Microcontroller based LPG Leakage Detector Circuit and Working

Nowadays, security is the major problem in many fields due to robberies, fire accidents and blasts due to LPG gas leakage. At present, LPG gas can be used in the car, in the storage tank or service station. But, due to some reasons the LPG gas might leak from the gas cylinders, this may cause the cylinder blast, damage the house and risk of a life to the living persons in the house. The fire ignite can be occurred due to many reasons such as an electrical short circuit, oil lamps or candles kept inside the house. Sometimes fire accidents are very small, but if proper action is not taken to control the fire, then it can spread in complete house. To overcome this problem, an LPG gas sensor is used to detect the presence of a dangerous LPG gas leak in various places.

What is an LPG Gas Sensor?

An LPG gas sensor is a one kind of device which is used to sense the presence of a hazardous LPG gas leak in service station, cars, storage tanks and homes.This sensor is attached to an alarm circuit to give an alert to the operators through a buzzer sound in the area where the gas leak is occurring. The LPG gas sensor is also used to detect cigarette smoke,toxic gases, combustible, propane, iso-butane and LNG.

Arduino Microcontroller based LPG Leakage Detector Circuit

An LPG gas is a versatile fuel used in homes, but the leakage of LPG gas could lead a disaster. To aware of LPG gas leakage and avoid any mis happening there are different products to notice the leakage. Here we have designed an Arduino microcontroller based LPG detector circuit. Whenever LPG gas leakage occurs,then this system notices and gives an alert through the buzzer which is attached to the circuit. The entire system is easy to design who have some basic knowledge of electronics and programming,

The proposed system uses an LPG gas sensor to sense LPG gas when LPG gas leakage occurs. We have used an LPG gas sensor module to detect LPG Gas. When LPG gas leakage occurs, it gives a HIGH pulse on its D0 pin and Arduino always reads its DO pin. When the Arduino board gets a HIGH pulse from a gas sensor then it displays a message LCD display and activates buzzer to generate beep sound. When an LPG gas sensor gives a LOW pulse to Arduino board, then the display shows “no gas leakage” message.

The required basic electronics components for designing a microcontroller based LPG leakage detector circuit mainly include Arduino Pro Mini, LPG gas sensor module, buzzer, BC 547 transistor, 16×2 LCD, 1K resistor, bread board, 9 volt battery and connecting wires.

LPG Sensor Module

The below module comprises of a MQ3 sensor which is used to sense LPG gas. This module contains a MQ3 sensor which actually detects LPG gas, an LM393 comparator for comparing the output voltage of MQ3 sensor with a reference voltage. It gives a HIGH o/p when LPG gas is detected. A potentiometer is used to control sensitivity of gas. This sensor module is very easy to interface with microcontroller and other. We can also make it by using MQ3 and LM393 or LM358

As shown in the above circuit diagram, it comprises of an LPG gas sensor module, an Arduino board, LCD display and buzzer. Arduino microcontroller controls the entire process of this system such as reading the o/p of an LPG Gas sensor module, sending message to display and triggering buzzer.

The DO pin of an LPG gas sensor is directly connected to A4 (pin-18) of the Arduino board. VCC and GND terminals are connected to VCC & GND terminals of the Arduino board. LPG gas sensor modules include a MQ3 sensor which senses LPG gas. The MQ3 sensor comprises of a heater that needs a supply heat up and it takes minimum 15 minutes to detect the LPG gas. A comparator is used to convert analog o/p to digital of MQ3. An LCD display is connected to the Arduino board in 4-bit mode, control pins RW, RS and En are connected to pin-2, pin-3 and GND terminals of the Arduino board. And data pins from D0 to D7 are connected to 4,5,6,7 pins on the Arduino board. A buzzer is connected to the pin13 of the Arduino board through a transistor BC547 having a 1K resistor at its base terminal.

The applications of LPG leakage detector mainly applicable in domestic gas leakage detector, industrial combustible gas detector, houses, portable gas detectors, LPG storage, factories, hotels and gas cars.

Thus, this is all about microcontroller based LPG  gas leakage detector.We believe that you have got a better understanding of thid concept. Furthermore any doubts regarding this concept or electronics projects, please share your valuable suggestions by commenting in the comment section below. Here is a question for you, what is the main function of LPG gas sensor ?

Photo Credits:

• LPG gas senor circuitcircuitdigest
• Gas Detectortradeindia