Arduino-based Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Leak Detector with GSM Alarm

Notification System and Automatic Air Exhaust

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic strengthens the role of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) as an

essential energy and has been recognized by governments across the world. The household

consumption of LPG increases as a result of travel restrictions and quarantine. In fact, 4 out of 10

Filipinos turn to home cooking and dining in.

Gas leak refers to a leakage of natural gas or another gaseous product from a pipeline or

containment to any area in which should not be present. Even a small leak can be dangerous for

the reason that it may gradually build up to an explosive concentration of gas. LPG leak catches

fire when it forms a concentration when mixed with air 2% or above that is heavier than air

which tends to settle at the floor level during leakage. The highly combustibles may lead to

extensive loss of life and property to the most extent. Furthermore, prolonged inhalation of LPG

could damage the lungs and cause death due to suffocation.

Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) recorded from 2013 to 2017 a total of 77,724 fire

incidents that has the average of 15,545 fire incidents per year and 42 per day that cost P23.273

billion or an average of P4.65 billion every year. In addition to that, BFP showed that 1,161 fires

were attributed to LPG explosions from 2010 to August 2020. Circumstances from accidental

leakage from gas tubes and accumulation of gas are some of the leading causes of fire incidents.

A gas leak can increase the risk of fire and explosion since it combusts easily.

As stated by Murphy Falcon (2019), an explosion can occur when a gas pipe is leaking.

In a confined space like a home or restaurants, the gas will mix with the air, increasing the
pressure of the space. When there is a spark or flame even a static electricity spark present, the

gas will ignite, causing an explosion. (Retrieved from https://www.murphyfalcon.com/causes-

and-dangers-of-gas-explosions/)

As a matter of fact, ABS CBN News reported an LPG tank explosion in a closed

restaurant in Makati due to gas leak where four people were declared injured. (Retrieved from

https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/01/02/20/4-sugatan-sa-pagsabog-ng-lpg-tank-sa-isang-makati-

restaurant)

On the other hand, Inquirer net (2021) stated that with voting 21-0, senators passed the

Senate Bill No. 1955 or the proposed LPG Act, that aims to establish an LPG Cylinder

Improvement Program to replace unsafe cylinders in order to decrease LPG related fire and

explosion incidents which in turn will help Filipino consumers’ budget especially during the

pandemic situation. (Retrieved from Proposed LPG law gets final Senate nod | Inquirer News)

Enalume and Silas (2017) specified that the LPG has become the common source of

cooking fuel at home. Additionally, gas detector is one of the products that is made to lessen the

LPG leak related cases and explosions. The researchers used gas sensor to specifically identify

the gas present on a designated area such as LPG and smoke. (Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317951428_Design_and_Implementation_of_an_Effici

ent_LPG_Leakage_Detector/link/595287fca6fdcc218d280a3a/download)

In relation with the current research, the product of the study entitled LPG Leakage

Detector using Arduino with SMS Alert and Sound Alarm revealed that it will be a great help in

terms of preventing any danger caused by gas leakage. The study seeks to detect the presence of

LPG leakage as a part of a safety system. Apart from sound alarm, an SMS alert will inform the

authorized person and the solenoid valve will be triggered to shut down the gas supply to prevent
any harmful effects due to gas leakage. This study seeks to develop a prototype Arduino Based

Gas leak sensor to reduce the leakage of gas. The system detects gas leaks and use

GSM Alarm system to inform the user via text messaging and sound alarm. After all the

data had been gathered, analyzed and processed, the proponents arrived at the succeeding

conclusion. Therefore, the researchers concluded that the LPG Leakage Detector Using Arduino

with SMS Alert and Sound Alarm will help a lot in terms of preventing any danger caused by gas

leakage and useful as part of safety to avoid the gas leak that can cause harmful result as well as

to improve the safety of all LPG users. (Retrieved from

https://www.ijitee.org/wp-content/uploads/papers/v8i6c2/F10420486C219. pdf).

The product by the organization NevonProjects, entitled Gas Leak Detector with

Automatic Air Exhaust Using ARM (Advanced RISC Machine) Cortex revealed that the system

automatically detects gas leakages. If leakage is detected, the system automatically starts exhaust

fans. One exhaust is used to suck the gas out of the room. While another fan is used to pull in

fresh air from outside, an alert message is sent to turn off the gas supply at the same time. The

system avoids the chances of any fires or blasts which could have been caused by gas leakage.

The organization used ARM cortex along with gas sensor to detect LPG gas presence along with

the two fans, buzzing alert and display based circuitry interfaced to Arm cortex to develop the

accident avoider system. (Retrieved from https://nevonprojects.com/gas-leak-detector-with-

automatic-air-exhaust-using-arm-cortex/).
 Statement of the Problem

General Objective

This product aims to lessen fire-related LPG leak incidents in the Philippines using Arduino.

