Barns fires are due to the following risk :
- forage fermentation leading to slow combustion and eventually to fast combustion if oxygen comes to reach the sleeping fire
- electrical fires : mainly due to old installation with risk of arc ignition between 2 conductors
one good solution is to install on the electrical switchboard a special device detecting arcs ( price range 100-200 € ). It is mandatory in US and Canada since 2002.
arc detector from schneider
Forage fermentation essentially depends on rate of humidity of forage : fermentation begins as soon as the bale is pressed and increases with bale pressing pressure ( density of water is increased )
Simple solution for detecting forage fermentation is to measure the internal temperature of the bales a few hours after pressing : if the increase is more than 1°/hour you should put the bale aside and re open it for further drying ( or keep it temporaly in a well ventilated aera far from other bale )
100% of the bale are then tested safely
Another solution is to put randomly a few wireless temperature sensors into bales to detect increase of temperature during storage . Statisticaly 10 bales surveyed on 500 is poor . And still risky .
Moreover , in case of increase of one bale you have to move out all the other bales in urgency .
OPTOMESURES proposes a system that can be fixed on the teeth of the tractor with a wireless temperature sensor sending the temperature value to a tablet or smartphone . GPS coordinates and value of the bale temperatures are stored and risk assessment displayed .
2 products :
- simple temperature sensor without GPS tracking , allows rought risk assessment : around 300 euros
- temperature sensor with GPS tracking and risk precise assessment : around 400 euros