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An aspirating smoke detector utilizes a nephelometer, a photoelectric sensor that detects the presence of microscopic particles of combustion suspended in the air from the light scattered by them in a sampling chamber.
To aspirate means “to draw in,” and aspirated smoke detectors have a fan unit to draw in a representative sample of air from the protected area to detect extremely low particle concentrations. Thus, they are ideal for spaces with computers, mainframe computers, telephone switches, and reduced sensitivity areas with a high ambient background.
Aspirating smoke detectors are currently being refined in order to eliminate unwanted nuisance alarms due to dust and steam.
