Construction Of Customized Gas Sensing

Setup And Characterization Of The

State Of The Art Gas Sensing Devices

by

Mati Ur Rehman Khan

MUST/FA15-BEE-036/AJK
Daniyal Ahmed
MUST/FA15-BEE-030/AJK
Ammad Sher Ali
MUST/FA15-BEE-027/AJK

A thesis submitted to the

Department Of Electrical Engineering
In fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of
BACHOLAR OF SCIENCE IN ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING

Faculty of Engineering
MIRPUR UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Mirpur Azad Jammu and Kashmir
August 2019
 Dedication

With heartfelt gratitude and warmest affection,we devote this thesis to our par-
ents,family members & relatives.We also dedicate this piece of work to Ghazian-
e-Islam, Shuada-e-Islam, Opppressed Kashmiri Nation and specially to Shuada e
Laal masjid.

i
 Certificate of Approval

It is certified that the research work titled Construction of customized gas sensing
setup and characterization of the state of the art gas sensing Devices carried
out by Mati Ur Rahman Khan, Reg. No: MUST/FA15-BEE-036/AJK, Daniyal
Ahmed, Reg. No: MUST/FA15-BEE-030/AJK and Ammad Sher Ali, Reg. No:
MUST/FA15- BEE-027/AJK, under the supervision of Dr. Ishtiaq Hassan Wani
and Engr. Imran Riyaz at Mirpur University of Science and Technology, Mirpur,
is fully adequate in confines and attributes, as a thesis for the award of degree of
Bachelors in Electrical Engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering”,
Mirpur University of Science and Technology(MUST)

Supervisor:

Co-Supervisor:

External Examiner:

Project Coordinator:

Chairman:

Dean:

ii
 Acknowledgment

I am thankful to my Creator Allah Subhana-Watala. We express our deepest

gratitude to MUST, AJK for letting us study here. We thank Electrical Engi-
neering Department for allowing us to complete our education. We would like to
acknowledge our supervisors Dr. Ishtiaq Hassan Wani and Engr. Imran Riyaz
for their endless support in the related research, and for their diligence, encour-
agement, and expertise. Their assistance aided us throughout our research and
in the creation of this thesis.
Apart from our supervisor, we would thank the rest of our final year project
committee for their dedication and support throughout our thesis.
And lastly, we would like to thank our family: our parents, our brothers and
sisters for their continuous encouragement all through our degree program,writing
the thesis and our lives in general.

iii
 Declaration

We hereby declare that the project work entitled ” Construction of customized

gas sensing setup and characterization of the state of the art gas sensing devices”
is a record of the original work (except where otherwise acknowledged in text and
references) done by us under the supervision of Dr. Ishtiaq Hassan Wani, and
Engr. Imran Riyaz, Department of Electrical Engineering, MUST.
The results embodied in this thesis are adequate and have not been submitted
in any form, at any university or institution for the award of another diploma
or degree and shall not be provided to any other university or institution for the
grant of any diploma or degree in future.

Reg. No: MUST/FA15-BEE-036/AJK

Reg. No: MUST/FA15-BEE-030/AJK

Reg. No: MUST/FA15-BEE-027/AJK

iv
 Abstract

The construction of the art setup for research and characterization is one of the
various requirements at our department. At present, our educational institu-
tions and specially the laboratories in our research institute lack of fabrication
of devices and setup for performing various sensing experiments. Department
of electrical engineering is lack of such a setup which would help or progressive
work.
To cope with this problem we intend to build a very cheap research infrastruc-
ture which will help us in testing and verifying sensing devices. In this project we
have focused on designing a gas sensing setup that can be used for doing various
sensing experiments. At laboratory the most of experiments are carried out in
chambers due to hazardous gases. The gas chamber is the most important part
of sensor. The gas chamber used should be least reactive toward various gases.
The gas chamber should be air tight and have proper ventilation system to avoid
the hazardous gases. The verification of the sensors results is the most important
and expensive step in the sensors field. The proposed project will be able to test
the functioning of the sensors.
The project provide a customized gas sensing setup which can be used to
carry out different gaseous experiments. The proposed design have small physical
size, low power and more efficient. Mostly the gas sensing setups are delicate,
expensive and complex. The proposed project will have low cost and easy to
operate. Sensor devices will be portable i.e. various sensors can be used to carry
out various gaseous experiments. The concentration of gas displayed by LCD.
The concentration of the gas above the certain level will alarm.

v
 Contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Statement of the problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.3 Purpose of the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.4 Application of the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.5 Theoretical bases and organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

2 Literature Review 4
2.1 Related study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Related technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.2.1 Related technology 01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 Related Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 The limitations of this project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.5 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

