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ADVANCE TECHNOLOGY GAS LEAKAGE

DETECTION AND CONTROL SYSTEM


Girish Karikatti
Department of Industrial &
Production Engineering
BVB College of Engineering &
Technology,
Hubli, Karnataka, India
girishkarikatti@gmail.co m

Roopa Lokeshwar,
Department of Industrial &
Production Engineering,
BVB College of Engineering &
Technology,
Hubli, Karnataka, India
plroopa@yahoo.in

Sameer S Sattur,
Department of Industrial &
Production Engineering,
BVB College of Engineering &
Technology,
Hubli, Karnataka, India
sattur.sameer@gmail.com

Abstract

Problem Statement--Home/Industrial fires have taken a g r o wi n g t o l l i n


l i ve s a n d property in recent years. LPG is highly
inflammable and can burn even at some distance from the
source of leakage. Most fire accidents are caused becaus e
of a poor-quality rubber tube or when the regulator is not
turned off. The supply of gas from the regulator to the
burner is on even after the regulator is switched off. By
accident, if the knob is turned on, it results in the gas leaks.
This paper deals with the development of an advance
technology gas sensor for detection, monitoring and control
system of LPG leakage. Using DC motor the stove knob is
automatically controlled.
Keywords Gas Leakage detection, Gas sensor, DC
Motor, Knob control, aurdino board, motor driver.
I. INTRO D U CTI O N
LPG, first produced in 1910 by Dr. Walter Snelling is a
mixture of commercial Propane and co mmercial Butane
having saturated as well as unsaturated hydrocarbons. Because
of the versatile nature of LPG it is used for many needs such
as domestic fuel, industrial fuel, automobile fuel, heating,
illumination etc. and the demand for LPG is on an exponential
raise day by day. The leaked gases when ignited may lead to
explosion. The number of deaths due to the explosion of gas
cylinders has been increasing in recent years. Thus there is a
need for a system to detect and also prevent leakage of LPG.
Before the development of electronic household gas
detectors in the 1980s and 90s, gas presence was detected with
a chemically infused paper that changed its colour when
exposed to the gas. Since then, many technologies and devices
have been developed to detect, monitor, and alert the leakage
of a wide array of gases. Today, booking an LPG cylinder is
Now just a text message away. Petroleum companies have
Launched the customer-friendly service called as IVRS
(Interactive voice Response) technique for their customers.
Hence the requirement of an efficient system to measure
and display the level of LPG is inevitable, which may be used
for domestic purposes. Here we intend to propose a
microcontroller based system where a gas sensor, MQ-6 is
used to detect dangerous gas leaks. This unit is incorporated
into an alarm unit, to sound an alarm or give a visual
indication of the LPG leakage. The sensor has good sensitivity
combined with a quick response time at low cost.

Gas leakage leads to various accidents resulting into both


financial loss as well as human injuries. In humans daily life,
environment gives the most significant impact to their health
issues. The risk of fires, explosion, suffocation, all are based
on their physical properties such flammability, toxicity etc.
The number of deaths due to the explosion of gas cylinders
has been increasing in recent years. The reason for such
explosion is due to sub- standard cylinders, old valves, worn
out regulators and lack of awareness using gas cylinders add
to risks.
Inspections by oil companies found that many LPG
consumers are unaware of safety checks of gas cylinders.
Another reason is illegal filling of gas cylinder also causes
accidents. There is a need for a system to detect and also
prevent leakage of LPG.
Table 1: Types of hazardous gas and their risks
Type s

Gases

Flammable

Methane, butane
LPG, propa n e

Toxic

Representation

RISK OF
FIRE, EXPLOSION

Hydrogen carbon
monoxide
RISK OF
POISONING

Asphyxiate

Oxygen
deficiency
RISK OF
SUFFOCAT ION

Necessity for detection: The consumers have to upgrade their


safety standards, act in accordance with statutory requirements
Necessity for detection: The consumers have to upgrade their
safety standards, act in accordance with statutory requirements
on .Environmental commitments and most importantly the

