Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

A series of fire tests of smoke detectors was conducted with a view to seeking a method for early detection of electrical component failures, e.g. smoldering of printed circuit boards and cables, burst of capacitor, in highly integrated (using LSI's) electrical equipment as represented by electronic computers. As a result, it has been found that, in equipment where there is high air flow for cooling, the ionization detector shows better response compared with the photoelectric detector if the air velocity exceeds about lm/s. It has been a general practice to avoid installation of the ionization detector in a place where it is subjected to high air flow because the output level changes due to air flow characteristics. However, a small ionization detector which is intended for use in equipment such as computer and which is stable against air flow has been developed. This paper describes this newly developed detector as well.