Controllers

A fixed gas detector measures. A controller decides what happens next. It takes the signal from each detection point, compares it against the alarm levels you have set, then drives the response, whether that is a siren, a beacon, an extraction fan, a solenoid valve or a plant shutdown. Get the controller wrong and a good detector achieves nothing.

Gastech designs and builds its own gas detection controllers, which is unusual for a supplier in this market and it shows in the engineering decisions. The MicroRack handles one to eight channels and is built around the field proven 4100R controller card. That card carries two channels and two processors, one processor per channel, so a processor failure takes out a single channel rather than the whole panel. The two circuits share only the high resolution display, and because the display is not a critical component both channels keep monitoring correctly even if it fails. It is a small design choice with a large consequence on a site where the panel protects people.

The same 4100R card fits either the MicroRack housing or a standard nineteen inch rack, so the format follows your switchroom rather than the other way around. Systems expand by adding cards as detection points are added, which means a site can start with two channels and grow without replacing the panel it already owns.

For carpark and HVAC work the GTA-VSD20i is a ventilation fan controller compliant with AS 1668.2, providing variable speed fan control driven by gas concentration. Paired with C-Guard carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide detectors, it gives a complete carpark air quality system from a single Australian manufacturer, with the detectors, the fan control and the standard all lining up.

Where the status of a fire and gas panel needs repeating somewhere else in a building, the Gastech remote alarm indicator does that job economically without a second panel. And for sites that prefer a packaged wall mounted controller, Gastech supplies the Honeywell Touchpoint Plus, which handles up to sixteen gas detection channels through a colour touchscreen.

Choosing a controller depends on channel count, how you expect the system to grow, whether the response is an alarm or automatic plant action, and what your switchroom can physically take. Gastech engineering works through that with you, and because we design the panels here we can answer questions a reseller cannot. Service, calibration and support run from WA, NSW and QLD.