Smoke-based video fire detectors sensitivity tests using smouldering cotton fire

In both new standard drafts of Video Fire Detectors (VFD), which compiled by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and Chinese National Standards (GB), the standard test fire Smouldering Cotton Fire (TF3) is used for the smoke-based VFD sensitivity tests. According to the different requirement of sensitivity tests in ISO and GB, the validity of adopting TF3 in these tests is verified by experiments and statistical analyses. First, the sensitivity test method based on pixel aspect ratio proposed in GB is testified. Next, the piecewise Characteristics of TF3 are analyzed by fitting the detectors' responses from trials of experiments. Then, the measurement uncertainty is calculated according to the piecewise Characteristics of the test fire. Finally, a suggestion on the end-of-test condition is given based on the performance analysis.