Effective fire prevention
Smoke detectors put to the test
2009-Jun-24
Effective fire prevention means detecting fires as early as possible and reliably sounding the alarm. Most major blazes begin as smoldering fires. Initially, little smoke is generated and some devices do not register the fire until much later. Also problematic are those systems that trigger false alarms due to steam (e.g. from a shower) or smoke (e.g. produced by welding). So-called multi-sensor detectors have two optical sensors, two temperature sensors and a carbon monoxide sensor. They react rapidly and can distinguish between open fires and smoldering fires. They also evaluate the measured data using sophisticated algorithms to determine whether there is a real fire. Such devices are key components of modern safety systems for large areas such as airports or shopping malls.
Reference Number: PN 2009.10
