Health & safety
Figure 1. Examples of the importance of accurate smoke detection.
A SummAry of GlobAl StAndArdS There are basically five main global standards to compare with different requirements to pass respective certification. Smoke detector systems need to be fully tested as an end product, but there is also testing that can happen at the subsystem level of smoke detection technology. This does not substitute for the full certification, but can give peace of mind before costly end system certification.
uS and Canada
UL 268: Smoke Detectors for Fire Alarm Systems ■ 7th edition: due to come into effect in 29 May 2020 but delayed until 30 June 2021
UL 217: Smoke Alarms ■ 8th edition: due to come into effect in 29 May 2020 but delayed until 30 June 2021
These standards include updates to the
polyurethane flaming and smoldering and cooking nuisance (hamburger) test.
Europe EN 14604: Smoke alarm devices (2006)
BS EN 54: Fire detection and fire alarm systems (2015) ■ Part 29: Multisensor fire detectors— Point detectors using a combination of smoke and heat sensors
International
ISO 7240: Fire detection and alarm systems (2018) ■ Part 7: Point-type smoke detectors using scattered light, transmitted light, or ionization
Chinese standard for point-type smoke detectors follows 2003 edition of this standard
UL 268 and UL 217 cover U.S. and
Canadian regulations and are the standards that effectively require technologies (and algorithms) to differentiate between a specified concentration of smoke from a flaming polyurethane foam pad and a
specified concentration of smoke from burning hamburger. Note: Canadian regulations require a different smoke test chamber setup. The other three standards are EN 14604, which is a European standard published in 2006; BS EN 54, which is the British interpretation of the European EN 54 standard published in 2015 (part 29 of this standard refers to smoke detection); and ISO 7240, which is an international standard published in 2018 (part 7 of this standard is relevant for smoke). The current Chinese standard for point-type smoke detectors follows the 2003 version of ISO 7240.
dEtAIl on tEStInG There are two aspects to each standard that we will discuss next: the tests and the requirements for test set up. The example below uses the more stringent UL standards.
The typical dimensions of d = 5 ft or 2 m and a beam diameter 4” to 6” (10.2 cm to 15.2 cm) uses a sodium vapour lamp (589 nm). d is the distance from the light source to the photodetector.
Fire room tests are expressed in terms of time to alarm after initiation of fire or in
Figure 2. Sample diagram of UL standard testing. Continued on page 40... UKManufacturing January 2021 39
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