Smoke Types
Concept has over 50 years’ experience in the production of water and oil based smoke systems.
Water Based
The majority of smoke chemicals in use today are generally referred to as ‘water-based’. This rather vague term describes chemicals which are water-miscible, and are in the main based on pharmaceutical grade glycols and glycerol.
Water-based smokes are dense and white, and the generators that produce them, such as our Colt, can be simple to operate and very compact.
Typically two-thirds of the ‘Smoke Chemical’ is made up of active ingredient, the remaining one-third being purified, de-ionised water.
Different Glycols produce smokes of differing persistencies, Propylene Glycol generally being the least persistent. Glycerol is by far and away the most persistent ‘water-based’ smoke.
We would normally recommend that, where dense concentrations of water-based smoke are required (e.g. Fire Brigade Training, Leak Testing), that the most persistent smoke possible is produced (like our Colt 4 or Spirit 900A). The use of chemicals with high percentages of glycols, whilst producing dense white smoke, is not cost-effective, as the smoke disperses so quickly that one is having to produce smoke almost all the time in order to keep up with the rate of breakdown of the smoke.
Glycol smokes begin to layer noticeably at 35-45°C, Glycerol smokes at about 50-60°C.
Oil Based
These systems produce a smoke that is far more persistent than the very best of the water-based smokes, and so are capable of smoke logging huge volumes with relatively low consumption of smoke chemical.
The smoke produced by the ViCount is also extremely resistant to very high temperatures, starting to layer at 135 – 200°C dependent on the viscosity of the oil chosen. This makes it highly suitable for hot fire training, or hot smoke tests in atriums, hangars, and warehouse environments as well as unheated applications.
The persistency of smoke produced by the ViCount, and it’s very small particle size, makes it an ideal system for smoke logging very large volumes. For example, in road tunnel testing applications, ViCount smoke will travel many kilometres, enabling entire tunnels to be effectively smoke-logged by just 2 smoke systems. In building pressurisation testing, a single ViCount can take the place of 5 or 6 water-based systems, and give better results!
The ViCount can also be configured to use FDA approved smoke chemicals (POA’s) in the filter testing and cleanroom testing environment.
Demonstration Video
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Please get in touch if you’d like to discuss any technical queries, or provide advice or simply require more information.
