FIRE AND SMOKE DETECTORS

A fire occurs in four distinct phases. In the first, or incipient,

phase, warming causes the emission of invisible but detectable
gases. In the second phase, smoldering, smoke is
formed, so smoke detectors can be used. In the third phase,
when the ignition temperature has been reached, flames are
present and therefore their emitted radiation (infrared [IR]
and ultraviolet [UV]) can be detected. In the fourth and last
stage of the fire, heat is released; the temperature of the space
starts to rise, and the use of thermal sensors becomes feasible.
Obviously, the sooner the evolution of a fire is detected, the
less damage it is likely to cause. Therefore, fire and smoke
detectors are discussed here in the order of their applicability
to the four stages of fires.
Smoke Detectors
Ionization Chamber Sensors
In the early warming and
incipient stage of fire, combustion products are emitted without
visible smoke, flame, or heat release. Ionization chamber type
sensors are used to detect the presence of these gases by analyzing
the composition of the atmosphere through the measurement
of conductance. The ionization chamber contains two
electrodes held at different potentials and a radioactive alpha
particle source that ionizes the air in the chamber. The ionization
current that results reflects the composition of the air and
rises as the invisible combustion gas concentration rises.
Schematic diagram of parallel plate ion chamber, showing drift of ions. Electrons typically drift 1000 times
faster than positive ions due to their much smaller mass.[1]

The ionization chamber is the simplest of all gas-filled radiation detectors, and is widely used
for the detection and measurement of certain types of ionizing radiation; X-rays, gamma
rays and beta particles. Conventionally, the term "ionization chamber" is used exclusively to
describe those detectors which collect all the charges created by direct ionization within the gas
through the application of an electric field. [1] It only uses the discrete charges created by each
interaction between the incident radiation and the gas, and does not involve the gas
multiplication mechanisms used by other radiation instruments, such as the Geiger-Müller
counter or the proportional counter.
Ion chambers have a good uniform response to radiation over a wide range of energies and are
the preferred means of measuring high levels of gamma radiation. They are widely used in the
nuclear power industry, research labs, radiography, radiobiology, and environmental monitoring.
An ionization chamber measures the charge from the number of ion pairs created within a gas
caused by incident radiation.[2]It consists of a gas-filled chamber with two electrodes; known
as anode and cathode. The electrodes may be in the form of parallel plates (Parallel Plate
Ionization Chambers: PPIC), or a cylinder arrangement with a coaxially located internal anode
wire.
A voltage potential is applied between the electrodes to create an electric field in the fill gas.
When gas between the electrodes is ionized by incident ionizing radiation, ion-pairs are created
and the resultant positive ions and dissociated electrons move to the electrodes of the
opposite polarity under the influence of the electric field. This generates an ionization current
which is measured by an electrometer circuit. The electrometer must be capable of measuring
the very small output current which is in the region of femtoamperes to picoamperes, depending
on the chamber design, radiation dose and applied voltage.
Each ion pair created deposits or removes a small electric charge to or from an electrode, such
that the accumulated charge is proportional to the number of ion pairs created, and hence
the radiation dose. This continual generation of charge produces an ionization current, which is a
measure of the total ionizing dose entering the chamber. However, the chamber cannot
discriminate between radiation types (beta or gamma) and cannot produce an energy spectrum
of radiation.
The electric field also enables the device to work continuously by mopping up electrons, which
prevents the fill gas from becoming saturated, where no more ions could be collected, and by
preventing the recombination of ion pairs, which would diminish the ion current. This mode of
operation is referred to as "current" mode, meaning that the output signal is a continuous current,
and not a pulse output as in the cases of the Geiger-Müller tube or the proportional counter. [1]
Referring to the accompanying ion pair collection graph, it can be seen that in the "ion chamber"
operating region the collection of ion pairs is effectively constant over a range of applied voltage,
as due to its relatively low electric field strength the ion chamber does not have any
"multiplication effect". This is in distinction to the Geiger-Müller tube or the proportional counter
whereby secondary electrons, and ultimately multiple avalanches, greatly amplify the original ion-
current charge.

Plot of ion current against voltage for a wire cylinder gaseous radiation detector. The ion chamber uses the
lowest usable detection region.

