Aircraft Cargo Compartment Fire Detection

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Aircraft Cargo Compartment Fire Detection

• David Blake
• FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center
• Atlantic City Airport, NJ. 08405
• Phone [phone]
• Email Dave.Blake_at_tc.faa.gov

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Federal Aviation Regulation Part 25.858 Cargo
compartment fire detection systems. If
certification with cargo compartment fire
detection provisions is requested, the following
must be met for each cargo compartment with those
provisions (a) The detection system must
provide a visual indication to the flight crew
within one minute after the start of a
fire. (b) The system must be capable of
detecting a fire at a temperature significantly
below that at which the structural integrity of
the airplane is substantially decreased. (c)
There must be means to allow the crew to check in
flight, the functioning of each fire detector
circuit. (d) The effectiveness of the detection
system must be shown for all approved operating
configurations and conditions.
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FAA Technical Standard Order (TSO) C1c Cargo
Compartment Fire Detection Instruments References
a Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE),
Aerospace Standard AS 8036 Type I Carbon
Monoxide, Alarm level 200 /- 50 ppm. Type II
Photoelectric, Alarm level 60-96 light
transmission/foot. Type IV Ionization, Alarm
level 60-96 light transmission/foot. Environment
al Exposure Tests High and Low Temperature,
Humidity, Altitude, and Vibration. False Alarm
Signals. No alarm shall occur from normal air
velocities present at instrument location. No
alarm shall occur as a result of normal dust and
haze present at instrument location.
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FAA Advisory Circular 25-9A Smoke Detection,
Penetration, and Evacuation Tests and Related
Flight Manual Emergency Procedures. The smoke
detection test is designed to demonstrate that
the smoke detector installation will detect a
smoldering fire producing a small amount of
smoke.
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Tasks

• Define the fires that should be detected in one
  minute. (FAA)
• Smoldering Fire (Low Heat/High Smoke), Flaming
  Fire (High Heat/Low smoke)
• Smoke and Gas Production
• Heat Release Rate
• Develop a computational fluid dynamics model to
  predict the transport of smoke, gases, and heat
  within a cargo compartment (Sandia National
  Laboratory)
• Evaluate fire and false alarm sources in existing
  detectors and provide algorithms for multiple
  sensor detectors. (National Institute of
  Standards and Technology)

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707 Forward Cargo Compartment 910 cubic feet
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Nylon Polyethylene Acrylic Polystyrene PVC PBT
Smoldering Fire Source
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Flaming Fire Source
Gasoline Burlap
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FTIR Gas Analysis, Heat Release Rate (Oxygen
Consumption)
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• INTENDED RESULTS
• Reduce the subjectivity involved in determining
  the appropriate amount of smoke for certification
  testing.
• Reduce the required ground and flight tests to
  determine optimal detector placement and critical
  fire location through the use of a transport
  model.
• Develop criteria to allow for certification of
  multiple sensor detectors to reduce the false
  alarm rate.

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