Gone are the days of raised compound walls embedded with glass splinters jutting over them as a means of safety from burglars. Solar fences which are the preferred choice of security for institutions and sites of historical or archaeological prominence, are of late gaining prominence among owners of individual houses and apartment complexes.
More than 700 families, including those staying in apartments at Somajiguda, Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills, Gachibowli, Madhapur and Medchal areas in Hyderabad have installed solar fences to protect their premises from thieves. Those residing in gated communities in Medchal, Rajendranagar and Gachibowli also have gone the solar way.
“I faced a harrowing time when unknown persons entered my house by scaling the compound wall and stole pump-sets, drainage covers and water faucets. I have now overcome the problem by installing solar fencing around my house,” said Srinivas, a 40-year-old State government employee from Medchal.
Like Srinivas, many residents, who are staying on the suburbs, have begun to protect their homes with solar fencing to prevent burglars from entering their houses. With increase in thefts in cities and suburbs, most home owners are evincing interest in fortifying their compound walls with solar fencing. The management committees of several religious places are also coming forward to put up the fencing.
Companies dealing with installation of fencing say perimeter security is the present day’s need. Solar fencing is the modern day’s alternative to the conventional type of perimeter protection. These are active fences and punish the intruder the moment he touches or tries to tamper with it. Conventional fences are only passive types and cannot resist the intruder if he tries to enter forcibly.
Solar fences ward off thieves by giving a sharp, short but a safe shock and create psychological fear. The alarm incorporated in the system goes off when the fence is tampered with and alerts inmates, explains Excel Security Systems proprietor Sameer Hussain.
He says solar security fencing delays, denies and detects the entry of intruder and reduces the expenditure on security guards even while providing quantifiable enhancement in security. It would also provide 24X7 protection without delays or inconvenience to occupants in the building.
According to Hussian, the facility is scientific and works on solar energy with backup facility to run uninterruptedly during night as well as cloudy days. The whole system can be divided into two segments, namely the central control unit or solar power generating system with SMSS500 unit and the actual fence.
The solar photovoltaic module converts sunshine into electrical energy and sends them to the SMSS500 unit through a backup battery. The SMSS500 unit takes 12V supply as input and energizes it into high volt pulses in the range of about 7,000 Volts.
These pulses will travel through fencing wires at regular intervals of 1.2 seconds and the duration of each pulse will be 3 million seconds.
The fence part is a scientific layout in which multi-strands at four inches gap will run through the insulators, which are pre-welded and pre-fabricated to MS posts. The height of the fence above the ground/compound wall will be as per the requirement of site conditions. The posts are arranged at 10 feet gap with perfect support to the corner poles. Super earth kits, a composite mixture of different minerals, helps the fence to have a perfect earthing system as solar fencing requires good earthing for effective working.
There is a provision for restricting the intrusion through the gate as well as over the gate. The spring loaded barricades arranged to the gate will electrify the gate and activates the alarm when somebody tries to open the gate forcibly. Pulses travel through the springs arranged on the gate and give out shock to trespassers.
According to Hussain, the burglar alarm in the server room gets activated automatically when someone tries to intrude, even while serving the intruder a sharp, short and painful shock.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Features> Habitat> Design / by M. Srinivas / Hyderabad – August 09th, 2013