Citation

Gupta YP. Fire Safety J. 1985; 8(2): 105-117.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1985, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The function of automatic fire detection (AFD) systems is to differentiate reliably between the presence and absence of fire. False alarms due to the fault of the system or some external factors could amount to substantial losses to an organization (in monetary units). On the other hands, failure to detect the fire could result in loss of human lives and business. In spite of such a dichotomy, until recently, management and safety engineers had given little attention to the aspects of reliability, capability and selection criteria of AFD systems.This paper deals with three aspects of reliability, capability and selection criteria of AFD systems. The events which lead to the malfunctioning and proper functioning of AFD systems are categorized and the time periods between these events, for the date collected from various sites, are analyzed using Weibull distribution. The parameters of the Weibull distribution are estimated using maximum likelihood and least squares methods, and confidence limits for the values of parameters are computed. Some observations concerning poor siting, maintenance and unsuitability of a particular type of detector head in a particular environment are given. Failure rates (hardware) of some components (such as ionization-type smoke detectors, break-glass units and cables) are determined. An objective method for the selection of AFD systems is given and finally, some recommendations for further research are made.