Supervised nitrogen cylinder inerting system for fire protection sprinkler system and method of inerting a fire protection sprinkler system

Abstract

An inerting system for a fire protection sprinkler system and method of inerting a fire protection sprinkler system to reduce the concentration of oxygen includes connecting an inert gas supply system with the piping network of the fire protection sprinkler system. The gas supply system includes a plurality of tank adapters, an automatic fill valve, an automatic vent valve and at least one pressure transducer. Each of the tank adapters is adapted to connect with a tank of inert gas and to selectively connect the tank of inert gas with said automatic fill valve. A control controls the gas supply system including operating the automatic fill valve and the automatic vent valve in order to increase the proportion of inert gas in the piping network. The control monitors the at least one pressure transducer to determine the pressure of gas at least in the tank connected with the automatic fill valve. The control operates the tank adapters to disconnect a tank connected with the automatic fill valve when the pressure in that tank is below a particular pressure and connects a different tank with the automatic fill valve. The control system may include a form of visual indication to identify full and depleted tanks. This information can be transmitted to any remote monitoring location if required.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.