Earticle

In order to apply the Product Liability Law, one’s manufacturer must be identified which is the main agent for compensations. However, under circumstances of fire, most of products are fully burned so it is very hard to specify certain manufacturer and it makes hard for us to apply the Product Liability Law. In this fire case, however, with the victim’s purchase statements and the remote control, the manufacturer approved to apply the Product Liability Law. This case became a starting point of extending the range of applying the Product Liability Law. Also, due to the global warming, there has been an increase of uses in air conditioners. However, the large amount of energy consumption and the expensive electric charges of air conditioners made jet coolers as the alternative. We researched about PCB board by hypothesizing an air jet cooler’s structure and its operation principle as the cause of interior dew condensations, which leads tracking. The purpose of this research is to find out the relation of temperature changes of an air jet cooler and dew condensations while operating. Also, this research is to find out various causes of tracking from the operation of an air jet cooler. And the ultimate purpose of this research is to suggest some ideas related to improvements of an air jet cooler’s structure and the safety standards of electronic products.

Recently, home energy supply system is changed from the gas containers to the LNG through gas pipes. Aging of union pipe and insufficient installation of gas counter occur frequently, which yields the gas leakage and finally leads to the explosion. Careless handling of user and supplier, incomplete facilities, product aging and intentional accident are the main reasons of fire. According to the several fire cases, union connector is not connected tightly and small amounts of gas are accumulated for a long time, which caused fire. Careless finishing, incomplete conclusion, O-ring connection and failure are tested according to the conditions of circumstances. Some measures to reduce the danger of explosion by gas leakage are proposed.

Fires caused by electric devices are also on a steady rise. According to NFIS, refrigerators (including kimchi refrigerators) have the highest risk of fire. But detailed research data on the fire reason is not opened. In order to identify exact combustion pattern and cause of refrigerator fire, double door type DIOS is selected for the experiment. Dust and humidity on the control panel cause the tracking and spark, which becomes the source of fire. Also, insufficient contact or overheat of motor is the same source. To examine the ignition possibility of refrigerator and conduct combustion test on specified area is conducted, which can be applied to improve the fire investigator’s ability in the home appliance fire.

Flammability of windshield cleaning solutions and air fresheners is surveyed. Also, the amount of flammable vapor, ignition point and temperature are calculated by using the suggested experiments, which will be useful in the investigation of vehicle fire. When windshield fluid is leaked, source of ignition is applied to the air fresheners in a closed room. Eight experimental specimen are selected for the ignition test. Six thermocouples are applied to the engine compartments to acquire the data of the temperature variation. In addition, reproducible tests are conducted on source of ignition of washer fluid and air fresheners in a sealed room. The risk of washer fluid and air fresheners containing alcohol is reconsidered.

Safety measures and fire response strategies are suggested by analyzing the risk of LPG small storage tanks installed adjacent to buildings. Theoretical consideration and analysis of the explosion case reveal that the criteria for the tank installation is not based on the safety distance from adjacent exterior walls, which results in direct exposure to flames in the event of fire. The role of safety valves is limited, which is confirmed by the fire simulation analysis. By concentrating firepower on the explosion defense activities, the golden time to prevent building combustion expansion would eventually increase damage. It is required to strengthen the safety distance criteria of small storage tanks and propose suppressive tactics manual for efficient response in case of fire in small storage tanks.

Electric kettles are widely used to boil water in our daily lives. However, there seems to be a difference in the risk of ignition depending on where the on/off switch or button is located. Specifically, ignition risks change depending on how the safety devices are inter-locked with the on/off switch or button on the machine. Test fires will be carried out with two different kettles, one with the on/off switch at the base of the handle and another with the on/off button on the body to figure out the reason why there are more fires occurring in products with the on/off switch on the handle and their structural problems so that institutional improvement plans can be proposed to use them more safely.

Fire recurrence experiments are conducted to investigate the causes of fire caused by the fumes of organic chemicals in small and medium-sized factories using volatile organic compounds (or organic solvents). Gas diffusion rates of volatile organic compounds are measured at temperature ~ 200°C. As a result, xylene is ignited in the fume generated above 180°C and ethyl acetate is ignited even at room temperature. The diffusion rate of the gas is increased rapidly as the temperature increases, so that the diffusion rate of the fire is increased exponentially when the temperature of the container and the surrounding of the organic solvent are increased. Measures should be taken by rapid cooling of the fire ignition point, blocking of air, and formation of an upper barrier film in the container containing organic compounds.