Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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IoT based air quality measurement and alert system for steel, material
and copper processing industries
B. Thiyaneswaran a,⇑, P. Elayaraja b, P. Srinivasan a, S. Kumarganesh c, K. Anguraj a
a
Department of ECE, Sona College of Technology, India
b
Department of ECE, Kongunadu College of Engineering and Technology, India
c
Department of ECE, Siddharth Institute of Engineering and Technology, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The air quality of industry gets affected due to the industrial processing like heating of metals such as
Available online xxxx steel, copper. The burning and processing alters the level of NitrogenDioxide (NO2), Carbon Monoxide
(CO), Carbon Dioxide (C02), methane (CH4), and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG). The each parameter in
Keywords: the air has to be maintained in safe level. If safe level is not maintained makes discomfort to the human
Co2 health. The existing methods are measuring the air quality and display it at same station which may han-
NO2 dle with less care. The proposed method consists of MQ2, MQ3, MQ6, and MQ9 sensors used to measure
Co
CO, CO2, NO2, and CH4 &LPG levels. The sensor gives the analog output. The proposed method uses the
Mixed gas
ESP8266
Arduino Nano - ATMEGA 168 based controlled to handle the analog sensors. The analog quantity is con-
Arduino Nano verted into digital value and which compared with safe limit value by the controller. The measured value
is updated in cloud server- web based and Mobile application. The emergency alarm is fixed in the instru-
ment in sound and light form to alert the workers. The device is tested in air polluted industry. The device
showed the CO level as 525 PPM, NO2 level as 56 PBP, CO2 level as 164PPM, and mixed gas as 154PSI. The
device notified CO level is high. The output is observed in cloud and mobile application.
Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Virtual
Conference on Sustainable Materials (IVCSM-2k20).

1. Introduction 1.1. Basic PARAMETER OF GASES:

The increasing population requires increased the industries in
terms of meeting people needs. Increasing of number industries
will leads to the increase ratio of pollution [1]. The world is in
the panic position due to affect of ozone layer. The industry is in
closed form. If the air is polluted within the industry make the
working human life to danger position [12]. The industries like
steel, copper, and metal processing industries are produces Nitro-
gen Dioxide (NO2), Carbon Monoxide (CO), Carbon Dioxide (C02),
methane (CH4), and Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) [2]. The levels of
these gases are to be maintained at certain limits.If the level exceed
makes the harm to human life Table 1.Table 2..
The level of NO2 has to be maintained below 50 Part Per Billion
(PBP). It is the safe level for human health. 50PBP to 100PBP will be
providing moderate effect [3]. The value which is greater than 101
PBP makes the lung diseases, asthma to human [14]. The normal
value of CO2 has to be maintained from 250PPM (Part per Million)
to 400PPM. The maximum allowable level of CO2is below 1000
PPM. The normal accepted level of CO is 50 PPM. If the value is
greater than 51 may makes injury to human health in terms of
headache, nausea, and unconscious [4].
The literature study says the expensive controllers such as rasp-
berry Pi, MSB 430 controller [5]. The separate GSM module is used
for enhancing SMS facility. The predefined cloud environment is
used in the existing system such thingspeak [13].

2. Hardware architecture
⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of ECE, Sona College of Technology,
Salem, Tamilnadu, India. The block diagram of the proposed system is shown in the Fig. 1.
E-mail address: thiyanesb@gmail.com (B. Thiyaneswaran). It uses the main controller called Arduino Nano which consists of

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.696
2214-7853/Ó 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Virtual Conference on Sustainable Materials (IVCSM-2k20).

Please cite this article as: B. Thiyaneswaran, P. Elayaraja, P. Srinivasan et al., IoT based air quality measurement and alert system for steel, material and
copper processing industries, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2021.02.696
B. Thiyaneswaran, P. Elayaraja, P. Srinivasan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1 The MQ2 sensor is used to measure the CO present in the air.
Range of gas detected using sensors. The MQ3 sensor is used to measure the value of CO2 present in
S. No Name of the sensor Name of gas Level detected by the the air [6]. The MQ6 sensor is used to measure the value of NO2
proposed system present in the air. The MQ9 sensor is used to measure the mixed
1 MQ2 CO 0–800 PPM gases methane & LPG present in the air [15].
2 MQ3 CO2 0–1000 PPM The table-1 shows the gases detected by the sensor. The range
3 MQ6 NO2 0–700 PBP values shows are adjusted and tested using the present arrange-
4 MQ9 Mixed Gas 0–1000 PPM

ATMEGA 168P microcontroller. The MQ2, MQ3, MQ6, and MQ9

sensors are connected with A0, A1, A2, and A3 Analog to Digital
(ADC) lines of Arduino Nano board. The gases levels are displayed
in the system using LCD display. The ESP 8266 WiFi module is
interfaced with the Nano board serially. It enables the system to
connect with cloud. The + 5 V power supply is given to the Nano
board, sensors, LCD, and WiFi module.