3 Tools and Techniques 12

3.1 Hardware Used with complete technical specification . . . . . . . 12
3.1.1 Arduino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.2 Arduino-UNO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.3 Buzzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1.4 Capacitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.5 Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.6 Voltage Regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.1.7 LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1.8 Step down Transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1.9 Transistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1.10 Gas pipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1.11 Gas Valves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1.12 CH4 (Methane Gas) Sensor MQ-5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2 Software simulation tool use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.2.1 Arduino Software IDE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

vi
4 Methodologies & Implementations 27
4.1 Design on the investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.2 Analysis Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
4.3 Implementation Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.3.1 Hardware Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
4.3.2 Details about Software/Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
4.4 Verification of Functionalities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.4.1 Transformer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4.4.2 AC to DC Conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.4.3 Capacitor working in Supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4.4 Voltage Regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.4.5 GAS Chamber . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.4.6 Aurdino interfacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.4.7 The arduino interfacing with Sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4.8 The arduino interfacing with LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.4.9 The Arduino interfacing with buzzer . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.5 Assembling the whole hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

5 Result And Analysis 41

5.1 Presentation of finding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
5.1.1 Hardware Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
5.1.2 Software Result . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.2 Discussion of Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.3 Reasoning for short coming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
5.4 Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
5.5 Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

6 Conclusion & Future Work 48

6.1 Future work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

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 List of Figures

2.1 Schematic diagram of gas sensor measurement setup . . . . . . . . 6

2.2 Response of methane as function of temperature . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.3 Response time,recovery time, response dependence of gas concen-
tration for (a) gold at 350◦ C (b) Pd-Ag at 250◦ C. . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4 The diagram for sensor element. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5 The schematic diagram for gas sensing setup . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.6 Photograph of gas sensing setup for H2 S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.7 SnO2 film response output in above sensing setup @ 110C for H2 S 10

3.1 Arduino UNO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

3.2 View of Buzzer Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.3 Schematic diagram for buzzer connection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.4 Capacitor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.5 Resistor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.6 LM7805 PINOUT diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.7 Pin configuration for 2x16 LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.8 Step-down transformer windings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.9 Single-phase step-down transformer symbolic view and physical view 22
3.10 Centre-tapped step-down transformer symbolic and physical view 22
3.11 Symbolic and physical view of Multi-tapped step-down transformer 22
3.12 Physical view of 2SA1015 Bipolar Transistor . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.13 Rubber pipes for gas flow by Suntech Company . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.14 Valve use to control the gaseous flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.15 MQ7 sensor demonstration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

4.1 Example solved by IDE software used for blinking . . . . . . . . 30

4.2 Transformer used in the project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.3 Bridge rectifier use for AC to DC conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.4 Capacitor Working . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.5 DC output after passing through parallel capacitor . . . . . . . . 33
4.6 Voltage Regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
4.7 Schematic diagram used for voltage regulator used in circuit . . . 34

viii
4.8 Gas chamber made of polypropylene random Copolymer . . . . . 35
4.9 Pin configuration of arduino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4.10 Arduino programming to run the whole project . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.11 Arduino interface with a sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.12 Arduino interfacing with LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.13 Arduino interfacing with buzzer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.14 Assembling the whole hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

5.1 Typical sensitivity curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

5.2 Temperature or humidity characterstic curve . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.3 Sensitivity curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
5.4 Response and Resume time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

ix
 List of Tables

3.1 The functionalities of pins in Arduino . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3.2 Technical Specifications of Devices used . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.3 The pin functioning of voltage regulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 The pin configuration of LCD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5 Attributes of Rubber Pipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

4.1 Pin Configuration of sensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

5.1 Hardware results of proposed system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

5.2 Rs/Ro values for different concentration of air and methane . . . 43
5.3 Rs/Ro values under the effect of temperature and humidity . . . 44
5.4 Sensitivity curve which shows VRL for various gaseous concentra-
tion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

x
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Overview
A sensor is a gadget, module, or subsystem whose intention is to identify occasions
or changes in its condition and send the data to different hardware, mostly as often
as possible to a PC processor. In our daily life we come across various sensors
e.g. for automatic door system passive infrared sensor is used. The first sensor
invented and practically implemented, was a flame safety lamp. It was used to
sense the ratio of oxygen and other gases below the surface of earth in mines. Gas
sensors are rapidly developed during few decades. These sensor play an important
role in many fields such as industry, education and our daily routine life. The
basic challenge is the detection of gasses whenever there is a low concentration of
gases in industries, laboratories or concentration of a hazardous gasses in an area.
A little percentage of poisonous or risky gasses are difficult to detect with common
gas sensors. The long time exposure to such a gases may cause serious diseases
e.g. lungs cancer, mental, respiratory and reproductive diseases. Harmful toxins
emitted by automobiles and factories are enormous source of pollution. Therefore,
authentic means are needed for reliable recognition by using metal oxide based
sensors. These are quiet costly and difficult to fabricate. Due to this reason our
project is focused on the customization of a setup that can be used performing
various sensor experiment.

1.2 Statement of the problem

In the modern era, the applications of sensors are increasing day by day. The sen-
sor technology has become a basic enabling technology in many fields. At present,
the laboratories in our research institute lack the state of the art research facil-
ities for fabrication and characterization of various types of sensors. Especially
the department of electrical engineering does not contain those laboratory setups

1
which could help in progressive work towards research and development of sensing
certain devices. To manage this problem we need at least a setup by which we
can perform various sensing experiments. A wide variety of sensing devices can
be fabricated, by developing a gas sensing setup.A variety of gas sensing setup
can be developed by using different types of materials.

