- Author
- Lee, B. T. | Walton, W. D.
- Title
- Fire Experiments and Flash Point Critieria for Solar Heat Transfer Liquids. Final Report.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- Department of Energy, Washington, DC
- Report
- NBSIR 79-1931, November 1979, 40 p.
- Distribution
- AVAILABLE FROM National Technical Information Service (NTIS), Technology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22161. Telephone: 1-800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000; Fax: 703-605-6900. Website: http://www.ntis.gov
- Keywords
- fire prevention | fire tests | flammability | flash point | heat transfer fluids | insulation | leakage | solar collectors | solar engery | pensky martens apparatus | solar energy
- Abstract
- To help provide a rational basis for developing flammability criteria for heat transfer fluids used in solar energy collection systems, fire tests were performed using simulated accident scenarios involving spills, flowing leaks, spray leaks, and soaked insulation. These experiments indicated that the flash point temperatures, as measured with the Pensky-Martens closed cup apparatus, are close to the minimum temperatures at which pools of the fluids will support a flame when they are expopsed to a small pilot igniting flame in a room. The heat release from moderate sized burning pools of these liquids is sufficient to cause flashover in a room.