latest and best systems to the firemen who risk their lives to save ours. In the long term, we believe, that post-occupancy, both preventive and corrective maintenance are key to the success of such systems, not only in RGIA but in all projects across the Region.

For more details on the brand, contact:
Email: Nikhil.parasuraman@secontrols.com
Contact: +91-99406 64360
Website: http://secontrols.com/BIM