1.3 Purpose of the project

The construction of the state of the art setups for research and characterization
of sensors is one of the various requirements at our educational institutions. We
desire to develop a simple setup that have low cost and can be used for perform-
ing various sensor experiments. The purpose of our project is that we intend
to introduce very cheap research infra-structure that will help in the research,
fabrication and characterization of the state of the art sensor devices. By using
proposed gas sensing setup we will be able to research in this emerging field at
our educational institutions. We will be able to develop new sensors to cope our
problem in this world of Automation. We will be able to develop more efficient
and low cost gas sensing setup and devices.

1.4 Application of the project

From last few decades, sensor technology is a strongly growing industry which find
its applications in every field of life e.g. sensors find its application in industry,
military,household and in medical field. At present, the sensing device fabrication
is too much costly and is absent form our educational institutions. Our project is
a simply to build a low cost setup that will provide an infra-structure to fabricate
sensing devices. It can be used in the laboratories of our educational institutions
for the fabrication of new sensing devices or in the process of improving efficiency
of pre-existing devices. It may be used to sense the hazardous gasses that exhaust
during the experiments.The designed setup will be capable to carry out various
experiments in order to verify the results of fabricated devices.

2
1.5 Theoretical bases and organizations
In this world of automation, sensor is the basic building block. In our country
sensor technology is most growing research field and device fabrication is much
costly. To cope with economy problem we will design low cost setup. The basic
aspiration of our project is to design and develop a setup that can be used to
fabricate the sensors and doing various experiments to perform and verify the
sensing device functioning. The project can be used to identify the concentration
of gas in a specific area as the sensing device is installed. By using this type of
setup we can fabricate the device, the system will be more reliable, the device will
be more efficient. We can improve the sensitivity, efficiency, response time, power
consumption, reliability and capability of a sensor. Sensors can be developed that
warn us when the toxic gases is exhausted.

1.6 Summary
The world is travelling toward atomization with a considerable speed. Twentieth
century is at peak toward atomization. Sensor technology is one of the most
growing industry all over the world. Sensors find its application in every field
of life e.g. household, industry, military, mobile and other electronic devices etc.
There are no facilities at our educational institute laboratories for research or
fabrication of sensing devices. Our project is about to build setup that will help
in research, fabrication of sensing devices and doing various experiments related
to sensor technology improvement. The developed setup have low cost and more
efficient in term of economy and size.

3
Chapter 2

Literature Review

2.1 Related study

In this modern world of automation, Sensor is the basic building block of atom-
ization. Our main preference is to develop a secure, easy to use, intact technology
to measure the various entities. This will result in the development of more com-
plex devices. Many attributes can be added to the device by applying sensor at
inputs and outputs. It may reduce the cost and weight. It may increase efficiency,
measuring ability and response rate of machine. Sensors involved in every field
of life e.g. industry, household, office and outdoor use. The first priority is the
safety purpose. Sensor are involved in sensing hazardous gasses that may cause
of death for organic lives. The gaseous leakages in supply line or experimental
laboratories can be controlled by sensors. At present, multi-tasking sensors are
available that can detect various gasses. Two types of pollutants are badly ef-
fecting our environment i.e. primary and secondary pollutants. Some toxic waste
are provided directly while other produced by the recombination of toxic wastes
in air. When the reaction takes place, heat release which cause global warming
and other environmental issues [1]. Long time exposure to such toxics may inju-
rious to body and health. The presence of these gases above the certain level of
concentration, may cause death [2].The bloody incident took place in the world.
In 1984, methyl-isocynate storage get leaked and a heavy explosion takes place
[3]. At least two lac people get affected by single incident. The incident occurs at
India, Japan, U.S and some other countries and cause a huge destruction. With
the increasing population, there is development of complex industries network.
Toxic chemicals are normally used in many industries e.g. oil, textile, and sugar
industry. These toxics ruin our entire environment. Now a days, the environ-
mental pollution is most dangerous and global level issue [4-8]. The emission of
smoke through automobile and chimneys is huge source of pollution. The emis-
sion of these toxic chemicals is a one of the main life threatening challenge for

4
water beast and for whole living beings. Gas sensor is the most valueable class
of the sensors. Some gasses are color less and odorless and their presence cannot
be detected and longtime exposure to these gases may cause lungs, respiratory
track diseases and may lead to death.

2.2 Related technologies

In this era of technologies, different fabrication techniques are used for the de-
velopment of gas sensor. There are three major techniques use for fabrication
of sensing device thin film, thick film and pellet technique. The best technology
used is thin film technique. It have low cost, easy to handle and most abun-
dant technology used for the fabrication of sensing devices. It was applied in
1950s for the first time. Sensor developed using thick film using SSP (standard-
screen-printing) technique. The above mention technique is the most appropriate
technique to prepare a material that will be used in various parts of a gas sensors.
Later thick-film technique become abundantly used technique in sensing field [9].it
was easy to deposit the layers of various material as of required dimensions using
SSP (standard screen printing technology). [10-11].The film is displayed to the
atmosphere which may contain gas to be detected. The reaction with film takes
place at the surface area. The penetration (absorption) and desorption phenom-
ena takes place at the surface which cause change in resistance, capacitance of
a material. The change in any entity give us the detection of desired gas. The
entity may be energy, resistance, capacitance, pressure and volume.

