Performance of Dual Photoelectric/Ionization Smoke Alarms in Full-Scale Fire Tests

Data from two full-scale residential smoke alarm fire test series were analyzed to estimate the performance of dual sensor photoelectric/ionization alarms as compared to co-located individual photoelectric and ionization alarms. Dual alarms and aggregated photoelectric and ionization alarm responses were used to estimate dual alarm performance. It was observed that dual alarms with equivalent or higher sensitivity settings performed better than individual photoelectric or ionization alarms over a range of flaming and smoldering fire scenarios. In one test series, dual alarms activated 539 s faster than ionization alarms and 79 s faster than photoelectric alarms on average. In another test series, individual alarm sensor outputs were calibrated against a reference smoke source in terms of light obscuration over a path length (percent smoke obscuration per unit length) so that alarm thresholds could be defined by the sensor outputs. In that test series, dual alarms, with individual sensor sensitivities equal to their counterpart alarm sensitivities, activated 261 s faster on average than ionization alarms (with sensitivity settings of 4.3%/m smoke obscuration for the ionization sensors) and 35 s faster on average than the photoelectric alarms (with sensitivity settings of 6.6%/m, for the photoelectric sensors.) In cases where an ionization sensor was the first to reach the alarm threshold, the dual alarm activated 67 s faster on average than the photoelectric alarm. While in cases were a photoelectric sensor was the first to reach the alarm threshold, the dual alarm activated 523 s faster on average than the ionization alarm. Over a range of ionization sensor settings examined, dual alarm response was insensitive to the ionization sensor setting for initially smoldering fires and fires with the bedroom door closed, while dual alarm response to the kitchen fires was very sensitive to the ionization sensor setting. Tests conducted in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) fire emulator/detector evaluator showed that the ionization sensors in off-the-shelf ionization alarms and dual alarms span a range of sensitivity settings. While there appears to be no consensus on sensitivity setting for ionization sensors, it may be desirable to tailor sensor sensitivities in dual alarms for specific applications, such as near kitchens where reducing nuisance alarms may be a goal, or in bedrooms where higher smoke sensitivity may be a goal.     

Persistence of Sonic Deposition on Smoke Alarms in Forensic Fire Investigations

Smoke alarms have been shown to develop sonically-deposited regions of acoustically agglomerated soot particles when they sound in smoke-filled air. These sonic depositions can be examined forensically post-fire to determine if the smoke alarm sounded during the incident. However, it is not clear how these sonic depositions are affected by common firefighting and post-fire actions. To determine the effects of post-fire forensic smoke alarm testing and environmental conditions on the persistence of the existing sonic deposition of soot on the horns of a smoke alarm, sixty (60) smoke alarms were subjected to smoke from fires of several different fuel types and common post-fire conditions or actions. Initially, each alarm was exposed to smoke in a small-scale experimental fire to develop sonic deposition around the horn. The fuel types for the fires were smoldering wood, flaming toluene–heptane, smoldering polyurethane foam, flaming polyurethane foam, and a combination of smoldering and flaming polyurethane foam. The alarms were then subjected to four common post-fire actions: pressing the test button, exposure to synthetic canned smoke, exposure to standing water, and exposure to running water. Each detector was visually inspected before and after the post-fire action. Results varied from no soot removed to almost all soot removed depending on the fuel type and post-fire test. An objective evaluation system was used to rank the degree to which soot was removed from the alarm horns: 0 (no soot removed), 1 (some soot removed), and 2 (all soot removed) based on visual inspection. The smoldering wood and smoldering polyurethane foam fires left behind a sticky resin that was essentially unaffected by any of the post-tests. The flaming foam and flaming toluene–heptane fires left powdery soot on the horn which could be easily wiped off. This soot was almost completely washed off by running water (1.067 average degree of removal) while the canned smoke and standing water post-tests removed a significant portion of the soot (0.533 and 1.000 average degrees of removal, respectively), which could lead an investigator to an errant sounding determination. Pressing the test-button appeared to make minimal impact on the amount of soot around the alarms horns regardless of the fuel type (0.067 average degree of removal).     

