FIRE and Security Hardware is a company that consistently surprises with its innovative thinking. The company’s development of the mechanical electro magnetic lock is innovative. This tiny mechanical magnetic offers nearly 700kg of holding force in a form factor that’s 75 per cent smaller than the competition.

So what’s the big deal? Well, consider this. A typical electro magnetic lock comprises 2 parts; the electromagnet, which is attached to the door frame; and the armature, which is attached to the door itself. In terms of its physical structure, an electromagnet is made of a laminated steel core entirely wrapped in turns of fine copper wire.

When a 12V DC current is applied to this copper circuit an electro magnetic field is created in the laminated steel core and it’s this magnetic field that binds to the steel armature creating a seal. It’s important to bear in mind that the power of the electromagnetic lock is increased by the number of windings in the same direction (and more winding equals more weight) as well as by the number of amps flowing through those windings.

Pretty obviously, the more windings an electro magnet has, the more resistance is will have and the greater its resistance, the more heat it will generate. As a result, it’s important that low voltages and currents be used to keep these locks as cool as possible. Trouble is, this fundamental leads to a conundrum in that when low voltages are used, a very large number of copper turns around the core are needed to generate the strongest possible magnetic field. And as we now know, more turns means more weight and more bulk.

Put all this together and traditional magnetic locks have a number of negatives. They are big and they are extremely heavy. And given they need a constant supply of current to operate, big magnetic locks chew through large amounts of power, particularly when large numbers of them are installed on a site. Sydney-based FSH set out to meet all these challenges by developing a magnetic lock with an enormous holding force, a tiny form factor and a vastly reduced current draw. The company succeeded.

It’s probably a comparison of size and weight that gives the best idea of the revolutionary nature of the MEM 2400. A 600kg standard magnetic lock weights 3kg and is 270mm long and 73mm high. The MEM 2400 weighs in at a skimpy .04kg, is just 158mm long and 35mm high yet has a holding force of 680 kg. That’s an impressive achievement. Power consumption is also much reduced – it’s 0.14A – about one third less than its full-size competitors.

According to FSH’s Trevor Mackle, the idea of the mechanical electro magnetic lock is to replace bulky standard electro magnetic locks in applications where door height and narrow frames cause problems with installations.

“Because of the large size of many electro magnetic locks there’s a tendency for them to protrude down from the frame into the door space below,” Mackle explains.

“While this can be tolerated in some applications, often door frames must be completely clear to meet fire standards or for aesthetic reasons.

“It’s probably a comparison of size and weight that gives the best idea of the revolutionary nature of the MEM 2400. A 600kg standard magnetic lock weights 3kg and is 270mm long and 73mm high. The MEM 2400 weighs in at a skimpy .04kg, is just 158mm long and 35mm high yet has a holding force of 680 kg”

“You may have doorway height restrictions in buildings and if you install a magnet under the lintel of a doorway it has to meet building regulations that insist it not intrude into the doorway. There are building regulations that insist on a clear doorway of a given height but once a magnet is installed those regulations are breached.”

FSH’s MEM locks achieve their amazing performance through a design which sees a rounded tongue built into the armature and a circular latch built into the magnet. When the magnet and the armature are brought together, the tongue and latch form an additional mechanical seal that supports the holding force of the magnet without compromising its fail safety rating.

“The applications for this wonderful new lock go on and on,” says Mackle. “Along with traditional applications for magnetic locks, like single and double glass doors, the MEM 2400 is small enough to be flush mounted not just into a door frame but into the rim of a door itself.

“As a case in point, we recently met with some architects in Canberra who had a building with a huge number of double sliding doors that needed an electronic locking mechanism – they could not find a lock that could secure double sliders in an access control environment giving security, failsafe and door status monitoring,” Mackle explains.

“They were desperate and were about to start tearing sliding doors out and installing hinged doors at massive expense. The solution was our MEM 2400 – flush-mounted into the edge of one door with the armature installed on the opposing side.”

According to Mackle, when FSH first came up with the idea of combining mechanical and magnetic locking principles in a single lock the company turned its R&D team loose to look at all elements of mechanical and electromagnetic function.

“We were looking for new ways to address problems installers and end users have long faced in the real applications,” Mackle says. “Once we’d done a patent search and found no one had ever combined mechanical and electromagnetic locks we started pushing hard on R&D and quickly came up with MEM technology.”

Mackle says the MEM series of locks offers plenty of major advantages along with  small size and low weight. Because current draw is much lower the size of standby batteries to support the system is smaller. The size of the battery charger to maintain those batteries is smaller and the power bill goes down.

“We’ve also incorporated pre-load into the design,” says Mackle. “The MEM 2400 has 70kg of pre-load capability which is vastly more than any lock could possibly need.

“We also decided to undertake fire testing of all the MEM locks for 4 hours and they passed these tests with flying colours. The MEM’s have already been tested on every fire door manufactured in Australia,” Mackle says.

“They’re also been submitted for SCEC endorsement – The MEM 2400 should be SCEC endorsed by June. That’s part of our quality commitment and it’s a credit to the efforts of our R&D team that the locks have performed so well.”

Meanwhile, FSH’s Marc Bindner says the company has been cautious with the release of the product.

“We’ve been selective with our trials and to be honest, we probably released this lock a few months early,” he says. “It highlights the market’s need for a product like this that when we began promoting the MEM we had about 200 in stock and we now have none and significant back orders.

“This really is a great product that will be of great benefit to the Australian electronic security market.”

Fact file

Features of Fire and Security Hardware’s MEM 2400

* Slimline design 25 per cent the size of a standard 600kg magnet

* High holding force up to 680kg and up to 70kg pre-load

* Dual voltage 12/24 V DC

* Low power consumption of 0.14A (24V DC)

* Simple surface or even flush mount

* 4-hour fire rating

* Full monitoring (lock sensor, door sensor)

* Early warning feature.