Basic function being prevented by accidents and protect life


and property from disasters.
Table 2: Typical Threshold value of LPG
1 minute

5 minute

15 minute

3%

2.5%

2.0%

60 minute

1%

Thus it takes nearly 60 min [2] [11] to detect when 1% of gas


leak occurs. As a solution for the problem, a monitoring
system of gas detector by wireless system needs to be
developed in order to solve the problem. By monitoring
system wirelessly, user can remotely view the condition of the
home without them being there themselves.
III. LITERATURE SURVE Y
The design of a wireless LPG leakage monitoring
system is proposed for home safety. The system detects the
leakage of the LPG and alerts the consumer about the leak. An
added feature of the system is that the approximate
consumption is indicated in terms of alerting by buzzer and
automatically stove knob will get off. Whenever the system
detects the increase in the concentration of the LPG it
immediately alerts by activating an alarm and simultaneously
the regulator will get off. The d ev ice en su res s afety and
prevents suffocation and explosion due to gas leakage [1].
Safety plays a major role in todays world and it is
necessary that good safety systems are to be implemented in
places of education and work. This work modifies the existing
safety model installed in industries and this system also be
used in homes and offices. The main objective of the work is
Design i n mi c r o c o n t r o l l e r b a s e d t o xi c g a s
d e t e c t in g a n d
Alerting system. The hazardous gases like LPG and propane
were sensed and displayed each and every second in the LCD
display. If these gases exceed the normal level then an alarm
is generated immediately and stove knob will turn off. The
advantage of this automated detection and alerting system
over the manual method is that it offers quick response time
and accurate detection of an emergency and in turn leading
faster diffusion of the critical situation [2].
The fo rmer s y s t ems can n o t react in t ime, ev en
cannot obtain data from an accident and locate accurately.
This system gives real time detective of potential risk area,
collect the data of leak accident and locate leakage point. The
hazardous gasses like Liquefied Petroleum Gas and Propane
were sensed and displayed each and every second in Liquid
Crystal Display. If these gasses exceed normal level then
alarm is generated immediately. In this system MQ-6 gas
sensor used to sense poisonous gas and has high sensitivity to
LPG and also response to natural gas. This work modifies the
existing safety model installed in industries. It offers quick
response time and accurate detection.
Gas leakag e is a majo r co n cern wit h
res id en t ial, commercial premises and gas powered
transportation vehicles.

One of the preventive measures to avoid the danger associated


with gas leakage is to install a gas leakage detector at vulnerable
locations. The objective of this work is to present the design of
a co s t effective automatic alarming system, which can detect
liquefied petroleum gas leakage in various premises. In
particular, the alarming system designed has a high sensitivity
for primarily butane, which is also individually sold
bottled as a fuel for cooking and camping. The proposed system
is designed to meet UK occupational health and safety
standards. Test results are demonstrated for an USB powered
gas leakage detection system and it gives early warning signals
under less severe conditions and activates a high pitched alarm
in case of emergency situations to safeguard the users.
The aim of this project is to monitor for liquid
petroleum gas (LPG) leakage to avoid fire accidents providing
house safety feature where security has been an important issue.
The system detects the leakage of the LPG using gas sensor and
alarm for some period of time and it actuate the motor and turn
the regulator off [4].
IV. METHO DO LO GY
Description of components used
4.1 Arduino Microcontroller
The type of arduino that we have used in this project is
arduino nan. The Arduino Nano is a small, complete, and
breadboard-friendly board based on the ATmega328 (Arduino
Nano 3.x). It has 32 kb flash memory; 14 digital input/output
pins and 8 analogue input pins.

Fig. 4.1: Arduino Nano


4.2 Gas Sensor
The LPG gas consists of isobutene, propane, methane, etc. A
sensitive, efficient gas sensor is required that senses only LPG
gas contents and is less sensitive to other gases like cooking
fumes, cigarettes, etc. The appropriate type of gas sensor for
this application is MQ 6[5].

Fig 4.4: Motor Driver IC


4.5 BUZZE R
The buzzer is used to sound an alarm when gas leakage is
detected.

Fig 4.5: Buzzer


Fig 4.2: Description of MQ6 gas sensor
4.3 DC MOTOR
The DC motor is required to turn off the regulator once the
leakage of LPG gas is detected by the sensor. So 3.5 rpm dc
motor has been used.

