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      GovDeliveryNIST Report of Test FR 4020

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Home Smoke Alarm Project, Alarm Response Calibrations Report of Test FR 4020 December, 2003  Thomas G. Cleary Building and Fire Research Laboratory National Institute of Standards and Technology  This Report of Test presents data from a series of alarm response calibration tests as part of research into the performance of smoke alarms.  Introduction  The purpose of these tests was to provide a consistent calibration of all of the modified alarms used in the fire test series. The modified photoelectric and ionization alarms were exposed to smolder smoke and soot from a propene flame. CO alarms were exposed to smolder smoke that contained carbon monoxide. Full details on the alarm calibration procedures can be found in NIST Technical Note 1455 [1]. The alarm naming convention is described in NIST TN 1455, along with uncertainty estimates for each measurement.  Test Data  Each data file worksheet is identified as "Smolder" for smoldering smoke exposure and "Flame" for flaming soot exposure followed by a number incremented for repeated tests. A _s1, _s2, or s3 appended to the Smolder worksheet indicates it was used to generate the calibration equation for either test sequence 1 (SDC 1-15), test sequence 2 (SDC 20-28) or test sequence 3 (SDC30-41) respectively. In general, alarms were re-calibrated if they were used in a test sequence, or after they were repaired.  CO Alarms  CO Alarm Calibration Spreadsheet Files  The worksheet columns for CO alarms include:  Time (s) = The time in seconds from the start of the test  T (oC) = The FE/DE duct air temperature  UL Transmittance = The FE/DE Upper Laser transmittance (1.52 m pathlength)  CO-#-## (V) = The modified alarm voltage  CO (V) = The carbon monoxide NDIR analyzer output voltage  CO2(V) = The carbon dioxide NDIR analyzer output voltage  Rel Humidity (%) = The FE/DE duct relative humidity  BP (torr) = FE/DE Lab barometric pressure in torr  Time (s) avg interval = This column contains blocks of time when nominally steady smoke production conditions existed. The next seven columns are the data points associated with these time blocks.  CO-#-## (V) interval mean = Mean value of CO alarm voltage over the steady smoke time interval  CO-#-## (V) interval mean SD = The standard deviation of the CO alarm voltage mean  CO (V) interval mean = Mean value of NDIR analyzer voltage over the steady smoke time interval  CO (V) interval SD = The standard deviation of the analyzer voltage mean  Vol fraction (x10E-6) CO interval mean = Mean value of NDIR analyzer CO concentration over steady smoke time interval.  Vol fraction (x10E-6) CO interval SD = The standard deviation of the analyzer CO concentrationPhotoelectric Alarms  Photoelectric Alarm Calibration Spreadsheet Files  The worksheet columns for Photoelectric alarms photo-1 and photo-3 include:  Time (s) = The time in seconds from the start of the test  T (deg C) = The FE/DE duct air temperature in oC  UL Transmittance = The FE/DE Upper Laser transmittance (1.52 m pathlength)  photo-#-## (volts) = The modified alarm voltage  Rel Humidity (%) = The FE/DE duct relative humidity  MIC (pA) = Measuring ionization chamber (MIC) current in picoamps  BP (torr) = FE/DE Lab barometric pressure in torr  Time (s) avg interval = This column contains blocks of time when nominally steady smoke production conditions existed. The next six columns are the data points associated with these time blocks  photo-#-## (V) interval mean = Mean value of the photo alarm voltage over the steady smoke time interval  photo-#-## (V) interval mean SD = The standard deviation of the photo alarm voltage mean  MIC (pA) interval mean = Mean value the MIC current over the steady smoke time interval  MIC (pA) interval SD = The standard deviation of the MIC current mean  UL Trans. Interval mean = Mean value of the upper laser transmittance over the steady smoke time interval  UL Trans. Interval SD = The standard deviation of the upper laser transmittance  Extinction (1/m) interval mean = Mean value of the extinction coefficient