Ion type smoke sensor

Abstract

In an ion type smoke sensor including a smoke sensor having an internal electrode, an intermediate electrode and an external electrode, and a field effect transistor having a control input terminal connected to the intermediate electrode, a first output terminal connected to the internal electrode and a second output terminal connected to the external electrode, an ion type smoke sensor of this invention comprises an oscillator circuit for generating an oscillating output having a predetermined oscillating frequency; a reference level source for intermittently producing an output signal with a predetermined reference level in response to the oscillating output from the oscillator circuit; and a comparing circuit for comparing a sensing output between the first and second output terminals of the field effect transistor with the reference level from the reference level source to produce a fire sensing signal in accordance with the result of the comparison. According to this invention, an erroneous alarm issuance is minimized as a result of a stable intermittent sensing operation. An operating point for determining the sensitivity of the sensor can be set easily and precisely.