Influence of Ignition Sources on Heat Release Rate in the Furniture Calorimeter

✍ Scribed by Johan Söderbom; Patrick van Hees; Pascal Meirsschaert

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 516 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0308-0501
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1018(199603)20:2<61::aid-fam558>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

When measuring the production rates of heat and smoke of upholstered furniture the ignition source must not influence the test results. In this paper variations in the strength, application time and geometry of the ignition burner used in the furniture calorimeter are studied. Results from replicate furniture calorimeter chair test show that the burning behaviour is almost independent of the burner intensity in the applied regime.

Tests on six different furniture items were performed in the furniture calorimeter. The test objects were exposed to three intensity levels of ignition source. The sources were: a large propane burner giving 30 kW during 120 s and a smaller propane burner used at two levels of heat output, 1.7 and 5.8 kW during 90 s. The results showed that the burning behaviour of the furniture was very similar regardless of which burner was used. This was especially evident when the time regime between 50 and 400 kW was stndied. The length of this period is a measurement on how quick untenable conditions are developing in a single, well-ventilated compartment.