Gas Leak Detection

−This paper presents an industrial monitoring system design using the Internet of Things (IoT). The gas sensor (MQ-5) captured information is posted into a data cloud. The sensor detects the leakage of gas under most atmospheric conditions. All the components are controlled by an Arduino (UNO-1) that acts as a central processor unit in the setup t. As soon as a gas leakage is detected by the sensor, the alarm is raised in the form of a buzzer. This alarm is supported by an LCD to display the location of leakage, alert the observer, and activate the exhaust fan in the particular section to extract leaked gas. The requirement of a gas detection system is not only to monitor continuously the surroundings but also to help prevent the gas leakage hence minimizing the chances of fire and damage.

This paper presents an industrial monitoring system design using the Internet of Things (IoT). The gas sensor (MQ-5) captured information is posted into a data cloud. The sensor detects the leakage of gas under most atmospheric conditions. All the components are controlled by an Arduino (UNO-1) that acts as a central processor unit in the setup t. As soon as a gas leakage is detected by the sensor, the alarm is raised in the form of a buzzer. This alarm is supported by an LCD to display the location of leakage, alert the observer, and activate the exhaust fan in the particular section to extract leaked gas. The requirement of a gas detection system is not only to monitor continuously the surroundings but also to help prevent the gas leakage hence minimizing the chances of fire and damage.

This system aims to present a design that can automatically detect, alarm, and control gas leakage using an exhaust fan to suck the gas away from the premises where there is leakage. This system detects the nature of gas using LEDs (red and green). The alarm gives a sound when gas leakage is detected, the exhaust fan sucks the gas away from the premise, and the Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) indicates the system performance at any distortion condition. The Arduino UNO is used as the main controller of the system, and the buzzer is used as a means of notification. One of the prophylactic means to stop accidents related to this gas leakage is to mount a gas leakage monitoring device in susceptible places. The system will detect the leakage of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) using a gas sensor and use the buzzer to alarm the industries, companies, or people about the leakage. The system also consists of two indicators (LEDs). The Green LED used in this research indicates no gas detection, that is, there is no gas leakage in the environment, and the red LED will indicate that there is gas leakage detected. The device is intended for use in household safety where appliances and heaters that use natural gas or LPG may be a source of risk. The system can also be used for other applications in the industries or companies that depend on LPG and natural gas in their operations. Contribution/Originality: This research creates awareness of the necessary measures the instruments or equipment will take if there is gas leakage, which is different from previous research.

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT The risk of industrial and domestic accidents from methane gas leakage can be minimized by an inexpensively designed gas detector. This approach intends to produce a suitable and reliable solution in the context of a third world country, where equipment and components are either not available or prohibitively expensive. This affordable and easy-to-install device monitors and displays the concentration of gas mixed in the air and sounds a buzzer just before the concentration reaches danger level. It is often required to know the amount of gases mixed in the air for which the optimum and safe amount of oxygen can be available in that area. This system is a reliable solution as a safety tool in modern industrial and residential settings. It consists of an Atmel Atmega 328P microcontroller, an MQ-9 gas sensor, a buzzer for automatic alarm system, a red LED for warning and an LCD monitor for display the concentration of gas. The system is user friendly and fit to be installed in kitchens, labs or industries.

Lock-in amplifiers are a powerful tool for signal detection within a noise environment. Commercial Lock-in amplifiers are bulky and disqualified for handheld operation. We report recent progress on FPGA based lock-in real-time detection scheme with the application in Quartz-Enhanced-Photo-Acoustic Spectroscopy (QEPAS). The new QEPAS configuration is tested and verified on a fast Methane detection scheme in the 1650 nm spectral regime. The novel FPGA detection scheme can be easily transferred into other spectral regimes and offers the opportunity of multi-species real-time measurements.

A scenario of a residential propane fire and explosion case is described. The apparent cause was a corroded pipe in the basement which leaked propane and was ignited by the spark generated by the start of a clothes dryer. The victim who was severely burned reported not smelling gas despite an odorant, ethyl mercaptan, being added to the gas. Reasons why the gas was not detected by smell are described. Electronic gas detectors are available but the gas supplier never communicated this fact to many of its customers. The added value of electronic gas detectors is described.

Gas leaks in buildings can cause explosions and fire, which can result in serious burns, death and/or property damage. Since people may not smell the odorants added to natural and propane gas for a variety of reasons (e.g., being congested or asleep) electronic gas detectors could assist in detecting gas leaks. This study examined the extent to which electronic gas detectors are being used by persons reporting that they receive gas service. Three hundred seventy six participants were asked whether they have gas service at their residence and if so, what kind. Also they were asked what kinds of electronic gas detectors they had. Results showed that about half of the participants had gas service. While almost everyone reported having smoke detectors in their residence (whether or not they received gas service), less than half of the gas service users reported having a carbon monoxide detector. Very few gas service users (about 9%) reported having electronic gas detectors. Implications for warning about gas leaks and how HFE professional can aid in the production of better warnings in this domain are discussed.

In this paper, the integrated approach for searching, detecting the source of gas leakage and capturing object using Khepera III mobile robot is introduced. It was tested in natural grid environments as shown in experiments but it is usable in vast areas; e.g. houses, factories, and labs to pick up gas victims. Experiments are performed using a master Khepera III robot equipped with a gas sensor and two slave robots equipped with grippers to take the best path to pick up the object. Moreover, this paper proposes an improvement of Albers exploration algorithm to reduce the time required to explore an unknown map with different polygon obstacles. The proposed approach aims at minimizing the overall exploration time, making it possible to localize leakage gas source in an efficient way, as demonstrated in V-REP simulation as well as real world experiments. A comparison among both algorithms has shown the effectiveness of the proposed one, where the percentage of performance speedup is about 30% to 57% depending on the size of the map and number of obstacles.

A scenario based on actual cases is presented in which a consumer fails to detect a gas leak. A spark source ignites the vapor, causing an explosion and fire. Odorant added to alert people of gas leaks is not always detected for a number of reasons, including nasal congestion, sleep, odor fade, masking, and adaptation or habituation. Electronic gas sensors that alarm in the presence of explosive gas are available in the consumer marketplace and could augment leak detection.