On April 30, 2019, Firefree Coatings (“Firefree”) was issued Patent No. 10,273,682 for Fire Protection for High-Rise Buildings. This patent covers a solution developed by Firefree for the fire protection of both the interior and exterior of high-rise buildings utilizing combustible cladding.
This solution does not require an extensive retrofitting of the entire exterior cladding, in that no removal or replacement of the existing panels is required, effective fire protection is provided to both the inside and exterior, whether or not the building is protected with automatic sprinklers, and the exterior appearance of the building is not altered. This solution can be implemented in a timely, cost efficient manner without major displacement or disruption of the building occupants, or disruption of the building’s daily operations.
This approach focuses on the protection, utilizing Firefree 88 (“Ff88”), an intumescent coating on both the exterior and interior of the building. Applying FF88 on the exterior of the building would protect the existing cladding from ignition from interior and exterior sources and would prevent the fire from spreading to other floors. Applying Ff88 on specific walls and ceilings on the interior of the building would prevent interior fires to spread within the building within a floor or between floors, eventually reaching the exterior and the cladding.
Ff88 can also be used in the manufacturing of new cladding panels resulting in non-combustible cladding with the same insulation quality and cost effective manufacturing.
This solution was based on Ff88’s existing testing on multiple substrates (metal, aluminum, polyurethane foam , gypsum, wood…) to a variety of standards including ASTM E 119, FM 4975, BS 476 , AS 1530 and EN 13501and Room Corner tests (UBC-2, UBC 26-3, NFPA 286), as well as the ASTM 1623 fire test standard, providing a “real world” extreme fire condition to determine the fire resistance of the samples in terms of maximum temperature exposure and time as an indication of performance in full scale testing under NFPA 285, the current testing standards currently being used for cladding panels.
Firefree is the leading developer of cost efficient fire retardant and fire resistant technologies that help prevent the spread of fire, smoke and toxic gases during a fire, thus giving time to occupants to evacuate and protecting the rest of the property from fire. Ff88 is tested at third party accredited International Accreditation Service (IAS) fire testing laboratories. Firefree Coatings is a member of NFPA, ICC and ASTM E-05 Committee. Ff88 is listed by FM Approvals and by ICC-ESR.
For further information, please contact at [email protected], (888-990-3388) (+1 415-459-6488), www.firefree.com.