Minimax Undercover sprinklers protect five-star river cruiser

It’s a dream boat: The M/S Scenic Emerald, the largest freshwater cruiser on the river Elbe, certainly lives up to the highest of standards. In keeping with this, equally high are the requirements concerning the quality of equipment onboard the luxury cruise liner. For a perfect visual appearance whilst offering reliable safety, a new and globally unique fire protection solution for ships was designed: The GL-certified Undercover sprinkler system by Minimax.

135 metres long and 11.45 metres wide, this new cruise giant from Saxony-Anhalt’s Tangermünde Ship Building and Developing Company (SET) towers above the rest. With such measurements, the Scenic Emerald is the largest freshwater cruiser ever constructed on the Elbe. The ship offers 20 percent more room than average cruisers. The four extensive decks are home to 86 luxury suites, a restaurant, a lounge and bar area and spacious viewing areas.
Yet this hotel on water also hosts something else: a Minimax sprinkler system. Modified GL and SUK regulations now also require fire protection for German river boats. In addition to delivering the system, the complete solutions supplier Minimax assumed responsibility for the whole project development, including installation and system start-up.

In order to ensure complete integration of the often unaesthetic and visually-disturbing fire protection elements with the elegant interior of the luxury liner, the cabins and all public areas of the Scenic Emerald were equipped with an innovative product solution offered by Minimax: Undercover sprinklers. This system is fitted into the ceiling, thus ensuring discrete safety.
In addition to favourable optics, the ceiling installation offers a range of further advantages: With a maximum of two metres, the ceilings on the Scenic Emerald are comparatively low. Thanks to the integrated Undercover sprinkler system, no more valuable centimetres are lost through the projection of sprinkler nozzles.

The GL-certified sprinklers consist of both tried and tested hanging and rapid-response umbrella sprinklers as well as a new-style casing. They are not only a convincing option based on their design, but also through their protection against false alarms, which are often caused by mechanical faults. Additionally, they are less susceptible to collecting dirt than conventionally fitted sprinklers.

For an optimal surface finish, the Scenic Emerald’s Undercover sprinkler was covered with a fine-mesh screen: the inconspicuous covers have been especially adapted to the different ceiling tones onboard the cruiser. When in use, the water jets are strong enough to force off the screens. Nevertheless, in order to prevent any hesitation when the sprinkler is triggered, Minimax also equipped the covers with its unique, patented CoverDrop eject mechanism, which exposes the sprinkler head before the nominal trigger temperature is reached.

The CoverDrop eject mechanism is based on two redundant working mechanisms. A coil spring locked with a fusible link is immobilized within the fine-mesh screen. When the nominal trigger temperature of the soldered strut, which lies below the trigger temperature of the sprinkler, is reached, the coil spring is released and the cover is dropped. If, for some reason, the sprinkler is triggered before it drops out of the cover, the cover is released by the escaping water and even water distribution is guaranteed.