GSM Based Gas Leakage Detection and Accident Prevention System

Project Title

GSM Based Gas Leakage Detection and Accident Prevention System

Project Area of Specialization Information & Communication TechnologyProject Summary

This system is designed to detect gas leakage and prevent accidents related to the gas, as gas leakage scenarios are too much prevalent in today’s life, especially where safety precautions are not followed religiously.

This project proposes a solution that will totally decrease the level of life and property losses, damages, and explosions cases, since the system provides on time blockage of the gas flow and informing the household or user on time to react to the scenario of the gas leakage in relevant manner. Once the problem is fixed, the automatic system of blockage and alarm will turn off and will provide/ allow the flow of gas in the house, organization, company, etc.

The system involves sensors for gas detection and electronically controllable valve, both connected to a local microcontroller, which is connected to central microcontroller acting as core of the hardware. This central controller is also connected to the user via Cellular Phone Network.

The sensors in the Slave microcontroller (connected to the Master microcontroller via a Zigbee/other means) read the gas leakage level data and send the information to the local Arduino microcontroller which converts the data to digital form and then sends it to the Master microcontroller via Zigbee/other means and then the Master microcontroller will make a decision, based on the instructions fed to it. Based on the calibration table that we have created via experiment and testing, the leakage can be classified as Normal, Precautionary, Critical and the subsequent decision about cutting off the supply by closing the valve can be taken by the microcontroller. The user will be informed about the critical situation only using the SIM Module to be used in the system.

The sensor data is being stored on SD card, so that it can be studied that possibly from what time did the leakage has been started, since the data, date, and time along with comments is saved to the SD card.

The main advantage of this system is that almost every individual can afford the system and use it for decreasing as well as preventing gas related incidents, at a low price. Nothing is more precious that human life, and any system that can prevent loss of human life is worth the investment. Industry is in a better position to use a multitude of this system, with installations at different points and places.

The project is applicable to leakage of Natural Gas and Liquid Petroleum Gas.

Project Objectives

The main objectives of this project are:

• To design a system that is able to detect the leakage of LPG/CNG gas at residential and commercial areas.
• To prevent/reduce human life losses and injuries from Gas leakage accidents.
• To propose a system which will eliminate gas related explosions.
• To provide an automated system that can shut off gas supply upon major leakage and inform remote user.

Project Implementation Method

• By studying different papers and internet websites we have first made individual connection of equipment with Arduino-UNO for testing purposes, which in result we have selected the components and tried to achieve other goals
• Our second goal was to store the incoming data from the sensors in the SD card, though storing data in SD was not so interesting but finally did it and all the incoming data was being stored in the SD card.
• In the third step, we have designed a unit circuit from the tested tools and displayed on the LCD using I2C. this circuit used to detect gas leakage and turn on the lights with three possible condition and an alarm with the critical condition.
• Described many gas detection levels (reference table.1) and using Arduino code defined a different color of LED for a different level of gas, and a buzzer for the highest level of gas.
• The valve requires 12V DC power supply, so we use a 12V AC/DC converter. This valve is used to control the flow of gas in accordance to the situation, of critical then block the flow and if normal than allow the flow of gas.
• Using the relay for controlling the valve as a switch while considering the threshold value for the operation. The Relay is basically acting as a switch which is programed through the Arduino coding scheme, and gives best performance of handling the electromechanical valve,
• Running an appropriate Arduino code to achieve the operation of flowing and blocking the gas flow.
• Circuitry combination for a specific piece of work (Gas leakage detection and prevention). Now this system is able to detect gas leakage and prevent the leakage by blocking the flow of gas, but there is much to be done more, we will use a Zigbee for wireless communication between the
• microcontrollers and also will use a GSM module for informing the intended user when there is a critical condition.
• The main goal of implementing this system is to connect the Master and Slaves wirelessly and prevent from making the system more complex using wired connection.
• While implementing the system we have observed the values of gas from no leakage to tiny, a little more, and more increased value till the maximum value. From these set of readings, we have created our own calibration table, in ordet to assess the extent of gas leakage and then take actions accordingly. And the table is as under:

Gas	Gas value (detection) range	Condition
Normal room environment	15-35	Normal
No gas leakage at the junction	30-60	Normal
A very small amount of gas leakage	30 - 90	Depends
Increasing the gas leakage, a little more	30 - 300	Leakage detected
Increasing a little more	30 – 685	Leakage detected
Full leakage of gas	30 - 914	Leakage detected

Table.1: Gas leakage detection levels

Next, we want to give the user access to the hardware through the Cloud/Internet.