Smoke detectors[edit]
The ionization chamber has found wide and beneficial use in smoke detectors. In a smoke
detector, ambient air is allowed to freely enter the ionization chamber. The chamber contains a
small amount of americium-241, which is an emitter of alpha particles which produce a constant
ion current. If smoke enters the detector, it disrupts this current because ions strike smoke
particles and are neutralized. This drop in current triggers the alarm. The detector also has a
reference chamber which is sealed but is ionized in the same way. Comparison of the ion
currents in the two chambers allows compensation for changes due to air pressure, temperature,
or the ageing of the source.

Photoelectric Sensors
Once the fire starts to smolder and
smoke is present, photoelectric sensors can be used to activate
alarms. Most smoke detectors use a light beam and a photoelectric
cell or transistor. As the smoke density rises, less
light passes from the source to the receiver and an alarm is
activated. Smoke detectors must be maintained so that dust
and dirt accumulation will not cause false alarms. In most fires
the casualties are not caused by the heat of the fire, but by the
toxicity of the combustion gases and by asphyxiation from
smoke. Therefore, early warning systems, such as photoelectric
smoke detectors, are very important.
Types
A self-contained photoelectric sensor contains the optics, along with the electronics. It requires
only a power source. The sensor performs its own modulation, demodulation, amplification, and
output switching. Some self-contained sensors provide such options as built-in control timers or
counters. Because of technological progress, self-contained photoelectric sensors have become
increasingly smaller.
Remote photoelectric sensors used for remote sensing contain only the optical components of a
sensor. The circuitry for power input, amplification, and output switching are located elsewhere,
typically in a control panel. This allows the sensor, itself, to be very small. Also, the controls for
the sensor are more accessible, since they may be bigger.
When space is restricted or the environment too hostile even for remote sensors, fiber
optics may be used. Fiber optics are passive mechanical sensing components. They may be
used with either remote or self-contained sensors. They have no electrical circuitry and no
moving parts, and can safely pipe light into and out of hostile environments. [1]

Sensing Modes
A through beam arrangement consists of a receiver located within the line-of-sight of the
transmitter. In this mode, an object is detected when the light beam is blocked from getting to the
receiver from the transmitter.
A retroreflective arrangement places the transmitter and receiver at the same location and uses a
reflector to bounce the light beam back from the transmitter to the receiver. An object is sensed
when the beam is interrupted and fails to reach the receiver.
A proximity-sensing (diffused) arrangement is one in which the transmitted radiation must reflect
off the object in order to reach the receiver. In this mode, an object is detected when the receiver
sees the transmitted source rather than when it fails to see it. As in retro-reflective sensors,
diffuse sensor emitters and receivers are located in the same housing. But the target acts as the
reflector, so that detection of light is reflected off the disturbance object. The emitter sends out a
beam of light (most often a pulsed infrared, visible red, or laser) that diffuses in all directions,
filling a detection area. The target then enters the area and deflects part of the beam back to the
receiver. Detection occurs and output is turned on or off when sufficient light falls on the receiver.
Some photo eyes have two different operational types, light operate and dark operate. Light
operate photo eyes become operational when the receiver "receives" the transmitter signal. Dark
operate photo eyes become operational when the receiver "does not receive" the transmitter
signal.
The detecting range of a photoelectric sensor is its "field of view", or the maximum distance from
which the sensor can retrieve information, minus the minimum distance. A minimum detectable
object is the smallest object the sensor can detect. More accurate sensors can often have
minimum detectable objects of minuscule size.

Name Advantages Disadvantages

 Most accurate
Through-Beam
 Longest sensing range
 Very reliable
 Must install at two
points on system: emitter
and receiver
 Costly - must
purchase both emitter and
receiver

 Only slightly less  Must install at two

Reflective
accurate than through- points on system: sensor
beam and reflector
 Sensing range better  Slightly more costly
than diffuse than diffuse
 Very reliable  Sensing range less
than through-beam

 Only install at one  Less accurate than

Diffussive
point through- beam or
 Cost less than reflective
through-beam or reflective  More setup time
involved

