Fire safety and equipment specialist Patol has appointed a new employee in India as Technical Sales Consultant to work with Kannoth Mohanan, Patol's Head of Sales for India. The country is one of the most important export markets for the UK based manufacturer of linear heat detection cable (LHDC) and conveyor infra-red transit heat and flame sensors (IRD), and the appointment reflects Patol's ongoing commitment to serving the region.

Saibal Sikder has particular expertise and experience in power stations, one of the major applications for Patol's LHDC and IRD's, having most recently worked as the Chief Design Engineer (Water System Group) in India's NTPC Ltd (formerly known as the National Thermal Power Corporation) - the organisation which operates under the Indian government's Ministry of Power and which is responsible for the generation of electricity and allied activities.  Amongst his responsibilities during his 33 years with NTPC, Saibal evaluated tender documents, working with vendors and visiting numerous NTPC sites to help co-ordinate more than 21 prestigious projects encompassing fire detection and protection, compressed air systems and hydrogen generation.

Kelvin Miller is Sales Director at Patol and first met Saibal in 1993, when Kelvin demonstrated Patol's IRD sensors and accompanying LHDC for the protection of a coal conveyor system at the Badarpur Power Station in the South East corner of Delhi. Saibal was one of several engineers who attended the demonstration which subsequently saw an order for 17 IRD sensor units to protect the coal conveyor systems throughout the 705 MW installed capacity power station, the major supplier of electricity to the city of Delhi, India's second most populous city after Mumbai.

Kelvin comments - "Patol has been doing business in India for over 22 years, during which time we have sold over 10,000 infra-red detectors and over 4 million metres of our linear heat detection cable.  The appointment of Saibal is a very welcome addition to our team and will provide the impetus for developing even greater opportunities in what is a very buoyant market, particularly in terms of coal-fired power generation for which our solutions are particularly suited."

LHDC is designed to provide early detection of fire conditions and overheating of conveyor bearings where other forms of detection would not be viable, either due to the inability to survive the hostile environment or through prohibitive costs. Patol's 5610 infra-red transit heat sensor and the 5710 infra-red transit flame sensor, both part of the Patol 5000 series, have been awarded ATEX and IECEx certification for use in hazardous areas with the potential for dust explosion. The 5610 and 5710 sensors have been specifically created for hazardous environments for providing protection on conveyor belts or systems wherever materials are being continuously transported, when the capacity for self-ignition/propagation  provides an exceptional fire or dust explosive threat.