Gas

Normal room environment

No gas leakage at the junction

A very small amount of gas leakage

Increasing the gas leakage, a little more

Increasing a little more

Full leakage of gas

Benefits of the Project

The Gas Leak Detection System is basically a Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN), connecting multiple microcontrollers with relevant sensors and controllable valve that can control the supply. The applications of this project are numerous, from the common man to the industry, w wherever natural gas or LNG is being used. This has potential and huge societal impact. It is bound to reduce the fatalities due to gas leakage related disasters and also reduce the number of such incidents.

• Can be used in houses (sensor and valve in every junction connected to the Microcontroller).
• Large industries
• CNG/LPG gas stations
• Gas cylinders
• Can also be used in vehicles that use CNG/gas.

ZigBee is reliable, low-cost, low-power and low-maintenance wireless network, it is very suitable for the real-time data detective of the potential risk areas. The computer analyses the data from the monitoring site of the Wireless Sensor Networks and displays on the window. In this way, the system can give an early warning of a leak accident. Also, the system can collect the data of the leak accident and locate the leakage point. These functions can not achieve so perfectly with the former leak detection systems

There are various advantages of using LPG Gas detection system/kit using GSM module installed at residential homes/industries etc. These advantages are discussed below;

1. Low cost: the cost of elements/equipment used in the project are less and helps in being a less cost project with best ever possible results.

2. Low power consumption: the power required to the whole system is 12V, and hence is very low according to the many other systems which need power in Watts.

3. High accuracy: as the Digital systems are always working in a proper and best manner, here also the result is very accurate and of a trust worth. All the sensors reads the data very sensitively and accurately and then is transferred to the main microcontroller with the highest ever possible accuracy.

 4. It also detects alcohol so it is used as liquor tester: also some of the other type gaseous substances are detected, but not as fast and as accurate as the LPG gas.

 5. The sensor has excellent sensitivity combined with a quick response time.

6. Automatic shutdown as well as manual control from user.

The project has the potential of upgrading to an Internet of Things setup, if funding is available. we can use Arduino Shield and a Cloud Service to progress to IoT

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

In this project there are two Arduino boards will be used.  This  microcontroller  consists  of built-in  analogue-digital  converter  (ADC),  which is  able  to read  the analogue  signal from  the  combustible gas  sensor MQ-5.

The distance to detect the gas is not easy to determine, but it has a detect range of 200 to 10000 ppm. It depends on a few variables such as gas source, leakage  rate,  room  size,  air  currents  and  sensor placement. Thus, this model is designed in portable and it can be placed near to the gas pipeline.

Arduino (1) is connected to the alarm  system,  control  system,  display  system  (LCD)  and Zigbee  transmitter.  On  the  other  hand,  Arduino  (2)  is connected to monitoring system and Zigbee receiver only.

When the  gas  leakage  is  detected by  the combustible gas sensor MQ-5, the analogue signal is converted into digital signal with the ease Arduino (1) built-in conversion. Then the processed signal  is  transmitted  through  Zigbee transceiver to the main controller acting as the master (in charge of the whole operation) and it will decide what to do according to the threshold value.

Meanwhile,  Arduino  (2)  will  receive  the  data  and compare  to  the  threshold  value  of  the  gas  concentration based on the standard value from Occupational Safety and  Health Administration (OSHA) organization.

When the gas concentration value is below the threshold value (less than 342), the green indicator light is turned ON which represents safety mode. Else if it is in between the threshold value of 342 and 512, the yellow indicator light is turned ON which represents precaution mode. In the worst case, when the gas concentration is above the threshold values (more than 512), the red indicator light is ON; the alarm system is triggered to alert the users that the level of gas concentration is in the dangerous condition. And the main power supply and the gas supplies will shut down automatically as the function of autonomous control system to prevent the condition getting serious. In addition, users are able to stop the process of the system manually during emergency period. And the user will also get informed by an SMS message through the GSM installed in the system.

If time permits and financial resources are available, we intend to use Cloud Services to upgrade to IoT Network and enable user to control the hardware through mobile app and/or internet.

Final Deliverable of the Project Hardware SystemCore Industry TelecommunicationOther IndustriesCore Technology Internet of Things (IoT)Other TechnologiesSustainable Development GoalsRequired Resources

Elapsed time in (days or weeks or month or quarter) since start of the project	Milestone	Deliverable
Month 1	Literature Review	study of related systems
Month 2	Algorithm design	Approach of circuit designing
Month 3	Software simulations	configuring the same system in Proteus
Month 4	searching and selecting components needed	Hardware purchasing
Month 5	interfacing of components	Hardware testing
Month 6	Wireless communication between micro-controllers using Zigbee	Hardware results
Month 7	GSM installation and interfacing	Informing the intended user
Month 8	Implementation and results of the system	Gas leakage Hardware System
Month 9	Thesis Finishing up	Project finalization