Advanced fire detection using multi-signature alarm algorithms

The objective of this work was to assess the feasibility of reducing false alarms while increasing sensitivity through the use of combined conventional smoke detectors with carbon monoxide (CO) sensors. This was accomplished through an experimental program using both real (fire) and nuisance alarm sources. A broad selection of sources was used ranging from smoldering wood and flaming fabric to cooking fumes. Individual sensor outputs and various signal-conditioning schemes involving multiple sensors were explored.The results show that improved fire-detection capabilities can be achieved over standard smoke detectors by combining smoke measurements with CO measurements in specific algorithms. False alarms can be reduced while increasing sensitivity (i.e., decreasing the detection time for real fires). Patented alarm criteria were established using algorithms consisting of the product of smoke obscuration and the change in CO concentration. Alarm algorithms utilizing ionization detector smoke measurements proved to be more effective than measurements from photoelectric detectors.     

An experimental study on timely activation of smoke alarms and their effective notification in typical residential buildings

The volume of smoke alarm sound in rooms (other than room of sound origin) in real houses and smoke alarm activation time in rooms in full-scale model houses using ionization, photoelectric and dual detector smoke alarms were determined in this study. The alarm sound level measurements indicated that the sound level in many locations is likely to be too low to provide reliable notification, particularly for sleeping people, if smoke alarms are not installed in every room. In addition, changing to a lower frequency (520 Hz square wave) alarm would further aid effective notification of building occupants. The smoke alarm activation measurements showed that the time to detection (given a particular smoke source) was influenced by door position (open versus closed), the room in which the fire occurs, the location (room or hallway) of the detector, the type of detector and the smoke alarm manufacturer. Furthermore time to detection is also influenced by the type and form of the material that is burning. It was observed that photoelectric smoke alarms had the highest incidence of non-activation and when they did activate they, on average, took longer to activate than ionization and dual (ionization and photoelectric) smoke alarms over all smoke sources considered in this study. It is concluded that to achieve early detection and provide adequate notification, smoke alarms are necessary in every room and should be interconnected.     

Video image fire detection for shipboard use

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effectiveness of commercial video image fire detection systems for small, cluttered spaces as would be found on Navy ships. The primary goal was to establish an understanding of the performance sensitivity and limitations of the video image detection (VID) systems to various setup and environmental conditions that may occur onboard ship while exposed to a range of flaming and smoldering fire sources and potential nuisance alarm sources. The response of the VID systems was benchmarked against standard fire alarm systems using addressable ionization and photoelectric smoke detectors.     

A Relative Time Analysis of the Performance of Residential Smoke Detection Technologies

A statistical study was conducted to compare the performance of different residential smoke detector technologies when exposed to different fire types. In order to facilitate comparisons between different fire and smoke growth rates, a non-dimensional smoke detector activation relative time was employed. Data from four major experimental studies was analyzed utilizing the relative time approach. The Common Language Effect Size, a measure of the probability that a particular detector technology will be the first to detect a fire of a particular type, was used to assess detector performance. The analysis confirmed previous results that ionization detectors, on average, respond faster to flaming fires, and that photoelectric detectors, on average, respond faster to smoldering fires. More importantly, this study also determined that the responses of ionization, photoelectric, and combination technologies are statistically equivalent for any given future residential fire That is, it cannot be determined with confidence which detector technology will alarm first to the next fire. Additionally, the analysis found that this statistical equivalence between detector technologies has not changed in the last 35 years despite increased fire growth rates associated with changes in furniture materials over that same time span.     

Laboratory evaluation of smoke detectors for use in underground mines

Laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the responses of a prototype smoke detector and a commercially available photoelectric smoke detector to smoke particles generated from various combustion sources. The prototype smoke detector combines optical scattering measurements with ionization chamber measurements in order to reduce/eliminate nuisance alarms due to the presence of airborne dusts or diesel exhaust particles. The commercially available smoke detector is designed for use in harsh environments where airborne dust represents a major problem due to both nuisance alarms and detector contamination. In the experiments, the responses of the two detectors were measured when exposed to smoke particles from the exhaust of a diesel engine and from a variety of fire sources, including wood, coal, styrene butadiene rubber, and No. 2 diesel fuel. For the solid fuels, data were obtained for both smoldering and flaming combustions. This report describes the experiments, their results, and the use of these results as they apply to early-warning fire sensors capable of the rapid and reliable detection of fires in atmospheres that may or may not be contaminated by either airborne dust or the products produced from diesel engines.     

