- Author
- Cleary, T. G.
- Title
- Time Resolved Size Distributions of Test Smoke and Nuisance Aerosols.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- International Conference on Automatic Fire Detection "AUBE '04", 13th Proceedings. University of Duisburg. [Internationale Konferenz uber Automatischen Brandentdeckung.] September 14-16, 2004, Duisburg, Germany, Luck, H.; Laws, P.; Willms, I., Editors, 500-509 p., 2004
- Keywords
- fire detection | fire detection systems | aerosols | size distribution | smoke | soot | smoke detectors | cigarettes
- Identifiers
- Electrical Low-Pressure Impactor (ELPI); Fire Emulator/Detector Evaluator (FE/DE); wood smoke; ISO test dust; toasting bread
- Abstract
- An electrical low-pressure impactor (ELPI) has been used to measure the size distribution of various test smokes and nuisance aerosols generated in the fire emulator/detector evaluator (FE/DE). Previously reported size results were timeaveraged values with sampling times on the order of five minutes required to collect a weighable amount. The ELPI is a 12-stage cascade impactor that separates particles between an aerodynamic diameter size range of 0.03 µm to 10 µm, which covers a wide range of particle sizes of interest in smoke alarm research. A complete size distribution is recorded every 10 s. The size distributions of several test smokes including: propene soot, smoldering cotton, and smoldering wood smoke were measured throughout smoke alarm exposure tests. The size distribution of several nuisance aerosols including: dust, cigarette smoke, and cooking smokes were also measured. Additionally, comparisons were made between the ELPI results and results from a tapered element oscillating microbalance and the measuring ionization chamber.