National and local safety standards and codes recognize the ability of air duct systems to transfer smoke, toxic gases, and flame from area to area. Sometimes smoke can be of such quantity as to be a serious hazard to life safety
unless blowers are shut down and dampers are actuated. The primary purpose of duct smoke detection, then, is to prevent injury, panic, and property damage by reducing the spread (recirculation) of smoke. Duct smoke detection can also serve to protect the air conditioning system itself from fire and smoke damage, and can be used to assist in equipment protection applications, for example, in the ventilation/ exhaust duct work of mainframe computers and tape drives.
