Smoke triggered corona discharge sensor

This paper presents an ionic smoke sensor working without a radioactive ionization source. The presence of smoke particles reduces significantly the effective corona discharge threshold of air by a factor greater than 5. The smoke sensor consists of a wire under an intermediate continuous voltage which generates a current only in presence of smoke. The sensor electric consumption is therefore very low and can operate for a long time. Results of a prototype operating under 600 V with a 25-μm-diameter wire are shown.