’ve been asked to install an aspirating smoke detection system. How do these systems work?
The first thing to point out is that aspirating fire detection systems are not as complex as some installers think they are. However, you need to understand how they work and have knowledge about the correct installation of the pipework, and the siting and spacing of sampling points.
Aspirating fire detection equipment is generally non-addressable, though they can be installed on addressable systems via suitable I/O interface modules or specially designed Addressable Protocol Interface Cards. The aspirating unit consists of an enclosure, housing the electronics that are powered from a supply, and a fan inside that draws air in via pipes which are connected to the unit. The air that is drawn in then goes into an aspirating chamber after passing through a filter which gets rid of dirt and dust but allows smoke particles to get through.