Focus on hazards: Container surveillance in hazardous areas

To ensure a reliable detection of a hazard source when monitoring containers in hazardous areas and simultaneously prevent costly false alarms, our explosion-protected IP thermal imaging cameras now also feature separate detection of flame movement and temperature. This function means that the intelligent cameras can clearly distinguish whether there is "only" a flame-like movement or whether the temperature has also risen above the pre-defined limit. A measuring module distinguishes temperatures in the video recording pixel by pixel. Only once the pre-defined temperature levels are exceeded will the programmed alarm procedure be triggered. These reliable fire and warning alarms increase surveillance security in hazardous areas, whilst greatly reducing false alarms and their associated cost. Furthermore, CCTV systems with thermal imaging cameras can monitor large areas with corresponding thermal images: depending on the type of thermal imaging camera, areas of a size of up to 650 m² can be monitored in great detail.

Even the latest thermal imaging cameras cannot ensure sufficient fire protection if used by themselves. Only the combination of explosion-protected cameras, industrial cameras where needed and associated software can ensure a sufficient level of protection. In chemical and pharmaceutical companies, for example, piping, transport routes and loading/unloading stations are monitored with fast-panning PTZ cameras (pan/tilt/zoom). These types of camera cover all surveillance points programmed in a virtual guard tour, and they can precisely zoom in on selected spots within 0.2 seconds. If the virtual guard tours also cover areas that should remain hidden, these can be blacked out with the "Dynamic Masking" function. Because this blacking out is dynamic, the specified areas will remain blacked out regardless of the panning and zooming motions of the camera. Because of their large range of functions, including precise 360° panning, fast and precise focussing and the high-quality images with electronic image stabilisation, PTZ cameras are today used in many different applications.

Chemical or pharmaceutical plants have many secluded areas that are difficult to view from afar. For such cases, AFZ (autofocus/zoom) cameras are particularly suitable for indoor monitoring. To cover the entire premises including zones blocked from direct view, we recommend positioning several cameras so that they provide seamless coverage, with each camera taking on part of the view and the combination of all cameras providing a complete overall view of the locality. Our AFZ models have been designed for temperatures ranging from -55 °C to +65 °C for continuous, 24/7 surveillance even under extreme conditions. The devices, certified for operation almost everywhere across the world, not only can resist considerable temperature fluctuations, but also salt spray and vibrations.

For monitoring tanks and reactors through sight glasses, sight-glass cameras can be exactly positioned on top of the sight glass and provide clear, bright images of all processes inside due to their high degree of light sensitivity. If a process suddenly generates foam, the direct image transfer to the control room allows for a much faster intervention by staff than would be the case with guard tours.

Dome cameras are available for wide-reaching, 360° monitoring of hazardous outdoor areas and complete plant sections. Located under a transparent dome, the pan and tilt camera with 18x or 40x optical zoom can also provide close-ups and enlargements of conspicuous or dangerous locations. Also, unauthorised personnel or wrongly placed goods can immediately be spotted for prompt intervention.

All information is pooled by a video management software, which, depending on its range of functions, becomes a key part of any highly professional surveillance solution. Ideally, this would be a modular, upgradeable software solution to map all industry-specific complexities. Powerful alarm management concepts should be standard, as well as easy-to-use video players, configuration assistants and an analytics interface for integrating other analysis software. In addition, there should also be the option of integrating third-party systems for physical security information management, access control as well as break-in and fire alarms.