over the steady smoke time interval  Extinction (1/m) interval SD = The standard deviation of the extinction coefficient  Obs (%/ft) interval mean = Mean value of obscuration over the steady smoke time interval  Obs (%/ft) interval SD = The standard deviation of the smoke obscurationIonization Alarms  Ionization Alarm Calibration Spreadsheet Files  The worksheet columns for Ionization alarms include:  Time (s) = The time in seconds from the start of the test  T (oC) = The FE/DE duct air temperature  UL Transmittance = The FE/DE Upper Laser transmittance (1.52 m pathlength)  ion-#-## (V) = The modified alarm voltage  Rel Humidity (%) = The FE/DE duct relative humidity  MIC (pA) = Measuring ionization chamber (MIC) current in picoamps  BP (torr) = FE/DE Lab barometric pressure in torr  Time (s) avg interval = This column contains blocks of time when nominally steady smoke production conditions existed. The next six columns are the data points associated with these time blocks.  ion-#-## (V) interval mean = Mean value of the photo alarm voltage over the steady smoke time interval  ion-#-## (V) interval mean SD = The standard deviation of the photo alarm voltage mean  MIC (pA) interval mean = Mean value the MIC current over the steady smoke time interval  MIC (pA) interval SD = The standard deviation of the MIC current mean  UL Trans. Interval mean = Mean value of the upper laser transmittance over the steady smoke time interval.  UL Trans. Interval SD = The standard deviation of the upper laser transmittance  Extinction (1/m) interval mean = Mean value of the extinction coefficient over the steady smoke time interval  Extinction (1/m) interval SD = The standard deviation of the extinction coefficient  Obs (%/ft) interval mean = Mean value of obscuration over the steady smoke time interval  Obs (%/ft) interval SD = The standard deviation of the smoke obscuration  Y interval mean = The ion alarm "Y" value computed from the alarm voltage signal over the steady smoke time interval  Y interval SD = The ion alarm "Y" value standard deviationAspirated Alarms  Aspirated Alarm Calibration Spreadsheet Files  The worksheet columns for aspirated alarms include:  Time (s) = The time in seconds from the start of the test  T (oC) = The FE/DE duct air temperature  UL Transmittance = The FE/DE Upper Laser transmittance (1.52 m pathlength)  Asp-## (V) = The modified alarm voltage  Rel Humidity (%) = The FE/DE duct relative humidity  MIC (pA) = Measuring ionization chamber (MIC) current in picoamps  BP (torr) = FE/DE Lab barometric pressure in torr  Time (s) avg interval = This column indicates the time intervals of nominally steady smoke production that were specified to compute the mean values in the following columns.  Asp-## (V) interval mean = Mean value of the alarm voltage over the steady smoke time interval  Asp-#-## (V) interval mean SD = The standard deviation of the alarm voltage mean  UL Trans. Interval mean = Mean value of the upper laser transmittance over the steady smoke time interval.  UL Trans. Interval SD = The standard deviation of the upper laser transmittance  Extinction (1/m) interval mean = Mean value of the extinction coefficient over the steady smoke time interval  Extinction (1/m) interval SD = The standard deviation of the extinction coefficient  Obs (%/ft) interval mean = Mean value of obscuration over the steady smoke time interval  Obs (%/ft) interval SD = The standard deviation of the smoke obscurationAcknowledgments  The home smoke alarm project was sponsored by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Fire Administration, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Affairs, Underwriters Laboratories. The National Fire Protection Association (In-kind contribution), and National Research Council Canada, (In-kind contribution).  References  [1] Bukowski, R.W., Peacock, R.D., Averill, J.D., Cleary, T.G., Bryner, T.G., Walton, W.D., Reneke, P.A., and Kuligowski, E.D., Performance of Home Smoke Alarms: Analysis of the Response of Several Available Technologies in Residential Fire Settings, Natl. Inst. Stand. Technol., Tech. Note 1455 (2003).
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