Keywords
Citation
(2000), "Detecting a fire", Sensor Review, Vol. 20 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.2000.08720daf.005
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited
Detecting a fire
Detecting a fire
Keywords Sensors, Fire
Fires can be detected before they break out through a method developed at the US Department of Energy's Jefferson Lab (Newport News, Virginia). The system uses a commercially available Fourier transform infra-red spectrometer to detect gases given off by combustible material when it heats up. Jefferson Lab's patented innovation is that it calibrates the equipment to detect the combination of gases emitted by a particular material via its absorption wavelength "fingerprint". Researchers developed the method to protect the laboratory's valuable electronic equipment. "We have a lot of plastic-jacketed cable that could catch fire", says Will Brooks, an experimental physicist. When cabling is heated, it emits carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon gases, and these can be detected in the sub-parts-per-million range at 200°C. Polyvinyl chloride, the main jacketing material, self-ignites at 507°C. Jefferson Lab has set up a fire-detection system for ten rooms, using one detector and a manifold arrangement. Air is pumped from each room sequentially and exposed to the detector for 20 seconds.