Thermal Sensors
There are two types of thermal sensors that are used in fire
protection application. One is the rate-of-rise sensor, and the
other is the absolute temperature sensor. Rate-of-rise alarms
are usually set at 15 to 20F (8.3 to 11.1C) per minute. This
rate of rise can be detected by either bimetallic pneumatic
tube sensors or thermoelectric sensors. The fixed temperature
sensors actuate an alarm when the space temperature reaches
a present limit. They are usually either bimetallic or fusible
link devices. In the fusible link devices, the melting of a lowmelting-
point solder activates the operation of sprinklers or
other extinguishing devices.
Principles:
Thermal expansion
Utilizing the property of thermal expansion of various phases of matter.
Pairs of solid metals with different expansion coefficients can be used for bi-metal
mechanical thermometers. Another design using this principle is Breguet's thermometer.
Some liquids possess relatively high expansion coefficients over a useful temperature
ranges thus forming the basis for an alcohol or mercury thermometer. Alternative designs
using this principle are the reversing thermometer and Beckmann differential
thermometer.As with liquids, gases can also be used to form a gas thermometer.
Pressure
Vapour pressure thermometer
Density
Galileo thermometer[40]
Thermochromism
Some compounds exhibit thermochromism at distinct temperature changes. Thus by
tuning the phase transition temperatures for a series of substances the temperature can
be quantified in discrete increments, a form of digitization. This is the basis for a liquid
crystal thermometer.
Blackbody radiation
All objects above absolute zero emit blackbody radiation for which the spectra is directly
proportional to the temperature. This property is the basis for a pyrometer or infrared
thermometer and thermography. It has the advantage of remote temperature sensing; it
does not require contact or even close proximity unlike most thermometers. At higher
temperatures, blackbody radiation becomes visible and is described by the colour
temperature. For example a glowing heating element or an approximation of a stars
surface temperature.
Fluorescence
Phosphor thermometry
Optical absorbance spectra
Fiber optical thermometer
Electrical resistance
Resistance thermometer which use materials such as Balco alloy
Thermistor
Coulomb blockade thermometer
Electrical potential
Thermocouples are useful over a wide temperature ranges from cryogenic temperatures
to over 1000°C, but typically have an error of ±0.5-1.5°C.
Silicon bandgap temperature sensors are commonly found packaged in integrated
circuits with accompanying ADC and interface such as I2C. Typically they are specified to
work within about —50 to 150°C with accuracies in the ±0.25 to 1°C range but can be
improved by binning.[41][42]
Electrical resonance
Quartz thermometer
Nuclear magnetic resonance
 Chemical shift is temperature dependent. This property is used to calibrate the
thermostat of NMR probes, usually using methanol or ethylene glycol.[43][44] This can
potentially be problematic for internal standards which are usually assumed to have a
defined chemical shift (e.g 0 ppm for TMS) but in fact exhibit a temperature dependence.
[45]

Magnetic susceptibility
See also: Paramagnetism §  Curie's law
Above the Curie temperature, the magnetic susceptibility of a paramagnetic material
exhibits an inverse temperature dependence. This phenomenon is the basis of a
magnetic cryometer.[46][47]

Physical principles of thermometry

Thermometers may be described as empirical or absolute. Absolute thermometers are calibrated
numerically by the thermodynamic absolute temperature scale. Empirical thermometers are not
in general necessarily in exact agreement with absolute thermometers as to their numerical scale
readings, but to qualify as thermometers at all they must agree with absolute thermometers and
with each other in the following way: given any two bodies isolated in their separate respective
thermodynamic equilibrium states, all thermometers agree as to which of the two has the higher
temperature, or that the two have equal temperatures. [15] For any two empirical thermometers,
this does not require that the relation between their numerical scale readings be linear, but it
does require that relation to be strictly monotonic.[16] This is a fundamental character of
temperature and thermometers.[17][18][19]
As it is customarily stated in textbooks, taken alone, the so-called "zeroth law of
thermodynamics" fails to deliver this information, but the statement of the zeroth law of
thermodynamics by James Serrin in 1977, though rather mathematically abstract, is more

informative for thermometry: "Zeroth Law – There exists a topological line   which serves

as a coordinate manifold of material behaviour. The points   of the manifold   are