Analysis of the Response of Smoke Detectors to Smoldering Fires and Nuisance Sources

Since the initial smoke detector was developed, research has been ongoing to reduce the response times to fire sources and improve the ability of detectors to ignore nuisance sources. Research has been conducted to analyze the signatures from cooking activities, ranging from normal cooking to the flaming ignition of food products with the intent of identifying the precursors to flaming ignition. In particular, the goal of the research is to provide an alarm sufficiently prior to flaming ignition to allow homeowners to take corrective actions to prevent a fire. For the 11 experiments analyzed, the optical density measured in the range hood was the most accurate precursor signal, having the greatest ability to predict the imminent transition to a flaming fire with a minimum of false positives. Though plagued by false positives, the temperature of the heating element and response of an ionization detector provided a faster response than the optical density measure. Given that this research only included 11 experiments, further research should be conducted on a broader range of cooking styles and items being cooked.     

Using multivariate statistical methods to detect fires

Fire detectors must accurately detect fires, but they should not respond to false alarms. Contemporary smoke detectors sometimes cannot discriminate between smoke and odor sources. These detectors can also be slow in responding to smoldering fire sources. In this paper, a statistical approach for detecting fires based on fusing sensor signals from multiple sensors is presented. The multivariate statistical approach, called principal component analysis, is used to compress the sensor information down to a small number of variables that can be interpreted more easily than the raw sensor signals themselves. Experimental results presented here show that the proposed approach is more accurate than a conventional smoke alarm, particularly for early detection of smoldering fires. However, this new approach does not overcome the problem of false alarms. In spite of this current limitation, the method discussed holds great promise for future fire detection applications.     

Experimental Investigation of Acoustic Agglomeration and Sonic Soot Deposition on Smoke Alarms Incorporating Emerging Sounding Technologies

Traditional residential smoke alarms producing a high-frequency T-3 sound have been shown to exhibit sonic deposition of acoustically-agglomerated soot when they sound in the presence of smoke produced in a typical residential fire. The intense acoustic field generated by alarm sounders, which produce these traditional smoke alarm tones, causes colliding soot particles to adhere to one another and eventually settle onto surfaces as their mass increases. The sonic field generated by the horn creates a pulsed flow around the alarm openings that can lead to increased soot deposition in this area. The agglomerated particles then can deposit on the smoke alarm proximate to the horn. The presence of the acoustically-agglomerated soot deposition on alarms has become an accepted forensic technique used to determine if an alarm sounded in the presence of soot. In recent years, new sounding technologies have been introduced for smoke alarms in order to improve their effectiveness in alerting people to fire emergencies who may not respond reliably to traditional smoke alarm tones and patterns. Many researchers have studied the effectiveness of different alarm signals and have found that low-frequency tones and voice messages show increased effectiveness in alerting people, particularly at-risk individuals such as children and the hearing impaired. The new alarms producing low-frequency tones and voice messages generate a far different acoustic field than traditional smoke alarms and require additional understanding of the acoustic agglomeration and sonic soot deposition patterns. A low-frequency alarm sounder, a voice-incorporated alarm using one sounder to generate both the smoke alarm pattern and a voice message, and a voice-incorporated alarm using two sounders to generate the smoke alarm pattern and voice message separately were exposed while sounding to five different smoke sources representative of residential fires. When examined for the presence of enhanced soot deposition, the new alarm sounders solely producing a voice message did not exhibit sonic soot deposition but sounders that produced both the traditional smoke alarm pattern and voice message did exhibit sonic soot deposition. This indicates that the deposition is due to the traditional T-3 alarm sound rather than the voice message. Additionally, low-frequency sounders exhibited sonic soot deposition but only in the presence of the heavy, resin-like tarry deposition from the smoldering polyurethane foam source. As has been found in other studies, this study confirms that the presence of enhanced soot deposition or tarry residue deposition proximate to the horn of a smoke alarm is a reliable indicator that the alarm sounded in the presence of deposition. However, the absence of enhanced soot deposition proximate to the horn of the alarm is not necessarily a reliable indicator that the alarm did not sound in the presence of soot.

