VESDA-E VEU

What Makes It the Premium Detector

Two things, and they work together.

The sensitivity range runs from 0.001% to 20% obscuration per metre, fifteen times wider than the VESDA VLP. That matters at both ends. At the sensitive end, it detects early smoke long before there’s a flame, which is the point of aspirating detection. At the other end, it keeps measuring through heavy smoke rather than saturating, so the system still gives useful information during a developing fire.

The other is capacity. A powerful aspirator supports a total pipe length of up to 800 metres with branches, giving area coverage of up to 6,500 square metres from a single detector. Provision for more sampling holes increases coverage in high airflow applications by at least 40%, and the longer pipe runs increase coverage in high ceiling applications by up to 80%.

The practical result is fewer detectors covering a given building, and detectors mounted where they can be reached, rather than where the pipe run ran out.

Flair, and Why Nuisance Alarms Matter More Than Sensitivity

A very sensitive detector that cries wolf gets its thresholds raised until it’s no longer very sensitive. That’s how aspirating systems get quietly degraded after commissioning.

Flair is the detection chamber at the core of the VEU, and it takes a different approach. Rather than just measuring scattered light, it images the sampled particles directly, using a CMOS imager combined with multiple photodiodes. That gives better detection and fewer nuisance alarms, with higher stability and a longer working life.

Alongside it, multi stage filtration and clean air barriers protect the optics across the detector’s life, so performance doesn’t drift as the chamber ages. Referencing takes account of external environmental conditions, which covers the case where the outside air itself is the source of a nuisance alarm.

Four Alarm Levels

Most detection is a single threshold. The VEU provides four alarm levels: Alert, Action, Fire 1 and Fire 2.

That allows a graduated response rather than a yes or no. An Alert can notify a facilities team to investigate. An Action can start ventilation or shut down equipment. Fire 1 and Fire 2 escalate to evacuation and suppression. In a data centre or a switchroom, acting on a developing problem before it becomes an evacuation is the whole value of very early warning.

Seven programmable relays, each latching or non latching, let each level drive the right action.

Maintenance That’s Predictable

The smart onboard filter keeps track of its dust count and remaining filter life, so the detector tells you when it needs a new filter, rather than waiting for a flow fault.

That changes filter replacement from a calendar task to a condition based one. On a clean site, the filter lasts longer than the schedule assumes, and money is wasted replacing it early. On a dusty site, it doesn’t last as long as the schedule assumes, which is worse. Knowing the actual remaining life takes the guesswork out of both.

An event log holding 20,000 events supports analysis after an incident, and diagnosis of a recurring nuisance alarm, which is usually the harder problem.

Commissioning and Connectivity

AutoConfig handles airflow normalisation, and AutoLearn Smoke and Flow can be started from within the detector, so out of box operation is possible without a laptop.

For designed systems, ASPIRE models the pipe network, and Xtralis VSC handles configuration, commissioning and maintenance. Ethernet, USB and VESDAnet are standard, and WiFi allows a tablet or laptop running the configuration software to connect wirelessly through the network. Remote monitoring is available through iVESDA, for system review and proactive maintenance.

VESDAnet provides two way communication with redundancy, so the network keeps working through a single point wiring failure, rather than losing a segment.

Replacing a VLP

The VEU is fully backward compatible with existing VESDA installations. It uses the same mounting footprint and the same pipe, conduit and electrical connector positions as the VESDA VLP, and it works on existing VESDAnet installations alongside older detectors.

For a building with an ageing VESDA system, that means detectors can be replaced progressively rather than as one big project, using the pipe network already installed.

Where It’s Used

Data centres and server rooms. Warehouses and distribution centres with high ceilings. Cold stores. Switchrooms and electrical infrastructure. Battery and UPS rooms. Heritage buildings where visible detection is unacceptable. Clean rooms and laboratories. Telecommunications facilities. Archives, museums and high value storage. Atriums and large volume spaces where smoke stratifies before reaching the ceiling.