The European Commission and The European Cable Industry (EUROPACABLE) are finalising Classification criteria for evaluating electric cables throughout Europe under the Construction Products Directive (CPD). The Classification utilises the results obtained from traditional IEC 60332-3 test equipment fitted with heat and smoke release measurement instrumentation. The former is calculated by continuous measurement of the oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide generated in the combustion process. The basis of the new test protocol was developed by FTT’s Andrew Green with colleagues from SP (Sweden), ISSeP (Belgium), CESI (Italy) and Interscience (UK) as part of an EC-funded FIPEC project. This project was managed by FTT director Stephen Grayson.

Modifying Existing IEC 60332-3 Apparatus To Measure Heat Release
Conversion of the existing IEC 60332-3 apparatus to measure heat release is accomplished by fitting a small instrumented section of ducting into the exhaust system of the rig and using this with the associated FTT gas analysis instrumentation and software and a modified test protocol. The duct section houses all gas sampling probes, temperature and mass flow probes needed, and the smoke measuring system.

Gasanalyseinstrumente:
These are housed in a 19″ instrument rack containing:

• Sauerstoffanalysator (paramagnetisch) mit Temperatur- und Druckausgleich für die primäre Wärmeabgabemessung.
• Kohlendioxidanalysator (infrarot) für die Wärmeabgabemessung.
• Dual-stage soot filter, refrigerant cold trap, drying column, pump and waste regulators for conditioning the sample gases prior to analysis
• Steuerungen für das Rauchmesssystem (sofern gekauft).
• Datenlogger (sofern gekauft).

Clients already owning the FTT Dual Cone Calorimeter, ISO 9705 Room Corner test or SBI can use their existing instrumentation to measure the heat release rate from their IEC 60332-3. Alternatively, the IEC Gas Analysis rack can be used to instrument other calorimeters (e.g. FTT Dual Cone Calorimeter etc.).

Rauchmesssysteme: FTT ist in der Lage, Systeme für die Rauchmessung gemäß der Norm auf Basis von Laser oder weißem Licht zu liefern. Das Lasersystem ähnelt sich dem im Cone-Calorimeter verwendeten und erfüllt die ISO 5660 durch Einbau einer verbesserten Geräuschreduzierung. Das Weißlichtsystem ähnelt sich dem im SBI-Test verwendeten und erfüllt die DIN 50055.