VARIOSAFE Security & Rescue System
Innovative Design: Variable shelter installations of all classes, designed to provide protection for extended periods, ranging from 48 days to 280 days. Preliminary filter units and emergency exit moduls installed externally, can also be used for upgrading conventional shelters. Turnkey delivery of private and public shelter installations in both monocylinder and multicylinder layouts, customized to the client´s precise size and equipment specifications. Mobile shelters for both civilian and military command applications.
Radiation Shielding: Absolute shielding of 6–9 tenth-value-thicknesses provides comprehensive protection against radiation of all types, Thermal radiation, Initial Gamma-radiation Alpha/Beta radiation, Neutron-induced radiation, Residual radiation and radioactive Fallout – even at ground zero of nuclear device detonations at standard altitude.
Strucural Optimization: Pursuant to DISMAS-ELC specifications. High-strength, up to over 10 bar blast-proof outside doors and hatches made of AlSi12 with a radioactive half-life of only 0,38 hours, fitted with an adjustable centrally-controlled locking system, external ceramic heat radiation coating, shrapnel- and bullet-proof 360o sight device, and a hydraulic lifting system capable of pushing the exit hatch up to through a rubble load of up to 3 tons.
Air Supply: Automatic blast valves provide a secure protection of the air supply against reflected shockwaves with pressures up to over 10 bar. Exchangeable active filters against volatile industrial and military chemical agents. The servicing of the filters and their replacement as well as the disposal of contaminated filter elements are to handle in the security of the main airlock area.
Entrance – Exit - Surveillance: Double airlock system with separate decontamination chamber, shower, toilet and sewage ejecting gear. Unrestricted but shielded view of the outside area allows monitoring of the outer installation and surroundings even in case of an actual emergency, when the installation is sealed off from the outside.
Emergency Exit: The emergency exit is a special part of an appropriate combination of a main airlock chamber (location of the active filters) and a real decontamination chamber with toilet, shower and sewage ejecting gear.
Connection to the
Water Supply: Automatic service tanks for continually renewed drinking water in each shelter cylinder. Tank capacity 2000 or 7000 liters, depending on the shelter series. All tanks are connected to the normal drinking water system of the residential building, but disconnected only in case of real emergency manually or automatically by a special blast valve.
TRADITIONAL SHELTERS
Traditional Design: Traditional Shelters built as various monolithic cast-in-place concrete structures, or structures built from prefabricated, cub-shaped reinforced concrete components, only in some versions blast-proof to a maximum of 3 bar. When these structures are exposed to dynamic stresses imposed by blasts, uncontrolled crack formations are inevitable, leading to leaks in the structure during the critical high-contamination period which follows.
Radiation Shielding: Insufficient shielding with only 2-3 tenth-value-thicknesses. Adding to this the shielding against residual radiation from the sand filter unit installed inside the shelter is also insufficient. Danger of contamination from the filter condensate, which is drained off within the shelter area. Entrance and exit hatches made of steel with inacceptable radioactive half-life of real 41 days.
Active Filters: Active filters are directly coupled with the ventilation equipment located within the shelter area. With this design, changing the contaminated and used-up filter elements exposes the shelter occupants to extreme hazard.
Ventilation Equipment: No air recirculation system. This makes it impossible to connect a CO² absorbtion filter instead of the active filter element, which is essential in the event of fires in the surrounding area (fire storm), when the air supply to the shelter must be temporarily turned off.
Airlock: The only airlock is the entrance passage between the residential building and the shelter. In this location, however, the airlock becomes non-functional when the residential building is destroyed – all it takes is a only 0,3 bar shockwave.
Emergency Exit: Not fitted with an airlock. In some designs the emergency exit hatch opens inwards, which means that contaminated rubble and dust at least enters the shelter making worthless all the protective measures taken before.
Surveillance: No way of monitoring the surrounding area or the air intake passages. Air intake and exhaust openings are not protected against damage or wilful blockage from the outside.
Occupancy Periods: Provided for a maximum of 14 days, with insufficient drinking water supply, no waste disposal facilities, and no visual contact to the outside environment. Dry toilet facilities, water in cans and insufficient protection against radiation and chemical contamination are typical features of the traditional shelter technology, making occupancy for periods of more than 14 days unacceptable.
Disadvantages: All of the traditional shelter concepts have not been adapted to meet the requirements imposed by modern-day-hazards, their structural design has basically not changed since World War II.
Modern customers are well-informed, and they increasingly tend to regard these designs as technical lacking and as inappropriate for longer occupancy periods. In a free market, these products thus have lost their significance.
