Welcome to All Sensors “Put the Pressure on Us” blog. This blog brings out pressure sensor aspects in a variety of applications inspired by headlines, consumer and industry requirements, market research, government activities, and you.
Smoke Bomb Pressures
Smoke bombs have a variety of applications from detecting leaks in plumbing systems to discovering alternate entrances in collapsed caves or mines or providing cover/smoking out individuals in dangerous situations. Since they are bombs, pressure is involved in their safe and effective use.
Sewer smoke bombs are injected into a plumbing system through a smoke blower. One type of manhole air/smoke blower injects dense white smoke into sanitary or storm sewers for quick detection of unwanted inflows and leaks from roof downspouts, drain tiles, leaking manholes and more. In these smoke blowers, the amount of air flow and static pressure can vary depending on added features from 1800 cubic feet per minute (CFM) at 1.7-inch static pressure for a standard capacity unit to 4200 CFM at 3.0-inch static pressure and 4000 CFM at 4.0-inch static pressure with optional hardware.
For dangerous situations that require providing cover for first responders or smoking out the bad guys, the burning pressure for M18 colored-smoke grenades is usually less than 1 psi. If the smoke bomb was intended to simply deliver a colorful display, there needs to be sufficient pressure inside the smoke bomb to push the smoke out but not too much pressure or else it will burst.
Source: ThoughtCo. (Waldemar Blazej Nowak / EyeEm / Getty Images)
When the dye in a display smoke bomb is vaporized, the pressure from combustion forces it out to produce the smoke.
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