2.2.1 Related technology 01

ZnO material find wide application in optoelectronics [12] and gas sensing field
[13]. Hexagonal wurtzite structure has higher stability and more common. It
possess properties like strong luminesce at normal temperature, higher electron
mobility and wide band gap. Thin film of ZnO can be deposited easily on material
by various methods e.g. spray pyrolysis method and Sol-gel method[14]. The
nanocrystalline ZnO is layered on SiO2 P-Si coated by sol-gel method and work
as sensing device for methane. The thin film of ZnO can be developed by using
following process. Mixture of acetate dihydrate (Zn (CH3COO).22H2O) (98%)
and Isopropanol[15] is stirred continuously at standard temperature untill a milky

5
solution is obtained. Then spin coating is applied at speed of 1000 rpm. The
fragment is then heated to remove the solvent. At the end the sample is made
thicken to develop nanocrystalline ZnO. The entire process repeated and the layer
of desired dimension is obtained. Two different composition are used to elaborate
sensor study. Au is accumulated by e-beam deposition method and second one,
is to deposit Pd-Ag by same method.
The sensor is placed inside a closed glass chamber known as sensing chamber
having multiple inlets and outlets. The temperature of chamber is kept constant.
Copper wires are used for electrical connections. These connections proceed out
through outlets. For sensor study, the desired ratio highly purified methane and
IOLAR grade nitrogen gas (N2) are supplied through an inlet. The AS mass
flow controller and mass flow meter are used to make the rate of flow of gas and
concentration of gaseous methane constant. Usually, the gas pressure kept 1 atm.
The schematic diagram of gas sensor measurement setup is shown in Fig 2.1 [15].

Figure 2.1: Schematic diagram of gas sensor measurement setup

Measurement should be taken at specific thickness range. When the thick-

ness is 300600 nm the films destroys with increase in temperature so, all the
measurements are taken when the thickness of ZnO film is 900nm.
The Fig 2.2[15] reveals that the superlative response obtain using gold contact
is 350oC and it can be reduce to 250 o C using Palladium-silver alloy contact. The
response time percentage obtained is 56.1 using gold contact. The response time
rise to 74.3% using Pd-Ag alloy. The response is obtained with Pd-Ag electrical
connection at 250 o C is 44% and it show amazing response of 65s at 150 o C.
In the presence of methane, the resistance of sensor first decrease as free electron

6
 Figure 2.2: Response of methane as function of temperature

leaved out and then got saturated. When the methane supply is turned off, the
resistance rise first and then decrease to its ground value. Practically it does
not reach to the ground value exactly because of adsorption of phenomena some
molecules remain on the surface.
The Fig 2.3[15] reveals that the results of ZnO film can be improved by using
Pb-Ag contacts. Using Pb-Ag contacts response time and temperature at which
it operate are improved. The improvement is due to the reason that Pd is better
catalyst and is mostly used for oxidation of organic compounds. The alloy of Ag
and Pb is used, which has a property to increase the stability of sensor. Many
sensor are developed, but they have flaws about the response time or operating
temperature. These sensors are developed from different materials but the sensors
developed from ZnO material have shown amazing result. These sensors have
fast response time and moderate operating temperature. There is a possibility to
improve the results using small amount of noble gas to the metallic oxide which
cause increase in sensitivity and response rate. Pb and Ag effect the working of
SnO2 during gas sensing.

7
Figure 2.3: Response time,recovery time, response dependence of gas concentra-
tion for (a) gold at 350◦ C (b) Pd-Ag at 250◦ C.

2.3 Related Project

Working principle can be explained as, when sensor is subjected to gaseous atmo-
sphere, the electric conductance of metal-oxide sensor varies. Gas atom undergoes
reaction with dangling bond at the surface. Metal oxide then ionize the gas and
transfer of electron takes place. This process is used to sense the hazardous gasses.
The project is verified for tin-oxide film with hydrogen sulphide. They find their
application at domestic level, educational institutions etc.[16] The metal oxides
have best attributes in sensing field [17].The semiconductor based sensor devices
work in more strict conditions and give better result than other materials in the
sense of reliability, working time, easy to work[18]. At the early stages, the thin
layer of tin-oxide is prepared. The factory glass of small dimensions is used as
substrate to make a thin layer on it. The small pieces then react with H2O and
undergoes a simple chain of reaction and then heated at a temperature 50o C.
The SnCl4.5H2O is then sprayed on the glass substrate at very high temperature
by the help of a nozzle [19]. The nozzle should be kept away from the substrate.
Nozzle and substrate have a necessary relative movement. Better results can be
interpreted if the nozzle moves at a constant speed in a regular manner. A step-
per motor is best choice for the linear motion of sprayer nozzle. Here, the process
of making film ends and the substrate is allowed to cool down at normal temper-
ature. The thin layer is fragmented into the smaller pieces of about 7 mm and 5
mm length and width respectively. Then these pieces are boiled with de ionized

8
H2O and a solution in order to remove the grease. Two Cu wires are place on
the substrate piece or filmed layer along the length as shown below using silver
paste and adhesives. The active region that involved in sensing the gas can be
calculated by the area inside two copper rails as shown in Fig 2.4[20].

