REFLECTOR: [Fwd: [FlyRotary] UV-Tron Fire Detection System]
Jim Sower
canarder at frontiernet.net
Wed Aug 31 10:29:09 CDT 2005
Probably not. Hot turbos are intense IR. UV is the other end of the
spectrum.
Scott Derrick wrote:
> How about a hot exhaust or turbo setting it off?
> Jim Sower wrote:
>
>> Doesn't UV penetrate smoke? I would guess you'd have a tough time
>> generating enough unpurged smoke to cause a problem.
>> Interesting concept though. I always thought fire fighting stuff on
>> a plastic airplane was kind of silly. Most detection systems would
>> seem to give a lot more false positives than anything else and a LOT
>> more folks would die in too hurried emergency landings in challenging
>> terrain than would ever be saved by detecting a fire soon enough to
>> get on the ground successfully and while the plane was still
>> flyable. Sort of like the military banned practice flameout
>> approaches when they discovered that many more people were getting
>> killed practicing than were being saved by the benefits of practice.
>> Once on fire, a plastic airplane doesn't last long. Couple of
>> minutes for wing root (that's all your roll and yaw resources) and
>> then the spar goes shortly thereafter. It would seem that if you're
>> at cruise altitude, the only thing fire detection buys you is the
>> opportunity to die all tensed up. Prevention appears to be the only
>> approach that will yield real world dividends.
>> Now this UV detector has me revisiting all that. The biggest danger
>> is still false positives though. You still have to land very quickly
>> and successfully, and acquiring the skill to do that will most likely
>> cost a lot of lives and airplanes. Got to wonder if it's worth it,
>> all things considered. Hard to figger - we don't have any idea of
>> the cost, and perhaps less of the benefits.
>>
>> I'll have to focus on prevention for now ... Jim S.
>>
>>
>> Scott Derrick wrote:
>>
>>> I wonder how it would do if there was a lot of smoke?
>>>
>>> Scott
>>>
>>> Jim Sower wrote:
>>>
>>>> Thought this might be of interest ...
>>>>
>>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>>> Subject: [FlyRotary] UV-Tron Fire Detection System
>>>> Date: Tue, 30 Aug 2005 08:04:25 -0500
>>>> From: Mark R Steitle <mark.steitle at austin.utexas.edu>
>>>> Reply-To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary at lancaironline.net>
>>>> To: Rotary motors in aircraft <flyrotary at lancaironline.net>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Last week we were discussing various methods of dealing with fire
>>>> dangers in our aircraft. I decided to try out the Hamamatsu UV Tron
>>>> flame sensor, and promised to report my findings to the Fly Rotary
>>>> group.
>>>>
>>>> I located a pre-assembled circuit board from Superdroid Robots, a
>>>> company that supplies a variety of parts for robots. They were the
>>>> only place I could find that carried the Hamamatsu C3704 flame
>>>> detector and driver card. So, I ordered both along with a relay
>>>> board. (Attached is a picture of the boards.) The UV Tron sensor is
>>>> the clear glass “bulb” in the foreground. The small board on the
>>>> left is a voltage converter, allowing it to be connected directly
>>>> to 14v.
>>>>
>>>> I hooked it up to a 12v cordless drill battery and tested it using
>>>> a propane fire starter. It could easily “see” a flame from 6’ away
>>>> (maybe more, but I didn’t test it beyond 6’) and up to 90* right or
>>>> left. I didn’t test up/down, but the spec sheet indicates that it
>>>> is about the same in the vertical and horizontal planes. I could
>>>> not get it to false trip by using a fluorescent or a halogen light.
>>>> There is about a .5 second delay before it trips the relay. The
>>>> tech rep at Superdroid Robots indicated that the UV Tron sensor
>>>> could be remotely mounted up to 3’ away from the board. I plan on
>>>> mounting it in a small box on the firewall with the leads running
>>>> though the firewall to the circuit boards inside the cabin, wired
>>>> to a big red flashing LED on the panel. Everything in the picture
>>>> (including s&h) ran $150. I look at it as cheap insurance.
>>>> Hopefully, I will never need it.
>>>>
>>>> Mark S.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Homepage: http://www.flyrotary.com/
>>>> Archive and UnSub: http://mail.lancaironline.net/lists/flyrotary/
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>>
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