a preferred embodiment of a fire detection system is illustrated in fig1 . the system has a detector assembly 10 which is connected to and in fluid communication with a multiple orifice sampling tube 12 . a fluid connection links the sampling tube 12 to a detector 16 within the detector assembly 10 through a filter 18 . the detector , in turn , is in fluid communication with a fan 14 which when operated generates an air flow through the detector assembly drawing air samples into the apertures 26 , 28 , 30 of sampling tube 12 . from the tube 12 the samples are drawn through filter 18 and into a detection chamber 20 of the detector 16 . the detector 16 is a submicrometer particle counting detector and uses photosensors 22 to detect a threshold concentration of such particles . since an abundance of submicrometer particles are given off in the earliest stages of combustion , the detector is adjusted to provide a fast response . however , the detector 16 may also be a photoelectric type detector , a condensation nuclei detector , or one of the other detector types commonly known in the art . the fan 14 continuously draws samples into the detector chamber 20 from regions to be monitored , making the detection system a &# 34 ; continuous sampling &# 34 ; system . this system allows fast response time for the detector and therefore very quick detection of a fire in the regions from which air samples are drawn . as shown in fig1 the sampling tube 12 is sealed at the end 24 which is positioned adjacent the last aperture . the sampling tube draws its air samples through the apertures , or orifices , 26 , 28 , 30 disposed along the length of the tube 12 . since the apertures of the fig1 tubing are formed directly into the tubing , the size of each variable is pre - determined and non - adjustable . each orifice 26 , 28 , 30 draws air samples from a different region to be protected from fire . as shown , orifice 26 draws air from zone 1 , orifice 28 draws from zone 2 , and orifice 30 draws from zone 3 . the dotted lines of fig1 are for illustrative purposes only and do not necessarily define boundaries between air space . the designations for zones 1 , 2 and 3 show how a single multi - orifice sampling tube 12 can monitor a number of different sampling regions . the orifices 26 , 28 and 30 can sample air from different enclosed regions , or alternatively can just take air samples from different parts of a large room . the sampling tube 12 is custom designed for the application with the number of orifices being selected by the number of regions which need protecting . the sampling tube 12 can be as long as 250 feet , for example , depending on the strength of the fan 14 the sensitivity of the detector 16 , and the number of orifices in the tube 12 . in order to achieve the same fire detection performance for each zone monitored by the detection system 10 , the intake flow from the orifices 26 , 28 and 30 is balanced such that the volumetric flow rate of air through each sampling orifice is equal . the volumetric air flow rate in the sampling tube increases towards the sensor as air is admitted to the sampling tube through the sampling orifices . the volumetric flow rate of air through a sampling orifice is described by the orifice equation : q o , i = volumetric flow rate of air through sampling orifice i , ft 3 / s a o , i = cross - sectional area of sampling orifice i , ft 2 the orifice equation assumes steady , fully - developed laminar , incompressible flow . for each sampling orifice i , the internal suction pressure p s , i , varies due to friction losses along the sampling tube . therefore , to achieve equal sampling from all sampling orifices , the cross - sectional area a o , i of the sampling orifice must be varied accordingly to achieve an equal volumetric flow rate at each orifice . since the rate of air intake through a sampling orifice is proportional to the square root of the suction pressure inside the sampling tube at the point where an orifice i opens into the tube , the diameter of orifice i is inversely proportional to the square root of p i . the volumetric flow rate of air in the sampling tube system at any given orifice i , can be described by a mass balance : wherein a o * v o , i is the volumetric flow rate through orifice i . because the flow is balanced , this quantity is the same for all sampling orifices . the volumetric flow rate through each orifice is directly equal to the total system flow rate ( the flow rate through the detector ) divided by the total number of sampling orifices . suction pressure in the system is a maximum at the fan and decreases along the sampling tube towards the most remote end of the sampling tube . losses in suction pressure are due to friction caused by the flow of air through the system . a higher flow rate of air causes increased friction and thus a greater loss of suction pressure . the pressure drop in a single , straight length of sampling tube can be expressed by the hagen - poiseuille equation . the hagen - poiseuille equation assumes steady , fully - developed , laminar , incompressible flow and can be expressed : v s , i = velocity of the fluid in the sampling tube at aperture s ; and or from standard dynamics charts for turbulent flow . depending on the reynolds # in that section of pipe . using the above expression provides a method by which to determine the suction pressure at a single orifice located some distance along a straight sampling tube . however , if there are any bends in the sampling tube used to turn the flow , loss of suction pressure through these bends will be higher than through the straight portion of the tube . the bends in the sampling tube are most often provided by elbow joints . elbow joints provide a 90 ° turn in the flow direction , and the two most common types of elbow joints are the &# 34 ; standard &# 34 ; elbow joint and the &# 34 ; sweep &# 34 ; elbow joint . the sweep elbow joint has a larger radius bend than the standard elbow , and thereby has a lower pressure loss than the standard elbow . in order to account for the bends in the sampling tube in the suction pressure equation , the losses due to the elbows are expressed in terms of an equivalent length of straight pipe . these equivalents , experimentally determined , are labelled δp std , for the standard elbow , and δp swp , for the sweep elbow . to determine the suction pressure at the aperture closest to the control unit , the following pressure equation is used : δp det / fil = pressure loss due for the detector and filter ( experimentally determined ) δp o1 = straight tube pressure loss from the detector to the first orifice n std = number of standard elbows between the detector and the first orifice n swp = number of sweep elbows between the detector and the first orifice once the suction pressure at the first orifice is determined , the pressure at the remaining orifices in the sampling tube can also be determined . to determine