Figure 2.4: The diagram for sensor element.

The next step is the development of the setup where the above sensor will
work. The Hydrogen sulphide is a poisonous gas and a proper setup is to be
need for sensing purpose. The schematic diagram of the experimental setup for
sensing H2S is shown in Fig 2.5[20].

Figure 2.5: The schematic diagram for gas sensing setup

The original photograph of the experimental setup for sensing H2 S gas can be
shown as in Fig 2.6[20].
The sensor is place inside a bottle. The bottle is made of a glass. The bottle

9
 Figure 2.6: Photograph of gas sensing setup for H2 S
.

are specially designed for the working at high temperatures. The gas is filled
carefully in bottle and the sensor is tightly coupled, so that no leakage occurs.
As the bottle is heated, temperature of gas rises and ultimately there is a change
in resistance of the device. The change in resistance can be measured using
measuring equipment e.g. multimeter. Variations in concentration of gas and
temperatures made and corresponding change in electrical resistance is measured.
A number of curves can be obtained by repeating the process.Fig2.7 [20] reveals
that, for SnO2 the following curves are obtained when sensitivity is drawn as a
function of time.

Figure 2.7: SnO2 film response output in above sensing setup @ 110C for H2 S

10
2.4 The limitations of this project
The limitations and bottlenecks can be stated as
1. The above setup can be used to detect or sense only the specific gas for
which it is built.
2. The gases used for sensing are poisonous but there is absence of proper
ventilation system. The absence of ventilation system is injurious to health.
3. The project is too much costly.
4. The instruments used in project have high cost.
5. The sensor port is fixed to sensors.
6. The setup fabricated for testing and verifying the results of sensors are
mostly huge in physical size and difficult to operate. These experimental setups
could not work in harsh environment of pressure and temperature.

2.5 Summary
In this chapter we have debated the related studies, related technology that are
formerly used. We have also discussed the related projects and discussed their
shortcomings and bottlenecks. By studying all these we try to build a customize
gas sensing setup which combined the advantages above discussed and will solve
the bottlenecks. We overview the technical world, used in the field of sensor.

11
Chapter 3

Tools and Techniques

3.1 Hardware Used with complete technical spec-

ification

3.1.1 Arduino
The device named arduino is developed for the people who have no experience
about electronics or controllers. The arduino is both hardware and software based
device. Their combination is known as arduino. The arduino is used by the
students to develop small amazing projects such as robots, temperature sensors,
musical instruments etc. Particularly developers do not need to know about the
circuitry of the arduino or the tricky details of inside device. The user should
know about its smart interface or non-technical details. The arduino is simple in
term to operate. Arduino is a low cost device as compared to its function. A user
without knowing the technical details of arduino can build a control system by
knowing its simple user interface. It provides a company to help which is known
as arduino playground.

3.1.2 Arduino-UNO
Arduino UNO look like as shown in Fig 3.1 Basically, above mentioned arduino
model is a MC board which based on an integrated circuit named ATmega328P.
Along with the IC it also contain any other components e.g. oscillator, voltage
regulator etc. Arduino UNO has 14 pins. Some pins are analog and some are
digital. It consist of a power jack by which it is connected to computer through
a cable. It consist of a switch which reset the arduino and removes the program
that was burnt in previously. The functionalities of pins can be described as listed
in Table 3.1
Every device has some technical specifications e.g. there is a limitation of

12
 Table 3.1: The functionalities of pins in Arduino
Pin Cate- Pin Name Details
gory
power Vin. 3.3 V, 5 V, Vin: voltage supplied to the Arduino
GND. using external source. 5V: Standard
voltage obtained by power source use
to drive the devices components. 3.3V:
3.3 V supply developed by on-board
voltage Regulator. Current drawn lim-
ited upto 50mA. GND: ground pins.
Reset Reset This pin make MCU Refresh
Analog A0-A5 Operate analogue inputs between 0-5V
Pins
I/O or Digital Pins D0 May operate as I/O or O/P pins (as of
O/P Pins D13 requirement)
Serial 0(Rx),1(Tx) Act as a transceiver for TTL serial
data.
External Pin2, Pin3 Use to operate any discontinue signal.
Interrupts
PWM 3, 5, 6, 9, 11 This pin provides 8-bit PWM output.
SPI 10 (Select sig- The above pin make use of SPI protocol
nal), 11 (Mas- and is applied for SPI communication
ter out slave in), e.g. CAN bus
12 (Master in
slave out) and 13
(clock signal)
Inbuilt Pin 13 Light up the LED
LED
TWI A4 (SDA), A5 Used for TWI communication.
(SCA)
AREF AREF To imply standard voltage as an input
voltage.

13
 Figure 3.1: Arduino UNO

maximum current through a device. If excessive current flow through the device,
the device will burn out. Arduino has also some limits and is safe and accurate
to use inside these limits. This can be learnt through the Tab 3.2.

