Fire detection and fire alarm systems in heavy duty vehicles: WP5 — fire detection in bus and coach toilet compartments and driver sleeping compartments

This report summarizes the results from the fifth work package (WP5) of the project "Fire detection & fire alarm systems in heavy duty vehicles — research and development of international standard and guidelines". The purpose of WP5 is to provide recommendations on what type of fire detection system should be used and how these systems should be installed in bus1 toilet compartments and driver sleeping compartments. In July 2014 a new UNECE requirement comes into effect which states that excess temperature or smoke shall be detected in these compartments. Therefore, this work provides timely information on the installation of fire detection systems in toilet compartments and driver sleeping compartments. The recommendations are mainly based on full scale fire tests performed in mockups of a bus toilet compartment and driver sleeping compartment. A total of 26 different buses from a variety of suppliers were investigated to obtain input for the construction of realistic mockups. Five different fire detection systems were tested: a linear heat detector, a point smoke detector, a point smoke/heat detector, an aspirating smoke/heat detector, and an aspirating smoke detector. These detectors were placed at several different positions in the mockups to evaluate how such detectors are best installed. The detectors were exposed to different fire scenarios and different fire sources were used such as: paper hand towels in the trash can, plastics and rubber representing fire in electrical components and cables, and a mattress in the sleeping compartment. In total 18 different full scale fire tests were performed.