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50 years of LST fire detection systems - Part 1

Dipl.-Ing. Helmut Friedl, Managing Director of LST

Dipl.-Ing. Helmut Friedl, Managing Director of LST

It all started in 1965. At that time, Helmut Friedl was a student at the technical university, and he improved his income as electronics developer in a small Viennese company for electromedical technology.

Back then, many developments in the field of electromedicine as well as in other special fields such as traffic signal control, were carried out. Siemens became aware of the future development engineer and charged the company with the development of a fire detection control panel for the smoke detectors of the then-leading manufacturer Cerberus, which were operated with a direct voltage of 240V. „I have thought about it, and then it occurred to me to use the usual 24V emergency power supply to generate the operating voltage needed for the fire detectors by means of decentralised DC converters", says the company founder who today manages a modern company with 210 employees at eleven locations in Austria and Germany as senior manager – together with his son Stefan.

With the development and manufacture of these „IMZ“ control panels for Siemens, the foundation stone of Labor Strauss in its present form was laid at that time. From this time on, the then-eight-person company also built small fire detection control panels for Siemens. Since USA-made fire detectors that were operated with low voltage were already available, Helmut Friedl convinced the management of Labor Strauss to develop a fire detection control panel for these detectors and thus to build their own fire detection systems. The fire detection control panel series NBMZ was developed, the success proved Helmut Friedl right. Soon thereafter he took over the company and developed it into what it stands for today – one of Europe's most innovative companies in the field of fire detection systems and extinguishing control technology.

50 years of LST fire detection systems told in a few sentences
In the mid-seventies, Helmut Friedl pioneered a revolutionary innovation, the control panel series „BSL“: These sensational fire detection control panels were the first to allow indication of the detector from which the alarm had originated. „This was a really big milestone for Europe, and very many followed us", says Helmut Friedl. A further jump ahead was made possible by using modern CMOS microprocessors in the Labor Strauss control panels, by means of which the problem of the older processors' high power dissipation was solved. The detector manufacturers who, since the late eighties, also used the modern microprocessors in the detectors, contributed to another surge of innovations and facilitated new functions. For the Labor Strauss team of approximately forty that could react more flexibly than large companies, this was a further chance. It is no wonder that soon thereafter, well-known names such as the Verbundgesellschaft, the Vienna City Hall and the Rudolfstiftung were among the first big clients.

We have kept on thinking!

Shortly before the turn of the millenium, Labor Strauss starts the development of a completely new generation of fire detection control panels, the BC216 series. Via a circular data line, up to 127 decentralised sub fire detection control panels can be networked across very large areas in such a way that together they act for the user like one compact fire detection control panel. And soon thereafter, the development of the next control panel generation was started. After a five-year development time, the BC600 came on the market: It works on the same principle as the BC216 series, but it is designed to be far more powerful and therefore can be used in systems of any size and extension. By the way, it would not be Labor Strauss if they were not already thinking about the next generation.

Soon our news blog will feature a look at the present and future of LST and will reveal what it is all about potatoes!

 

50 years of fire detection systems - The first LST control panel NBMZ24

50 years of fire detection systems - The first LST control panel NBMZ24