V. WORKING PRINCIPLE
The functionality of this system can be divided into two steps:
i) Detection of LPG leakage
Here, the MQ6 gas sensor is placed in the vicinity of the gas
cylinder. In the advent of gas leakage, the resistance of the
sensor decreases thereby increasing its conductivity. The sensor
sends the signal to the microcontroller.
ii) Controlling the leakage of LPG gas

Fig 4.3: Motor


4.4 MOTOR DRIVER
The motor driver that have been used is L293D. Its a
typical motor driver which allows motor to drive in either
direction.

As soon as the sensor sends the signal to the microcontroller,


the buzzer gets activated and it sounds for 10 seconds. After
the set time period for which the buzzer should sound that is
10 seconds, the motor gets activated. It then rotates and turns
off the regulator of the gas cylinder thereby restraining any
further leakage.

6.1 Program to interface all


components to Arduino
intbuz=3;
int motorpin1 =4;
int motorpin2 =5;
int ena1 =6;
void setup() {
// initialize serial communication at 9600
bits per second:
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(buz,OUTPUT);
pinMode(ena1,OUTPUT);
Fig 5: Process Flow

pinMode(motorpin1,OUTPUT);
pinMode(motorpin2,OUTPUT);

VI. CONNE CT I O NS
The connections are as follows:

// the loop routine runs over and over again


forever:
void loop() {

a) Gas sensor to Arduino nano


i) A0 pin of sensor to A0 pin of arduino
ii) GND pin of sensor to GND pin of arduino
iii) 5v pin of sensor to 5v pin of arduino
b) Motor Driver to Arduino
i) EN1 pin of motor driver to D6 pin of Arduino
ii) C2-A pin of motor driver to D6 pin of Arduino
iii) C2-B pin of motor driver to D4 pin of Arduino
c) The two wires of the motor are connected to the motor
driver

// read the input on analog pin 0:


intsensorValue = analogRead(A0);
// print out the value you read:
Serial.println(sensorValue);
delay(1);
stability

// delay in between reads for

if(sensorValue>150)
{
digitalWrite(buz,HIGH);
delay(10000);
digitalWrite(buz,LOW);
digitalWrite(ena1,HIGH);
digitalWrite(motorpin1,LOW);
digitalWrite(motorpin2,HIGH);
delay(10000);
}
else
{
digitalWrite(buz,LOW);
digitalWrite(ena1,LOW);
digitalWrite(motorpin1,LOW);

Fig 6: Connections of the product

digitalWrite(motorpin2,HIGH);
}
}

VII. ADVA NT A G ES
a) It also detects alcohol so it is used as liquor tester.
b) The sensor has excellent sensitivity combined with a
quick fast response time.
c) The system is highly reliable, tamper-proof and
secure.
d) In the long run the maintenance cost is very less
when Compared to the present systems.
e) It is possible to get instantaneous results and with
High accuracy.
VIII. APPLI CAT I O NS
i) Because of its low power consumption, reliability,
Portability this system used in other applications likes
Smoke detection [3].
ii) They are used for domestic purpose that is in homes to
Detect and control the LPG gas leakage in the absence of
Landlord.
IX. CONCL USI O N
The gas leakage detection system was proposed, designed and
successfully implemented in this paper for home safety and
industrial applications. This system detects leakage of LPG
gas and as an emergency measure the system will turn off the
regulator, while activating the alarm. The leakage is detected
with the help of MQ-6 g a s sensor. Sensor sends a signal to
microcontroller. In the next step microcontroller sends an
active signal to other externally connected devices. The cost
involved in developing the system is significantly low and is
much less than the cost of gas detectors commercially
available in the market.

REFE RE N CE S
[1] Artificial Intelligence Elian Rich & Kevin Knight, Tata
Mc Grew Hill, 2nd Edition.
[2] A. Maralinga, R. T. Naayagi, N. E. Mastorakis, Desig n and
Implementation of an Economic Gas Leakage Detec to r,
Recent Researches in Applications of Electrical and Computer
Engineering.
[3]Smart gas cylinder using embedded system K.Padma
Priya1, M.Surekha2, R.Preethi3, T.Devika4, N.Dhivya5.
[4] LPG Leakage Monitoring and Multilevel Alerting System

Selvapriya C*1 , Sathya Prabha S2 , Abdulrahim M3 ,


Aarthi K C4.
[5] LPG Gas Leakage Detection & Control System
Hitendra Rawat, Ashish Kushwah, Khyati Asthana, Akanksha
Shivhare.

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