Types Of Smoke Detectors And Their Reliability
Smoke detectors are pieces of equipment that are able to detect smoke. Basically once the device senses smoke it usually means there is a fire that needs to be put out. These sensors come in different forms. There are household detectors which are also referred to as smoke alarms and there are also industrial, commercial and mass residential ones whose function is to send a signal to a fire alarm system.
These safety gadgets enable people to react expediently to situations where a fire just breaks out without warning. The detectors come in various designs as well as types. Some of the popular ones include the optical detector which is basically a light sensor. What this mechanism does is that it makes use of a light source and a lens which reflects light at an angle to a beam.
If there is no smoke around, the light should be in a straight line when it passes in front of the optical detector. In the event that there is smoke, some of the light is spread due to the smoke particles. This in turn directs the light towards the sensor which then triggers the alarm.
To add on to that are the ionization smoke detectors which although cheaper than the optical ones, are not preferred by many as they are known to set off false alarms. They are able to detect tiny smoke particles that are not visible.
There is also an air sampling sensor which can sense particles of a microscopic nature. How they work is that they have a central detection component which pulls air through a system of pipes to detect smoke.
There are detectors which use carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide sensors to sense very dangerous effects of combustion. Therefore Smoke Detectors are very essential as they give people a chance to escape most fires on time.