the pressure of a subsequent orifice , the loss in suction pressure between the orifice in question and the previous orifice must be determined . this pressure loss can be expressed as : where p i - ( i + 1 ) is the total loss of suction pressure between sampling orifices i and i + 1 , and p st ( i -( i + 1 )) is the pressure loss through the length of straight tubing between sampling orifices i and i + 1 . n std ( p std ) and n swp ( p swp ) again refer to the number of standard and sweep elbows between the two orifices , respectively . the volumetric air flow rate in the sampling tube increases towards the sensor as air is admitted to the sampling tube through the sampling orifices . to account for the changing flow velocity in the sampling tube , a momentum balance equation is generated using bernoulli &# 39 ; s equation . the volumetric air flow rate and internal suction pressure can thus be calculated at all sampling orifices along the sampling tube network . once the internal suction pressure profile along the sampling tube is known , the orifice diameters necessary to achieve equal intake of air at all sampling orifices are calculated by use of the previously discussed orifice equation . the orifice equation expressed in terms of orifice diameter is : q i , the volumetric flow rate through each orifice is equal to the volumetric flow rate through the detector divided by the total number of sampling orifices . balanced flow methodology , as presented above , thus allows for a continuous sampling smoke detector to be customized to a particular fire protection situation . this method provides a means by which a hydraulically balanced system can be fabricated in a non - empirical manner . it can also be used to determine sensitivity and response time of continuous sampling type detectors . response time , t resp , is defined as the time it takes smoke entering a sampling orifice to travel to the detector . response times are calculated from each sampling orifice by summing the lengths of sampling tube between sampling orifices and dividing by the velocity of air in that section of sampling tube . because of the dilution effect of clean air entering some of the sampling orifices , the sensitivity , or alarm threshold , of a sampling orifice is not equal to the sensitivity of the detector . with balanced sampling , the dilution effect of each sampling orifice taking in clean air is the same since all the orifices have the same intake flow rate . maximum dilution is experienced when only one orifice is sampling smoke while all the others are drawing in clean air . this often happens when a multi - orifice sampling tube network is used to protect a multi - room or multi - compartmented area with one orifice assigned to each compartment or room . in such a case , the smoke entering a sampling orifice is diluted by a factor equal to the total number of sampling orifices in the system . therefore , the concentration of smoke entering a single sampling orifice must be equal to the sensitivity of the detector times the number of sampling orifices in order to be sufficient enough to cause actuation of the detector . the smoke concentration at a sampling orifice necessary to actuate the detector is referred to as the effective sensitivity , or alarm threshold , of the sampling orifice . the effective sensitivity of a single sampling orifice refers to a worst case dilution where only one sampling orifice samples clean air . it is expressed by : where c smoke is the concentration of smoke (% obscuration / ft ) necessary at orifice i when the sensor threshold is reached and n is the total number of sampling orifices in the system . referring to fig2 the detector assembly is connected to a multi - branch sampling network . the system is customized and samples air from different locations . each branch of the network has the same diameter , but is of a different length and has a different number of orifices . however , since for a balanced system each orifice must have the same volumetric flow rate , the previously developed balanced flow methodology is easily applied . the total number of apertures in the system of fig2 is six . branch 32 has one , branch 34 has two , and branch 36 has three . by knowing the overall flow rate through the detector assembly , the flow rate through each branch is easily determined . branch 32 has one sixth of the overall flow , branch 34 has one third of the overall flow , and branch 36 has one half of the overall flow . each branch of the network is thereby isolated and can be analyzed for orifice size using the balanced flow method as applied to the single sampling tube embodiment . in fig3 another preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in which there are three different branches 40 , 42 and 44 where the entire branch 40 has a different diameter than the other branches . also , the end portion 46 of branch 44 has a smaller diameter . note that the aperture and pipe sections can be provided using standard polyvinylchloride fittings that are commonly used in industry . thus there is no need for specialized fittings to construct the present system . the process flow diagram of fig4 outlines a method of fabricating a sampling tube network as provided for in the present invention . this fabrication process can be performed in large part on any suitable data processing system . the pipe layout must be provided 50 , including locations of all sampling orifices . the procedure begins with an assumption of the flow rate pulled by the fluid driver to be equal to its maximum value 52 . this is obtained from the fan curve , suction pressure vs . flow rate . the flow rate through each orifice is then determined from the flowrate pulled by the driver divided by the total number of orifices in the network . by summing flow rates , the flow in the sampling tube at each point is then known 54 . the suction pressure available at each orifice is calculated by subtracting all pressure losses from the fluid driver to that orifice 56 . the lowest suction pressure in the system is checked against a required minimum pressure 58 / 60 . if the minimum required suction pressure cannot be met , 70 , steps 54 through 60 are repeated . when pressure requirements have been met , transport time , defined as the time it takes a sample from the intake at the furthest orifice from the detector to travel to the detector is then checked against system requirements 62 . if transport time is satisfactory 64 , orifice diameters required for balanced sampling are calculated , 66 . if transport time is not satisfactory , tube diameters are changed to larger or smaller values according to where in the system the pressure losses per foot of tubing are greatest or least respectively 68 . the calculation procedure then returns to step 54 redetermine the suction pressures and flow rates in the system and ensure that the lowest suction pressure is still within minimum requirements .