3.1.3 Buzzer
Buzzer is a machine which can use the audio signal to perform. Figure 3.2 the
buzzer Buzzer may be electrical and mechanical. Buzzers are used in alarm
devices. They are also used in timer. The electromechanical system is as that a
door bell. When the doorbell rings we give input to the door bell and its start
ringing as it is a mechanical device hide the signal is an electrical signal. Buzzers

Figure 3.2: View of Buzzer Device

is an audio signal devices which also act like door bell, when we give some input to

14
 Table 3.2: Technical Specifications of Devices used
Entity Specification
Microcontroller Atmega328P 8 bit AVR family
microcontroller
Functional Voltage Work properly and efficiently at
5V
I/P Voltage Gives best performance when the
input voltage is between 7-12V
I/P Voltage Limits Input voltage applied range is 6-
20V for proper functioning
Analog/audio Input Pins There should be 6 analog pins i.e.
(A0 A5)
Digital input/output Pins For best functioning there should
be 14 pins selected as I/O pins.
(Out of which 6 provide PWM
output)
DC Current level applied on I/O The current on I/O pins should
Pins be limited to 40 mA.
DC Current applied on 3.3V Pin Pins with 3.3V should be limited
to a current level of 50 mA.
Flash Memory 32.0x103 B (0.5 KB is used for
Boot loader)
Static RAM 2.0x103 B
EEPROM 1.0x103 B
Frequency level (Clock Speed) 16.0x106 HZ.

15
the circuit the buzzer start ringing. The electrical alarms are the use of buzzers,
they are also used for pranks. The transistor is present in the buzzers then a Dc
Voltage is applied the transistor is for creating a tune. The buzzer consist of a
produce the sound signal between 1-8 kHz with a vibrating element and a metal
diaphragm. The schematic diagram of buzzer is shown in Fug 3.3

Figure 3.3: Schematic diagram for buzzer connection

3.1.4 Capacitor
simply writing, a capacitor is a charge storing device shown in Fig 3.4. The
capacitor is consist of a pair of conducting plates that are separated by a medium
acting as an insulator. The insulator medium may air or in any liquid or solid
form.
When the capacitor setup is influence by a power source, an electric field is
developed around two conductors. This electric field influences the capacitor and
charge plate 1 and plate 2 positive and negative respectively. Then there is a
flow of charge through these plate. There are charges that flow from one plate to
another plate that causes to store charge on capacitor
The capacitor can be used in parallel with bridge rectifier in order to remove the
fluctuation obtained in the rectifier output.

3.1.5 Resistor
The resistor is a two terminal device that is used to stop the flow of current is
an electrical circuit. It also reduce the flow of current in circuit, they are also
used to break the transmission lines. The resister dissipate the power in the form

16
 Figure 3.4: Capacitor

of heat. The resistance of the resister can be changed verily according to the
situations. The resistance is temperature dependent .Resistance increase with
increase in temperature.

Figure 3.5: Resistor

17
3.1.6 Voltage Regulator
The device named voltage regulator is applied to draw smooth voltage by remov-
ing fluctuations. Voltage regulator is shown in Fig 4.6 The IC 7805 IC, affiliated

Figure 3.6: LM7805 PINOUT diagram

with 78xx series used to maintain the constant level of voltage in the circuit.
Voltage regulator may have positive and negative feedback. Voltage regulator
also used to regulate AC and DC voltages. It also used in electromechanical
mechanism or electronic system.
Electronic voltage regulator are applied in computer power supplies where they
maintain the constant level of the DC voltages that are used by the processor,
boot loaders and other elements. In electric power system the voltage regulator
are applied on huge power substations. It provides the 5V smooth power.
The pin details of voltage regulator can be illustrated in Tab 3.3
The voltage applied to the voltage regulator is much higher than the output
voltage of a voltage regulator. This voltage difference occur due to the fact that a
huge amount of energy is released during the regulation process. More the energy
released more the voltage drop occur. To handle such a huge amount of energy,
we should use the heat sink otherwise device will be burnt out. Another option
is that to provide input voltage not more then 2-3 V above the output voltage.
Now its up to user to use heat sink or providing low operating voltage.

18
 Table 3.3: The pin functioning of voltage regulator
No. Pin Function Description
1 Input pin Voltage (7V-35V) Voltage with fluc-
is applied through tuations is applied
this pin
2 Ground Provide a ground This pin is
pin connection to cir- grounded i.e.
cuit connected to 0V.
3 Ground Gives output with- The output obtain
out fluctuations; here is completely
5V (4.8V-5.2V) smooth having no
irregularities.

