What precautions have been taken to prevent obstructions from blocking the spray?

Quick answer:

Detailed answer:

To mitigate the chances of direct obstruction our strategy is three-fold.

1. Automist through its side wall delivery is able to utilise the buoyancy of the fire plume to suck the mist in and suppress fires. A water droplet should ideally evaporate inside the fire plume, instead of in the hot layer above it, to be most effective in cooling and inerting the flames. We have tested against shielded fires and shown that it is effective against a fire directly under the head, concealed washing machine fires or fires behind an obstruction.
   
   
   
   
2. We then house the head in "preferred positions" next to light switches, corners, windows and thoroughfares. If the head is not placed in the position a default 90-degree radius of protection is assumed as opposed to 180. Where a preferred position can't be found, extra spray heads are placed to ensure that the installation is robust to future obstructions (page 11 of the DIOM).
   
   
   
   
3. Education, education, education. A fire curtain can be defeated by someone placing something underneath it so it cannot close, a door closer can be defeated by someone propping it open with a doorstop, a sprinkler head can be defeated by painting over it and Automist Smartscan can be defeated if someone secures something heavy directly in front of the nozzle. We believe the best way to address all of these examples is to educate the homeowner. Our installers inform customers how the system operates in as part of the maintenance cycle. We also leave lots of information for the customer: The head itself has a written warning engraved 'DO NOT COVER', we give them a product one pager and leave a tag on the head to encourage them to register online and receive educational videos and maintenance reminders.