Monitoring Smoke Emissions Using the Heat Release Rate Test Apparatus (HR2)

Abstract

A study was conducted to determine the feasibility of adding the capability of measuring material smoke emissions to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rate of heat release test method, which is performed in a specially developed test device that is commonly referred to as the Heat Release Rate 2 Apparatus (HR2). A laser/sensor means of measuring cumulative smoke release, analogous to specific optical density Ds as measured in the FAA smoke emission test, was devised by using a continuous wave 670-nanometer wavelength laser and a thermopile power sensor. Tests performed in the FAA smoke emission chamber compared the output obtained from the legacy smoke chamber photometric system and the newly devised laser/sensor assembly measurement system. Neutral density light filters with varying percentage of light transmission were placed in the light paths, and specific optical density was determined for each value of percentage light transmission, which found both measurement systems to be in good agreement over the entire range of filters tested