     

Fire detection using smoke and gas sensors

Fire detection systems located in aircraft cargo compartments are currently based only on smoke detectors. They generate about 200 false alarms per year for US registered aircraft. The number of false alarms is growing as more planes are outfitted with smoke detectors and air travel expands. Moreover, the survivability of an aircraft in a fire scenario depends on the early detection of the fire. A fire detection system is developed based on the simultaneous measurements of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and smoke. The combination of the rates of rise of smoke and either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide concentration provides a potential fire alarm algorithm to increase the reliability of aircraft smoke detectors, and to reduce the time to alarm. The fire detection system with the alarm algorithm detected fires that were not alarmed by smoke sensors, and alarmed in shorter times than smoke sensors operating alone.     

Effect of Smoke Source and Horn Configuration on Enhanced Deposition, Acoustic Agglomeration, and Chladni Figures in Smoke Detectors

A series of UL/EN based test fires was conducted in a two room/corridor enclosure to investigate the viability of methods for determining whether a smoke detector sounded under a variety of smoke conditions and to see if this methodology could be applied to a detector with a different horn configuration. The presence of enhanced deposition in the form of a black or orange-brown ring and agglomerates around the central opening of a smoke detector horn was found to be a reliable indicator that the horn sounded when it was exposed to smoke from eight standardized, single-substrate fuel sources including hydrocarbon pool, flaming polyurethane foam, and smoldering polyurethane foam fires. Determinations could generally not be made for detectors exposed to white or gray smoke generated by flaming paper, smoldering paper, flaming wood, smoldering wood, and smoldering cotton wick due to a general lack of visible soot deposition within the detector. Therefore, it is not recommended to use the absence of a black or orange-brown ring of enhanced deposition, in and of itself, as an indicator that the horn did not sound. Nevertheless, this conclusion can be reached when the absence of enhanced deposition is combined with evidence supporting the presence of flaming fuels that produce black, sooty smoke. Test series were conducted using two different smoke detector brands, each having a different horn configuration. Findings suggest that the same type of methodology for determining whether the detector sounded is applicable to both models. Chladni figures were not found on any of the smoke detectors, whether they sounded or not; hence, the absence of a Chladni figure was not an indicator that the detector did not sound. A smoke flow visualization technique was used to determine the mechanism that caused the observed enhanced deposition and agglomerates on horns that sounded during a smoke exposure. Additionally, a smoke box test series showed that the extent of observed soot deposition increased with increasing smoke exposure.     

Fire Patterns on Upholstered Furniture: Smoldering versus Flaming Combustion

In most fire investigations, fire damage patterns provide important clues regarding the origin and cause of the fire. Historically, many fire investigations have relied on intuition to interpret fire patterns, the results of which have often been inconsistent with scientific principles. NFPA 921, Guide for Fire and Explosion Investigations, which advocates the scientific method for forensic investigations, includes a summary of many fire patterns and interprets them based on scientific disciplines such as fire dynamics, heat transfer, and materials science. But NFPA 921 does not address the fire pattern that appears on upholstered furniture when it is first item ignited.In this study, a test program was conducted to determine the nature and extent of fire patterns on upholstered furniture caused by smoldering versus flaming ignition sources. Smoldering fire patterns tended to consist of char zones with a thickness equal to that of the fuel element. Conversely, flaming fire patterns had thin char zones with thicknesses much smaller than the thickness of the fuel element. After a smolder-to-flame transition, the fire patterns created by smoldering were rapidly destroyed by the flames and replaced by flaming fire patterns.In nine tests out of ten, the origin of the fire was coincident with the location of burnthrough (a penetration caused by the consumption of a fuel element) in the upholstered furniture item. However, asymmetric flame spread caused by unusual construction features could lead to burnthroughs in other locations. A burnthrough was observed in all six tests in which a transition from smoldering to flaming fire behavior occurred.Only in earliest stage of the ignition sequence will the physical evidence of the ignition source—smoldering or flaming—be preserved. Thus, to determine the cause of a fire, the investigator may need to rely on a consideration not only of fire pattern observations but also the human and environmental factors which may have contributed to the ignition event. This is an approach often called system safety.     