3.1.7 LCD
LCD stands for Liquid Crystal display. LCD is a flat surface that uses light
modulating attributes of liquid crystal. It is more popular for its low power
dissipation qualities. The LCDs are commonly used in mobile phones, TVs etc.
LCD commonly have 16 data pins. In this digital world round about every main
project have LCD used in it. Pin configuration can be illustrated in Fig 3.7 The

Figure 3.7: Pin configuration for 2x16 LCD

pin configuration along with the functioning can be tabulated in Tab 3.4

19
 Table 3.4: The pin configuration of LCD
Pin Name Functionality
No.
1 VSS Pin attach to ground i.e. 0V
2 Vcc The pin is associated to supply of 5V DC.
3 Vee Pin function to adjust the LCD Brightness
4 RS Use to select the correct register for opera-
tion.
5 R/W Pin function to perform read or write opera-
tion
6 E Make the circuit enable
7 Data0 D.P 0
8 Data1 D.P 1
9 Data2 D.P 2
10 Data3 D.P 3
11 Data4 D.P 4
12 Data5 D.P 5
13 Data6 D.P 6
14 Data7 D.P 7
15 LED + Back light anode
16 LED - Back light cathode

20
3.1.8 Step down Transformer
A machine named transformer is applied to perform the voltage level conversion.
The voltage level may be stepped up or stepped down. The Step-Down trans-
former modify the voltage i.e. high primary voltages to low secondary voltage.
The step-down transformer has more turns in primary coil and have fewer num-
ber of turns in secondary coil. It reduces the household voltage and hence find
its application in household appliances and may other machine. The step-down
transformer has windings as in Fig 3.8 The formula of a step-down transformer

Figure 3.8: Step-down transformer windings

is given by
Ns Vs
= (3.1)
Np Vp
Where,
Ns = countings of turns in secondary coil
Np = countings of turns in primary coil
Vs = voltage level of secondary coil
Vp = voltage level of primary coil
Transformer can divide into three classes on the basis of centre tapping

1. Single-phase stepdown transformer

2. Centre-tapped stepdown transformer

3. Multi-tapped stepdown transformer

21
The symbolic representation and physical view of each class is provided.Single-
phase stepdown transformer is shown in Fig 3.9 Centre-tapped stepdown trans-

Figure 3.9: Single-phase step-down transformer symbolic view and physical view

former is shown in Fig 3.10 Multi-tapped stepdown transformer is shown in Fig

Figure 3.10: Centre-tapped step-down transformer symbolic and physical view

3.11 These step down transformer are used in mobile and laptop chargers, TVS,

Figure 3.11: Symbolic and physical view of Multi-tapped step-down transformer

stabilizers etc. They are more efficient, highly reliable and durable. They are

22
inexpensive devices. In case of any failure, they need high maintenance cost.

3.1.9 Transistor
2SA1015 Bipolar Transistor is shown in Fig 3.12 Type PNP transistor

Figure 3.12: Physical view of 2SA1015 Bipolar Transistor

CE Voltage: -50 V
CB Voltage: -50 V
EB Voltage: -5 V
Collector Current Ic: - 0.15 A
Collector power depleat - 0.4 W
DC Current-Gain 70- 400
Transition Frequency limited upto 80.0 MHz
Noise (unwanted singal) level 1.0 dB
Temperature limitations of transistor Junction for proper and efficient functioning-
-55 to +150 C
Package - TO-92

3.1.10 Gas pipe

For the flow of gas into and out of the chamber the pipes of rubber are used. The
pipe should not be leaky and should be test before usage. The pipe should be
tightly clipped with gas valve using steel clips. The fine rubber material should
be used. The leakage may cause explosion. Fig 3.13 shows the rubber pipes The
rubber pipes should possess attributes Listed in Tab 3.5

23
 Figure 3.13: Rubber pipes for gas flow by Suntech Company

Table 3.5: Attributes of Rubber Pipes

Size 3/16 inches
Material Rubber
Color Orange
Unit Length 1.5m
Flexible Yes
Brand Suntech

3.1.11 Gas Valves

Valves are used for control purpose. The typical valves can be illustrated in
Fig 3.14. Shutoff valves are fabricated to control the flow of water and other
materials with either full on and full off functionality or at a specific flow rate.
These valves are utilized in home, in business, and institutional applications for
handling liquids and gases. Watts offers a full range of shutoff valve types, styles,
and material construction for every need.

3.1.12 CH4 (Methane Gas) Sensor MQ-5

This semiconductor gas sensor detects the leakage of methane (CNG) gas at
concentrations from 300 ppm to 10,000 ppm. This limit of gas sensing is suitable
for detection of gas leaks. The sensors simply have analog voltage interface which
needs only one analog input pin from your microcontroller. This methane gas
sensor detects the concentration of methane gas within the air and outputs its

24
 Figure 3.14: Valve use to control the gaseous flow

Figure 3.15: MQ7 sensor demonstration

reading as an analog voltage. The attention sensing range of three hundred ppm
to 10,000 ppm is appropriate for leak detection. For example, the sensor could
hit upon if a person left a fuel range on however not lit. The sensor can operate
at temperatures from -10 to 50C and consumes much less than 150 mA at 5 V.
Please study the MQ7 datasheet (161k pdf) for greater statistics approximately
the sensor.. Connecting 5 volts throughout the heating (H) pins maintains the
sensor hot enough to characteristic correctly. Connecting 5 volts at both the A or
B pins causes the sensor to emit an analog voltage on the opposite pins. A resistive
load among the output pins and ground units the sensitivity of the detector.

25
Please notice that the photo inside the datasheet for the pinnacle configuration
is inaccurate. Both configurations have the identical pin out constant with the
lowest configuration. The resistive load need to be calibrated to your unique
software the usage of the equations inside the datasheet, but a good starting
value for the resistor is 20x103 .