called 'hotness levels', and   is called the 'universal hotness manifold'." [20] To this
information there needs to be added a sense of greater hotness; this sense can be had,
independently of calorimetry, of thermodynamics, and of properties of particular materials,
from Wien's displacement law of thermal radiation: the temperature of a bath of thermal radiation
is proportional, by a universal constant, to the frequency of the maximum of its frequency
spectrum; this frequency is always positive, but can have values that tend to zero. Another way
of identifying hotter as opposed to colder conditions is supplied by Planck's principle, that when a
process of isochoric adiabatic work is the sole means of change of internal energy of a closed
system, the final state of the system is never colder than the initial state; except for phase
changes with latent heat, it is hotter than the initial state. [21][22][23]
There are several principles on which empirical thermometers are built, as listed in the section of
this article entitled "Primary and secondary thermometers". Several such principles are
essentially based on the constitutive relation between the state of a suitably selected particular
material and its temperature. Only some materials are suitable for this purpose, and they may be
considered as "thermometric materials". Radiometric thermometry, in contrast, can be only
slightly dependent on the constitutive relations of materials. In a sense then, radiometric
thermometry might be thought of as "universal". This is because it rests mainly on a universality
character of thermodynamic equilibrium, that it has the universal property of
producing blackbody radiation.
Thermometric materials[edit]
There are various kinds of empirical thermometer based on material properties.
Many empirical thermometers rely on the constitutive relation between pressure, volume and
temperature of their thermometric material. For example, mercury expands when heated.
If it is used for its relation between pressure and volume and temperature, a thermometric
material must have three properties:
(1) Its heating and cooling must be rapid. That is to say, when a quantity of heat enters or leaves
a body of the material, the material must expand or contract to its final volume or reach its final
pressure and must reach its final temperature with practically no delay; some of the heat that
enters can be considered to change the volume of the body at constant temperature, and is
called the latent heat of expansion at constant temperature; and the rest of it can be considered
to change the temperature of the body at constant volume, and is called the specific heat at
constant volume. Some materials do not have this property, and take some time to distribute the
heat between temperature and volume change. [24]
(2) Its heating and cooling must be reversible. That is to say, the material must be able to be
heated and cooled indefinitely often by the same increment and decrement of heat, and still
return to its original pressure, volume and temperature every time. Some plastics do not have
this property;[25]
(3) Its heating and cooling must be monotonic. [16][26] That is to say, throughout the range of
temperatures for which it is intended to work,
(a) at a given fixed pressure,
either (α) the volume increases when the temperature increases, or else (β) the volume
decreases when the temperature increases;
but not (α) for some temperatures and (β) for others; or
(b) at a given fixed volume,
either (α) the pressure increases when the temperature increases, or else (β) the
pressure decreases when the temperature increases;
but not (α) for some temperatures and (β) for others.
At temperatures around about 4 °C, water does not have the property
(3), and is said to behave anomalously in this respect; thus water
cannot be used as a material for this kind of thermometry for
temperature ranges near 4 °C.[18][27][28][29][30]
Gases, on the other hand, all have the properties (1), (2), and (3)(a)(α)
and (3)(b)(α). Consequently, they are suitable thermometric materials,
and that is why they were important in the development of thermometry.
[31]

Constant volume thermometry[edit]

According to Preston (1894/1904), Regnault found constant pressure air thermometers
unsatisfactory, because they needed troublesome corrections. He therefore built a constant
volume air thermometer.[32] Constant volume thermometers do not provide a way to avoid the
problem of anomalous behaviour like that of water at approximately 4 °C.[30]

Radiometric thermometry[edit]

Planck's law very accurately quantitatively describes the power spectral density of

electromagnetic radiation, inside a rigid walled cavity in a body made of material that is
completely opaque and poorly reflective, when it has reached thermodynamic equilibrium, as a
function of absolute thermodynamic temperature alone. A small enough hole in the wall of the
cavity emits near enough blackbody radiation of which the spectral radiance can be precisely
measured. The walls of the cavity, provided they are completely opaque and poorly reflective,
can be of any material indifferently. This provides a well-reproducible absolute thermometer over
a very wide range of temperatures, able to measure the absolute temperature of a body inside
the cavity.
Fire and gas system usually as part of a saftey system. the
percentage of Lower Explotion limit shall be dectected by
GAS detector and gives the alarm ,normally 20% is High and
40% is High High alarm.

catalytic bead sensor, semiconductor sensor, infrared point

sensor and ultrasonic sensor are using to detect the gases.

there was no establised standared to difine zero air for

calibration. some procedure says pure nitrogen and some
uses sytetic air. But much more realisitc and practical
using ambient air for zero calibration , when area is
considered to be clean.

for span calibration using 2.5 %Methene (CH4) and balance

nitrogen mixer. 2.5 %Methene (CH4)is equal to the 50 % of
LEL.