Multisensor/Multicriteria Fire Detection: A New Trend Rapidly Becomes State of the Art

The detection performance of fire alarm systems has recently improved substantially with the development of multisensor/multicriteria detection technology, a new generation of products that derive various alarm and diagnostic criteria from a combination of input signals from sensors responding to different fire phenomena. In an actual case, the signals from a photoelectric smoke sensor and a temperature sensor were combined using modern techniques of signal analysis, such as neural networks and fuzzy logic, which by far exceed commonly used simple logic. The underlying algorithms are parametrized to allow application-specific adaptation of the fire alarm system response behavior.Results from laboratory experiments and computer simulations, field tests, and a rapidly increasing number of real installations clearly demonstrate that systems using multisensor/multicriteria detection technology outperform systems that depend on single sensor inputs, such as ionization or photoelectric smoke detection or temperature sensing. Indeed, the results show that such systems can be adapted to respond to a substantially wider spectrum of fire phenomena, such as visible/invisible and black/white smoke, aerosols, and temperature, while remaining much less sensitive to deceptive phenomena that result from cigarette smoke, welding, spray aerosols, dust, humidity, and so on. This new technology not only contributes to improved life safety, it also reduces the probability of nuisance alarms.In this paper, the principle building blocks that lead to the improved detection behavior will be outlined and results from actual installations will be presented. In particular, the effect of application-specific parametrization will be demonstrated. The performance of multisensor/multicriteria fire detection systems will also be compared to that of systems that depend on single sensor inputs only.     

火灾探测过程模拟研究

将火灾模型和烟气传感器结合起来模拟传感器对不同火灾情况的反应。将NIST的FDS模型和Duisburg-Essen大学通讯系统学院开发的烟气传感器模型结合了起来。某火灾烟气流动的模拟结果作为适合烟气传感器模型的输入数据。为了模拟烟气传感器，选择了几个必要的参数来描述烟气、传感器和房间的情况。烟气粒径的大小分布是描述烟气的一个重要参数。对影响粒径大小分布的烟气颗粒的凝结做了适当处理。联合模型的模拟结果与开敞式火灾和阴燃火灾的测量值做了比较。模拟了一个散射光感器和一个电离室。测量和模拟结果显示，传感器模拟的重质取决于所燃烧的燃料。     

Impact of Air Velocity on the Detection of Fires in Conveyor Belt Haulageways

A series of large-scale experiments were conducted in an above-ground fire gallery using three different types of fire-resistant conveyor belts and four air velocities for each belt. The goal of the experiments was to understand and quantify the effects of air velocity on the detection of fires in underground conveyor belt haulageways and to determine the rates of generation of toxic gases and smoke as a fire progresses through the stages of smoldering coal, flaming coal, and finally a flaming conveyor belt. In the experiments, electrical strip heaters, imbedded approximately 5 cm below the top surface of a large mass of coal rubble, were used to ignite the coal, producing an open flame. The flaming coal mass subsequently ignited 1.83-m-wide conveyor belts located approximately 0.30 m above the coal surface. Gas samples were drawn through an averaging probe for continuous measurement of CO, CO₂, and O₂ as the fire progressed. Approximately 20 m from the fire origin and 0.5 m below the roof of the gallery, two commercially available smoke detectors, a light obscuration meter, and a sampling probe for measurement of total mass concentration of smoke particles were placed. Two video cameras were located upstream of the fire origin and along the gallery at about 14 m and 5 m in order to detect both smoke and flames from the fire. This paper discusses the impact of ventilation airflow on alarm times of the smoke detectors and video cameras, CO levels, smoke optical densities and smoke obscuration, total smoke mass concentrations, and fire heat release rates, examining how these various parameters depend upon air velocity and air quantity, the product of air velocity, and entry cross-section.     

