Glow wire apparatus is the commonly used equipment for testing solid insulating material for fire hazard testing. This test apparatus is covered in IEC 60695-2-10 and commonly referred for various devices in many standards such as IEC 60335, IEC 60695-2-11, IEC 60695-2-12, IEC 60598-1, IEC 60947, IEC 60898, IEC 61008-1, IEC 60669-1, IEC 60884-1, IEC 60950-1 / IS 13252, IEC 60238, IEC 60745-1, IEC 60400, IEC 60730-1, IEC 61050, IEC 60320-1, IEC 61058-1, ASTM D 6194-03 and UL 60745-1.
As per IEC 60695 - 2 - 10 (Glowing/hot-wire based test methods – Glow-wire apparatus and common test procedure), parts of solid insulating materials are ignited by glowing wires. A nickel/chromium wire is heated to 960°C and the insulating material is pushed against it with a force of 1 Newton. It is checked that the insulating material does not attain a certain temperature or catches fire so as to prevent fire hazard in their vicinity. For complete description, please refer IEC 60695 - 2 - 10, even if you have product specific standards such as IEC 60898 for Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCB), IEC 60335 for Safety of Electrical Appliances or IEC 60947 for Switchgears and so on. If your product is to be tested for conformity assessment, please also refer ASTM D 6194 – 3 (Standard Test Method for Glow-wire ignition of materials).
A motorized sliding carrier with a universally adjustable SS mesh
Perforated tray is provided to mount the specimen (insulating material under test).
Self-adjusting constant current mode operation as soon as heater-specimen contact is established
Motor brings the jig back to the pre-test position automatically as soon as the test is concluded
Nickel / Chromium based heating element (glow wire)
Cr/Al based fine wire based thermocouple for temperature sensing
Temperature Range: Adjustable up to 960° centigrade
Time setting - 0 to 99.9 seconds
Precision scale: Precision scale is provided to measure the height of the flame
Safety – Emergency Switch, MCB , Fuses
Dimensions – L 1040mm W x 540mm D x H 1040mm
Entire glow wire apparatus is built in aluminum sections for better aesthetics
PC based Operation & Data-logging possible with report generation.
Used by IEC CB Test-labs including Underwriters Laboratories, CPRI, TUV, SGS, Bureau-Veritas, Intertek, IDEMI, ERTL, ERDA, ETDC, CIPET, NTH and others.
Temperature Sensor – Thermocouple: Fine wire of Cr/Al of 0.5 mm diameter located in 0.6 mm diameter pocket hole in temperature sheath resistant to 1000 degree centigrade
In the model GWT A2, current is held approximately constant (15 % swing) once the heating element touches the specimen.
Heating Element – Glow Wire: Nickel / Chromium (Ni/Cr-80:20%) wire of 4mm diameter with a shape as per the standard
Time Controller - Micro-controller based programmable timer 0 to 999 sec
The total test time can be programmed through keyboard
The ignition time and extinguish time of flame can be registered in timer
The stored time values can be viewed after the end of test
Setting on PC for PC based variant
Penetration Depth - Mechanically restricted to 7 mm
Specimen size - 180 x 150 Sq.mm max. & 15 x 15 Sq. mm min., Thickness 10mm to 80 mm.
Test specimen contact force against the glow wire is preloaded to 0.8 to 1.2N
Test Chamber Dimensions – (Available only with automatic variants)
Dimensions – 600 mm W x 300 mm D x 610 mm H. (approx.)
Supply Voltage – 230 V AC, 50 Hz, 1 Phase, 500 VA
Lab view testware to control sequence of operation.
NI interface system.
Setting and control of Heating, Control of current will be through PC.
Speed of carriage of specimen will be adjustable as per standard through PC.
Test Time, Application time will be settable. PC will record Ignition Time & Extinguish Time with manual input from operator.
Results will be stored on PC as per test samples & date.
PC Either Dell OR HP make. OS will be Windows 8 license.
The test is carried out to asses the flammability characteristics of a Product body, typically made up of thermoplasts and thermosets. The glow wire tester is an important tool not just to assess the quality of the Product, but also to continuously check the incoming components related to the Product body for their flammability characteristics. Material moulds manufacturers can use this product to ascertain the quality of the Material under test
