Smoke detector tests in Kinston, NC. (News Briefs).During September 2001, a NIST (National Institute of Standards & Technology, Washington, DC, www.nist.gov) The standards-defining agency of the U.S. government, formerly the National Bureau of Standards. It is one of three agencies that fall under the Technology Administration (www.technology. team of engineers and technicians instrumented and burned a two-story, single-family home in Kinston, N.C., in order to characterize the performance of different types of smoke detectors. Smoke detector arrays were located in the hallway and bedroom upstairs as well as exit paths downstairs. Each smoke detector array consisted of a number of detectors including photoelectric Converting photons into electrons. When light is beamed onto a metal, electrons are released from its atoms. The higher the light frequency, the more electron energy released. Photonic sensors of all kinds work on this principle. They sense light and cause an electric current to flow. , ionization ionization: see ion. ionization Process by which electrically neutral atoms or molecules are converted to electrically charged atoms or molecules (ions) by the removal or addition of negatively charged electrons. , photo/ion combination, aspirated, carbon monoxide carbon monoxide, chemical compound, CO, a colorless, odorless, tasteless, extremely poisonous gas that is less dense than air under ordinary conditions. It is very slightly soluble in water and burns in air with a characteristic blue flame, producing carbon dioxide; , and mechanical heat sensor. Additional instrumentation included smoke meters, thermocouple arrays, and carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and oxygen analyzers. Each fuel package, either a mattress in the upstairs bedroom, an upholstered chair in the living room, or a frying pan of oil in the kitchen, was ignited and the movement of the smoke was monitored as it moved throughout the house. The overall purpose of this project is to determine if different types of fire alarms can respond to threatening residential fire settings in order to permit egress See ingress. of typical residential structures. CONTACT: Nelson Bryner, (301) 975-6868; nelson. bryner@nist.gov. |
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