Specific objectives

1. Can the sensor detect gas leak and notify the system if a certain level of leak is detected?

2. Is there any significant difference between the Arduino-Based Gas Leak Detector and

commercially available LPG Gas leak detector with alarm system in terms of:

2.1 response

2.2 adaptability

3. Will the Air Exhaust activate if a certain level of gas leak is detected?
 Methodology

Collection of the Materials

The materials needed for the project are SIM900 Global System for Mobile (GSM)

Shield with Arduino Uno, LPG Gas MQ5 Sensor, BC547 Transistor, 16X2 LCD, 1K resistor, 2.2

x 3.4 (5.5 cm x 8.5 cm) bread board, 20cm long female and male wires, 60mm Air Exhaust,

ARM Cortex M3, Passive Piezo Buzzer

Procedure

A. Assembly

Power Supply was supplied with MQ5 sensor. Arduino’s analog pin A0 was fixed to the

sensor’s Analog (A) pin A0. Only the Tx (output transceiver), Rx (input transceiver) and GND

(grounded) pin of SIM900 Modem were attached to Arduino. Tx and Rx were linked to Pin No.9

and 10 of Arduino.

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) was connected to pin no. 7, 6, 5, 3, 2 of Arduino. The

Digital Pin 9 of the Arduino through a 100 OHM (unit of electrical resistance) resistor were fixed

to wire (RED) of the buzzer.

Any pin of the Arduino was attached to the ground wire (BLACK) of the buzzer.

Each of the 14 digital i/o pins on the M0 can be used as an input or output, using pin

mode, digital Write, and digital Read functions. They operate at 3.3 volts.
 7mA, a maximum DC current for I/O pins and an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected

by default) of 10-60 k Ohms.

In addition, the pins have specialized functions:

Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) Time-to-live (TTL)

serial data using the ATSAMD21G18 hardware serial capability. Note that on the M0, the Serial

USB class refers to USB (CDC) communication; for serial on pins 0 and 1, the Serial5 class was

used by the researchers.

Two Wire Interface (TWI): Serial Data (SDA) and Serial Clock (SCL) were supported by

TWI communication that is used by the Wire library.

Pulse Width Modulation PWM: Pins 2 to 13 Provide 8-bit PWM output with the analog

Write function. The resolution of the PWM can be changed with the analog Write Resolution

function. The pins 4 and 10, 5 and 12 cannot be used simultaneously as PWM.

Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI): on the in-circuit serial programming (ICSP) header.

These pins were applied SPI communication that was used by the SPI library. 6-pin ICSP was

connected to the M0's 6-pin ICSP header of Arduino board.

LED: 13. There is a built-in LED connected to digital pin 13. When the pin is HIGH

value, the LED is on, when the pin is LOW, it's off.

Analog Inputs: A0-A5. The M0 has 6 analog inputs, labeled A0 through A5. Pins A0-A5

appears in the same locations as on the Uno; each analog input provides 12 bits of resolution (i.e.

4096 different values). By default the analog inputs measure from ground to 3.3 volts, though is

it possible to change the upper end of their range using the Arduino Reference (AREF) pin and

the analog Reference () function.

levels) with the analog Write () function.

There are two ways of connecting GSM module to Arduino. In any case, the

communication between Arduino and GSM module is serial. The researcher will use serial pins

of Arduino (Rx and Tx) and the Tx pin of GSM module to Rx pin of Arduino and Rx pin of

GSM module to Tx pin of Arduino.

B. Connection and Programming

LCD Wire Connection

LCD Arduino-UNO

RS ======= digital pin 12

Enable ======= digital pin 11

D4 ======= digital pin 5

D5 ======= digital pin 4

D6 =======digital pin 3

D7 ======= digital pin 2

R/W ======= ground* 10K resistor: ends to +5V and ground

wiper to LCD VO pin (pin 3)

Passive Buzzer Connection

GND --> GND

D8 --> S

MQ5 Gas Sensor Wiring Connection

Pin-------------------------------------Wiring to Arduino Uno

A0-------------------------------------Analog pins

D0-------------------------------------none

GND-----------------------------------GND

VCC------------------------------------5V

Air Exhaust to Arduino

#define F1 5 // Define DIGITAL pin for Fan 1

#define F2 6 // Define DIGITAL pin for Fan 2

Journals

J. Mayuga (March 2018) “Tragedy of fires: Death and destruction in the Philippines”

Retrieved from: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2018/03/21/tragedy-of-fires-death-and-

destruction-in-the-philippines/

Rhonnel P. and Israel C. “LPG Leakage Detector using Arduino with SMS Alert and Sound

Alarm”.

Date Retrieved: June 28, 2021

J. Gamboa (June, 2021) “Regulating the LPG industry”

Web Sources:

Gas Leak Detector With Automatic Air Exhaust Using ARM Cortex (2019)

Retrieved from https://nevonprojects.com/gas-leak-detector-with-automatic-air-exhaust-using-

arm-cortex/

Date retrieved: March 3, 2020

Diagrams:

Gas_Leakage_Detection_System_with_GSM_Module_Sound_Alarm (2016) Retrieved from

https://www.circuitstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Gas_Leakage_Detection_System_w

ith_GSM_Module_Sound_Alarm.
Gas Leak Detector with Automatic Air Exhaust Using ARM Cortex (2016) Retrieved from

https://nevonprojects.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/GasLeakDetectorwithAutomaticAirExha

ustUsingARMCortexblocksmall. Date Retrieved: March 3, 2020