SAFETY ALARMS AT CERN
P. Ciriani · 1998
In order to operate the CERN accelerators complex safely, the acquisition, transport and management of safety alarms is of crucial importance. The French regulatory authority [Direction de Surete des Installations Nucleaires de Base (INB)] defines them as Level 3 alarms; they represent as such a danger for the life and require an immediate intervention of the Fire Brigade. Safety alarms are generated by fire and flammable gas detection systems, electrical emergency stops, and other safety related systems. Level 3 alarms are transmitted for reliability reasons to their operation centre: the CERN Safety Control Room (SCR) using two different media: the hard-wired network and a computer based system. The hard-wired networks are connected to local panels summarizing in 34 security areas the overall CERN geography. The computer based system offers data management facilities such as alarm acquisition, distribution, archiving and information correlation. The Level 3 alarms system is in constant evolution in order to achieve better reliability and to integrate new safety turn-key systems provided by industry