- Author
- Sivathanu, Y. R. | Tseng, L. K.
- Title
- Fire Detection Using Near-IR Radiation and Source Temperature Discrimination.
- Coporate
- Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN
- Sponsor
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Report
- NISTIR 5904, October 1996,
- 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
- Contract
- NIST-GRANT-60NANB5D0113
- Book or Conf
- National Institute of Standards and Technology. Annual Conference on Fire Research: Book of Abstracts. October 28-31, 1996, Gaithersburg, MD, 117-118 p., 1996
- Keywords
- fire research | fire science | fire detection | infrared radiation | source temperature | fire detectors
- Abstract
- New fire detection concepts and algorithms are justified only if they improve upon existing ones with lower false alarm rates and greater sensitivity to starting fires. In addition, the detectors and signal processing instruments should be easy to operate and maintain, have high flexibility and be relatively inexpensive. Currently residential fire detectors include optical smoke sensors, ionization smoke sensors and temperature sensors. Conventional smoke sensors utilize light scattering or smoke ionization measurements, while temperature sensors utilize thermocouple measurements. The disadvantages with conventional single sensor detectors are that there is a significant time delay between the start of the fire, and the transport of either combustion products or smoke to positions close enough to enable detection and single sensor detectors involve a high rate of false alarms due to changes in the operating environment. Combinations of smoke sensors and odor sensors which involve multiple fire signatures are less prone to false alarms, but involve greater initial and maintenance costs. The objective of the present work was to investigate whether these two characteristics of natural fires could be exploited in a near-infrared fire detector operating on the principle of source temperature discrimination.