SP Fire Technology has both the equipment and many years experience of conducting these tests for customers. The classification tests are conducted below the Industry Calorimeter, where four pallet loads of the commodity to be tested are placed in a double-row rack storage segment, i.e. in a configuration of 2x1x2 pallets. The array is ignited and the fire is allowed to develop until the heat release rate measurements indicate that a sprinkler system would have operated in a real installation. Water is then applied on top of the array using a specially designed water applicator. Normally, three tests are conducted using three different delivered water densities. The classification is then based on the total and convective heat release rates measured during the three tests.
More information is provided in a data sheet, see link on the right and the full fire test procedures are given in NT FIRE 049.
The figure shows the principle of the test set-up for a commodity classification test. In the tests, a real sprinkler installation is simulated (left) by measuring the Rate of Heat Release and based on this, the link temperature of the simulated sprinkler is calculated (right). When "sprinkler activation" is achieved, a water application system is activated which distributes water on top of the tested commodity. The density is adjusted before each test to one of the four densities 4.5, 8.5, 12.6 or 15.9 mm/min.