Electro-Optical Fire Detection “A History” “World Leader in Electro-Optical Flame Detection Technology”

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors Used in many Industries: s Oil & Gas Exploration and Production s Gas Transmission s Automotive s Semiconductor s Aviation s All Types of Manufacturing

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors Fires are detected by: s Smell s Sound s Sight s Heat

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors Different types of Fire Detection are: s Smoke Detectors s Heat Detectors s Fusible Links s Manual Call Points s Linear Heat Detectors s Electro-Optical Fire Detectors

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors A Typical Fire requires: s Source of Ignition s Fuel s Oxygen or an oxidant

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors Hydrocarbon Fires produce: Water and Carbon Dioxide Heat, (radiant infrared energy) Typical combustion of a hydrocarbon C 3 H 8 + 5O 2 = 3CO 2 + 4H 2 O (propane + oxygen = carbon dioxide + water) Incomplete combustion produces more Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors Advantages of Electro-Optical Fire Detectors: s Fast - detects fire in the early stages s Area Coverage, not a point detector. Does not have to be located directly at the fire event s Detects electro-optical radiant energy from the fire, (moves at the Speed of Light)

Electro-Optical Fire Detectors Electro-Optical Energy includes: s Infrared (IR) radiant energy s Ultraviolet (UV) energy s Visible Light (VIS) Modern Electro-Optical Fire Detectors use all or a combination of these three light spectra to detect a fire

Early Electro-Optical IR Fire Detectors Early Fire Detectors use IR sensors developed during WWII s Designed to respond to near IR s Some discrimination by using “flicker” amplifiers s Could be fooled by non-fire events such as shimmering water, vibrating manifolds, etc.

Early Electro-Optical UV Fire Detectors Alternative technology using UV Tubes: s Fast response s Solar blind s Could be fooled by non-fire events emitting short band UV energy, such as lightning, quartz halogen lights and arc welding s Prone to physical damage due to tube design s Expensive to maintain

Early Electro-Optical UV/IR Fire Detectors s UV Tubes combined with Narrow Band IR sensors: s IR sensors use Narrow Band Interference filters at 4.3 microns (CO 2 “Spike”) s Some discrimination by using “flicker” amplifiers s Attempted to reduce alarms to non-fire events by using “AND” gates

Early Electro-Optical UV/IR Fire Detectors

Disadvantages: s Will only respond to hydrocarbon fires s CO 2 “spike” is unpredictable s Real world fires have incomplete combustion, producing more CO, less CO 2 s Narrow Band IR sensor detects less than 1% of radiant IR energy from the fire s Old Analog technology

Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors s Developed from Military Missile Warning Systems s Multi-sensor array using UV/WIR & VIS s Solid state, digital electronics s Real time, digital signal processing s Fire Event data storage for postulating the cause of a fire s Responds to all types of fires

Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors Modern UV Tubes have: s Long glass to metal seal to prevent leakage and damage from vibration s Machine-made to ensure constant high quality s Anode & Cathode made from steel to prevent vibration

Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors Wide Band Infrared (WIR) sensors: s Respond to IR between 0.7 & 3.5 microns and detect over 88% of a fire’s radiant energy s Sees all types of fires s Does not use optical interference filters s Fast acting “Quantum” effect sensor, same as used in military applications s Easier to detect a small fire & track it as it grows and/or gets hotter

Modern vs. Early Electro-Optical UV/IR Fire Detectors

Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors Blackbody Curve for a 2500K degree fire showing Wide Band IR Coverage compared to the Narrow Band Spike at 4.3 microns

Percentage of Total Radiant Energy - Wide Band v. Narrow Band Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors

Additional Features: s Visible Sensors, (Blue & Yellow), reject non-fire radiant energy events such as lightning, quartz halogen lights and arc-welding s Temperature Transducer and programmable software provide stable WIR sensor sensitivity baseline Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors

Solid State Digital Design s Digital signal processing of Real Time data by sophisticated software algorithms s Fire Event spectral data stored in non-volatile memory s Real Time data available through PC software s Digital communications allows for addressable, smart devices Modern Electro-Optical Multi-Spectrum Fire Detectors

“World Leader in Electro-Optical Flame Detection Technology”