A third product from leading architectural aluminium systems supplier Kawneer has passed European smoke standards in as many months.
Following successful testing of the AA®541 and AA®720 vertical window profiles to the European smoke vent standard EN 12101-2, Kawneer has now also successfully tested the inclined AA®100 vent for sloping curtain walling applications in residential, commercial, education, healthcare and retail/leisure projects, in partnership with façade automation specialists SE Controls.
This latest success provides an even more comprehensive solution to meeting the smoke vent standards that are now mandatory requirements, with the introduction of the Construction Products Regulations (CPR) in 2013 resulting in the need to CE Mark any product placed onto the market that has a harmonised European standard.
The smoke test itself entailed opening a 1400mm x 1400mm vent to 85˚ to optimise free area calculations for future projects. Kawneer dealers, via SE Controls, now have a complete range of vertical and inclined smoke vents certified to EN 12101-2 to meet CPR requirements.
SE Controls provide the Kawneer approved specialist dealer network with full support through estimating, design and CAD to installation and CE certification. This is due to their certified Factory Production Control system which is verified by an accredited body notified to EN 12101-2.
This process is required as a smoke vent is an AVCP system 1 which is a higher level than EN 14351-1 system 3 for windows. A Declaration of Performance (DoP) is then produced by SE Controls to accompany the CE Mark on behalf of the Kawneer partner.
To meet the standard, both actuator and vent were tested together to the EN 12101-2 annexes at an independent certified test house and witnessed by a body notified to the standard.
The vent and actuator were installed in a furnace in the closed position and the temperature was raised to 300˚C at which point the vent was automated to the fully open position. The vent then had to stay in position for 30 minutes at 300˚C without reducing the size of the aperture produced by more than 10%.