2.1. Arduino Nano

The Arduino Nano consists of ATMEGA168P microcontroller

which is shown in the Fig. 2. It consists of 6 ADC channels, 13 I/O
lines. The A0, A1, A2, and A3 ADC lines are connected with sensors.
The I/O lines 2 and 3 are connected with the ESP 8266. I/O lines 4,
5, 6, and 7 are connected with LCD display. The I/O lines 8, 9, are
connected with E, and RS [11].

2.2. Gas sensors

The gas sensors are used to detect the level of gas present in the
sensing area. The sensor module requires +5 V power supply [1]. It
has the analog and digital outputs. A potentiometer is connected
across the +5 V and analog output. The sensitivity of the gas may
adjust using the potentiometer. The shape of the MQ2, MQ3,
MQ6, and MQ9 used in the proposed method is shown in the
Fig. 3.Fig. 4.

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the proposed system. Fig. 2. Arduino Nano.

Table 2
Measurement comparison.

S. No CO2 in PPM COin PPM NO2 in PBP Mixed gasin PPM

Conventional Proposed Conventional Proposed Conventional Proposed Conventional Proposed
1 200 202 40 40 25 27 100 100
2 221 221 35 35 34 34 121 121
3 240 239 48 48 47 48 130 130
4 264 265 60 60 64 63 24 25
5 365 365 84 83 88 87 90 92
6 380 380 101 100 110 125 93 93.5
7 320 321 124 125 250 251 260 261
8 340 339 160 159 260 261 300 301

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B. Thiyaneswaran, P. Elayaraja, P. Srinivasan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

ment of potentiometer. The value of pot is about 40 K variables.

The value will be differing for MQ2, MQ3, MQ6, and MQ9 [7].

2.3. ESP 8266 module

The ESP 8266 module is used to connect the proposed system

with the cloud. It requires +3.3 V for biasing. The module consists
of patch printed circuited compact antenna. It is configured using
WiFi hotspot Service Set Identifier (SSID) and Password. It is based
onIEEE 802.1 b/g/n. The Nano board I/O pin 2 and 3 is connected
with the TX and RX pins of ESP8266 module [8]. It explicitly
replaces the traditional GSM module and its configuration.

2.4. LCD display

The proposed system uses 2 row LCD displays. The D0, D1, D2,
D3 data line of LCD is connected with the 4, 5, 6, and 7 pins of
Fig. 6. Power supply board.

Arduino Nano I/O lines. The Fig. 5 shows the LCD used in the pro-
posed system. The RS and EN control lines of LCD is connected with
the 8 and 9 I/O pins of Arduino Nano. The RW control pin of LCD is
connected with the ground. A 1 K pot is connected with the con-
trast pin of LCD. The LCD backlight brightness is adjusted using
the potentiometer [9,10].Fig. 6.

2.5. Power supply

A +5 V DC output is required for sensors and the Arduino Nano

controller board. A 230 V to 16 V step down transformer is used in
the proposed system which reduces the 230 V AC into 16 V AC
power supply. The current handling capacity of the transformer
Fig. 3. Gas sensor. is 2 Amps. A 16 V volts AC output is connected with the IN4007
diode. It gives the rectified output and pulsating DC output of
12 V. The shunt capacitor filter is fixed to get the pure single line
DC signal. The filter output is connected with 7805 regulator
through 0.22 mF input capacitor. The output is taken from the
7805 through the 0.1 mF capacitor.
The current handling capacity of 7805 is 1 A. The gas sensors
variation may reset Arduino Nano. It is observed during the analy-
sis. Therefore there will be a separate power supply is used for
Arduino Nano and gas sensors.

3. Software architecture

The proposed method uses the Arduino IDE version 1.8.13. The
embedded ‘C’ code is used in the proposed algorithm. The program
flow is explained using flow chart shown in the Fig. 7. The A0, A1,
A2, and A3 lines of Arduino are configured as input lines. The CO2
Fig. 4. ESP 8266 module. sensor output is connected with the A0 lines. The CO sensor output
is connected with the A1 line. The NO2 sensor line is connected
with the A2 line. The mixed sensor output is connected with the
A3 line. The I/O pin-2 is used software RX and 3rd is used software
TX purpose. The pin-2 is used for input and pin-3 is used config-
ured as output for communication with the ESP8266 WiFi module.
The flow of firmware developed for proposed system is shown
in the Fig. 7. The system first reads the value of CO2, secondly it
reads the value of CO, thirdly reads the value of NO2 value, and
finally reads the mixed gas. The web server is configured in the
Nano which send the sensed gas values to the cloud server. The
values are also immediately updated in the LCD display. If the mea-
sured values are greater than the threshold value buzzer will be
switched ON and the SMS alert will be sent the specified number.
Fig. 5. LCD display. Again the process will be repeated on sensing the gas values.
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B. Thiyaneswaran, P. Elayaraja, P. Srinivasan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7. Flowchart of the system.

tioned in the figure. The AC 230 V, 50 Hz power supply input is

given to the proposed system. The step down transformer reduces
the input voltage to 12 V, 50 Hz from 230 V. The transformer out-
put is connected in parallel with connected sensor board and Nano

Fig. 8. Pseudo code of proposed system.

