Container & Bulk Carriers

At Danfoss we believe that protecting your vessel from fire and at the same time saving money on maintenance is paramount to both ship owners and shipyards. We have therefore taken up the fight against the traditional high-pressure CO₂ systems and offer a SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ solution instead.

As shipyards and ship owners alike are trying to find ways to save money, the low-pressure CO₂ system is ideal as it presents savings for both parties:

Shipyards

• The SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ system consists of only one tank, which takes up considerably less space than numerous high-pressure cylinders, meaning that it will be easier to find the space for the CO₂ room, and there will be less deck support needed. This also means that it will only be necessary to make one single lift when placing the system on the vessel. In contrast, for a high-pressure system, it is necessary to make one lift for every 22 cylinders.
• The SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ system  is fully tested in our production, and therefore installation is limited to power, cooling media and distribution piping connection.

Owners

• The content of a SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ system must be checked annually- for a high-pressure system, this is done by either liquid level indication or by weighing each cylinder. This takes a considerable amount of time. For a low-pressure system it is possible to see the content of the tank at any given time by looking at the level indicator on the control panel.
• Every ten years it is a requirement to change all flexible hoses. For a high-pressure system, this means two hoses per cylinder, which results in a relatively time consuming and costly operation. This is not relevant for a low-pressure system
• After ten years the cylinders in a high-pressure system must be pressure tested, which means taking the cylinders off the vessel, emptying, testing and filling them. This takes a considerable amount of time and can be very costly in terms of off hire cost.
• If it will be necessary to refill the low-pressure system, this is done by driving a truck with liquid CO₂up to the side of the vessel, connecting the filling hoses and after 8-12 hours, the tank will be full.

The SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ system from Danfoss fully complies with all different classification societies and flag states including the recently adopted MSC 339 (91)

Protected areas

The SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ system from Danfoss covers both the very large engine room and cargo holds on container vessels. For the engine room we have taken into consideration all the issues involved in achieving a release time of 85% of the calculated volume of CO₂ being introduced in the space within 2 minutes.

For the cargo holds, all necessary measures have been taken to ensure a release of a minimum of 67% of the calculated volume into the cargo hold within 10 minutes at the same time as allowing for automatic release of 1/3, 2/3 or full release depending on amount of containers in the hold.

“Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller”, a container vessel, protected with SEM-SAFE^® low-pressure CO₂ in engine room and cargo holds.

Read more about our fire fighting system for other types of vessels here.