Implementing High Reliability Fire Detection in the Residential Setting

The purpose of detecting fires early is to provide an alarm prior to when there is an environment which is deemed to be a threat to people or a building. High reliability detection is based on the supposition that it is possible to utilize a small number of sensors to ascertain unequivocally that there is a growing threat either to people or to a building and provide an estimation of the seriousness of the threat. The current generation of fire detection systems is designed to respond to smoke, heat, gaseous emission or electromagnetic radiation generated during smoldering and flaming combustion. This paper will demonstrate that these same low level signals can be utilized to achieve the goal of producing earlier detection, while improving reliability. This allows us to reduce the time to detection at the same time reducing the error rate for both false alarms as well as missing fires. Large commercial fire panels are beginning to implement such advanced algorithms for reliable fast detection; however, the focus of this work is to achieve such detection in a way that can be implemented in a lost cost, low power, EPROM which will be suitable for residential systems.     

柔性聚氨酯泡沫燃烧产物毒性评估

介绍了对弹性聚氨酯泡沫燃烧产物毒性的相关研究,并对其是否能用于毒性危害分析进行了评估。研究显示,暴露到聚氨酯燃烧产物中的人会导致中毒。窒息气体氮气有效剂量法能有效预测受害人因暴露于聚氨酯燃烧产物而导致的行为能力丧失情况。同时,也证明有效剂量法不能正确预测聚氨酯阴燃时情况。该方法不适用于热分解。研究发现,目前很多经验方法具有很大的局限性,对毒性危害研究造成了很多负面的影响。烟气粒子携带毒物的吸入和传播以及化学合成复杂的毒物,研究和考虑得很少。因此,很有必要对复杂毒性有机体的火灾燃烧产物进行更深入的物理和化学分析研究以及动物模型研究。     

棉被阴燃火灾实验研究

针对烟头引燃棉被的火灾案例,实验测量烟头的表面温度及热辐射强度,得到烟头表面最高温度可达289 ℃,很容易引燃棉被等可燃物.通过无被套棉被的阴燃实验和有被套棉被的阴燃转明火实验发现,在没有被套的情况下,棉絮间空隙较大,无法积聚热量,只能阴燃而无明火;有被套情况下,产生的热量大部分被阻隔在棉被内部,散热速度较慢,提供了棉被阴燃转明火所需的热量.     

Full-Scale Experimental Investigation to Quantify Building Component Ignition Vulnerability from Mulch Beds Attacked by Firebrand Showers

Structure ignition by wind-driven firebrand showers is an important fire spread mechanism in large outdoor fires. Experiments were conducted with three common mulch types (shredded hardwood mulch, Japanese Cypress wood chips, and pine bark nuggets) placed adjacent to realistic-scale re-entrant corners. In the first series of experiments, mulch beds were placed adjacent to a re-entrant corner constructed with wood studs and lined with oriented strand board (OSB) as the sheathing. The premise behind conducting experiments with no siding treatments applied was predicated on the notion that bare OSB mulch contact would be a worst-case scenario, and therefore, a wall assembly in the most vulnerable state to mulch ignition. In the second series of experiments, vinyl siding was applied to the re-entrant corner assemblies (wood studs/OSB/moisture barrier/vinyl siding), and the influence of vertical separation distance (102 mm or 203 mm) on wall ignition from adjacent mulch beds was determined. The vertical separation distance was maintained by applying gypsum board to the base of the re-entrant corner. The siding itself did not influence the ignition process for the mulch beds, as the mulch beds were the first to ignite from the firebrand showers. In all experiments, it was observed that firebrands produced smoldering ignition in the mulch beds, this transitioned to flaming ignition, and the re-entrant corner assembly was exposed to the flaming mulch beds. With no siding treatments applied, the flaming mulch beds ignited the re-entrant corner, and ignition was observed to propagate to the back side of re-entrant corner assembly under all wind speeds (6 m/s to 8 m/s). With respect to the re-entrant corners fitted with vinyl siding, the mulch type, vertical separation distance, and wind speed were important parameters as to whether flaming ignition was observed to propagate to the back-side of a re-entrant corner assembly. Mulches clearly pose an ignition hazard to structures in large outdoor fires.