The pseudo code of the proposed system is shown in the Fig. 8.

The analog pins A0, A1, A2, and A3 are initially configured as input
ports. The MQ2, MQ3, MQ6, and MQ9 sensors are mapped into A0,
A1, A2, and A3 analog input lines.

4. Results and discussion

The selected modules of proposed system is connected and

shown in the Fig. 8. The hardware modules of the proposed system
are placed over the wooden board. Each module name is men- Fig. 9. Hardware modules of the proposed system.

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B. Thiyaneswaran, P. Elayaraja, P. Srinivasan et al. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 10. Cloud page view of proposed system.

board power supply. The rectifier which is connected in bridge

configuration converts the 12 V AC power supply into 10.8 V pul-
sating DC output. The shunt capacitor filter gives the pure DC out-
put. The IC7805 regulator is used to give the constant output
voltage as +5 V. The sensor board output is connected with MQ2,
MQ3, MQ6, MQ9 sensors, and LCD display. The Nano power source
+5 V output is connected with the Arduino Nano and ESP8266
modules. The MQ2, MQ3, MQ6, and MQ9 sensors outputs are con-
nected with the Nano board A0, A1, A2, and A3 lines which is based
on ATMEGA168P controller. The ESP8266 RX and TX are connected
with Nano board. The developed firmware is uploaded in the Nano
board. When the system is switched ON, the Nano board starts
reading the sensor values. It updates the gas values in the cloud
and also using the LCD display. If the any one or more than one
gas value is greater than the threshold value SMS will be sent to
the specified GSM number and alarm will be turned on.
The cloud page of proposed system consists of CO2, CO, NO2, and
Mixed gas values. The webpage view of output screen is shown in
the Fig. 9. The exclusive web page is created for the specified appli-
cation. Each sensor value is updated using the appropriate API
keys. The current values of the gas is updated in the specified
CO2, CO, NO2, and Mixed gas. The warning alert also displayed
graphically below the numerical display value. In the top right
header below the title banner current date and time. The line graph
also updated for every 30 s. It is easy to compare the current value
with previous one. The graph is useful to predict the next level or
range of gas to be exhausted. Fig. 11. SMS alert appeared in smart mobile.

5
B. Thiyaneswaran, P. Elayaraja, P. Srinivasan et al.
The Fig. 10 shows the alert message sent to the mobile phone
during the testing of system. An alert sent at the time of 6.21 PM
for the high alert of CO2 value. If any one of the gas value is exceeds
the SMS will be sent. The system is tested with the all exceedex-
tends. The table-2 shows the various measurements given by the
proposed system. The proposed system measurement is compared
with the conventional system. There smaller variation between the
conventional and proposed system. The serial no.4 is taken as ref-
erence for explanation. The value of CO2 in the conventional instru-
ment is 264 PPM and proposed instrument shown the value of 265
which is one value greater than conventional instrument. The
value of CO in the conventional instrument is 60 PPM and the pro-
posed system is 60 PPM which is equal. The NO2 value shown by
the conventional instrument is 64 PBP and the proposed system
is 63 PBP which one value less than the conventional instrument.
The mixed gas value shown by the conventional instrument is 24
PPM and the proposed system is 25 PPM which is greater than
the conventional instrument.Fig. 11.
5. Conclusion
The air quality measurement and monitoring is the important
in steel, copper, and metal industries. The proposed system is
required in order to safe guard the people who are all working in
the industry. The proposed system measures the CO2, CO, NO2,
and mixed gas values. The controller measured the harm gas values
with the help of MQ3, MQ4, MQ6, and MQ7 sensors. The measured
value is compared with the predefined threshold value. If the mea-
sured value is greater than the threshold value immediately SMS
alert will be sent to the registered mobile number. The separate
cloud page is created for air quality measurement. The each gas
value is displayed in the cloud page. The graphical plot is also dis-
played which makes comparison of gas levels. The present and pre-
vious gas values are also viewable in the cloud page. The proposed
system measurement value is having ±1 value tolerance with the
conventional instrument.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
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