3.2 Software simulation tool use

3.2.1 Arduino Software IDE

Arduino software contain physical programmable circuit board with a software
known as IDE (IDE stands for Integrated-developed-Environment).Robots and
Arduino board are programmed by using IDE. The main purpose of the pro-
gramming is to control the actions of sensors. The arduino board is connected
to computer through USB where it gets connection with IDE software. The
programmer write the program into IDE. Then the code is uploaded to the mi-
crocontrollers where it is executed and then interact with sensors and actuators
e.g. motor, lights etc.

Summary
In this chapter we have discussed the tools and techniques that will be useful in the
development of project. We have discussed all the hardware and their technical
terms that will be used in development of customize gas sensing project. We also
discussed the software used in the project which use to design and analyses of
the project.

26
Chapter 4

Methodologies &
Implementations

The chapter is about how the project is developed and then implemented. The
chapter will elaborate the stages of project before completion. Hard ware and
software both tools are required. The hardware tools that are used in the devel-
opment of this project are explained below in this chapter.

4.1 Design on the investigation

The project is developed to meet the requirements of sensors at educational in-
stitutions and other places. The setup used to develop sensor, testing of sensor
result. The setup may be used further to test various sensor projects. We can
sense the gas using gas sensors and alarming phenomena can be activated when
methane gas is detected. Here, buzzer is used is used to alarm. Here, LCD is also
applied to demonstrate the value. The whole circuitry is run with programming.
The Arduino UNO is used in which contain programming of the circuitry.

4.2 Analysis Procedure

The project is supplied with 220 V AC. Then Step down transfer is used which
lessens the voltage level to the 12V AC. The Current supplied to the circuit is
500 m A. Diodes are used in the form of bridge circuit. The bridge circuit is
used to transform the AC voltage to DC voltage. At this stage 220 V AC is
converted to 12 V DC voltage. The DC voltage has fluctuations after undergoing
rectification. The capacitor is used in the circuit. The fluctuations after passing
through the capacitor are negligible. Then voltage regulator is used to obtain the
smooth and efficient voltage. The power supply circuit is explained and now the
circuit is connected to the gas sensor which is assembled with the Arduino. The

27
program is burn in the Arduino. The LCD and buzzer is attached to the arduino.
The LCD displays the reading and pin connection of LCD to buzzer is already
discussed in chapter 3. Buzzer is used for the alarming purpose. When the circuit
set in working, the gas is detected. When the concentration of gas reaches to a
certain value the arduino activate the buzzer that start the alarming. When
the concentration level of the marsh gas is less than the set value, the buzzer is
de-activated.

4.3 Implementation Procedure

The project is designed and implemented by the combine operation of hardware
components and software tools. Their names are mentioned in the previous chap-
ters. The details of the components as under.

4.3.1 Hardware Details

The project based both hardware and software. The hardware that play their
roles and working project is obtained are listed as

• Arduino UNO

• Capacitor

• Resistor

• LED

• Transformer

• Bolts and screws

• Metal sheet

• Gas chamber

• Buzzer

• LCD

• Voltage Regulator

• Water Valves

28
 • Wires and cables

• Diodes

• Gas sensor

• Tools Required

• Screw drivers

• Drill machine

• Glue

• Multimeter

• Heater

• Saw

• Scissor

• Wrench

• Wire Cutter

• Fusion weld setup

4.3.2 Details about Software/Algorithms

First of all install the software IDE on the computer after that assemble the board
to the via USB cable.

• Drive the arduino IDE and select the correct board

• Choose correct Port by selecting Tools¿Port.

• Arduino Uno is programmed with the help of Arduino programming lan-

guage based on Wiring.

• To start with arduino programming load the example code used for blinking
of LED. The example code is as shown in Fig 4.1

29
 Figure 4.1: Example solved by IDE software used for blinking

4.4 Verification of Functionalities

Each component of the project perform its own function and collectively a cus-
tomize gas sensing setup is obtained. The whole project can be divided into
different steps on the basis of working. Each component.

4.4.1 Transformer
Basically, the project work with DC supply source. AC voltage is provided by
the transmission lines. The AC voltage provided through the transmission line
in our country is 220 or 240 V. This is a huge amount of voltage and the small
electronic devices will distort or burn out with such a huge amount of voltage.
The transformer is used to avoid this situation. The transformer is a device which
is used to step up or step down the voltage. Mutual induction between windings
are responsible for transmission action of transformer. Here we used the Step-
down transformer. Let us consider a transformer having no. of turns in primary
coil are 5000 and no. of turns in secondary coil are 250. The voltage supplied is
about 240 volt. The step-down voltage mainly depends on the ratio of number
of turns as shown in equation below

Ns Vs
= (4.1)
Np Vp

30
The equations variables are already defined in the previous chapter
Vs 240
Vs= ∗ V p = 250 ∗ = 12V (4.2)
Vp 5000
At the end the output of transformer obtained is 12 V. This voltage is suitable
to use in small electronic devices and safe to use. The conversion takes place
through transformer is reliable, about 99% efficient. The Transformer used in the
project can be shown in Fig 4.2

Figure 4.2: Transformer used in the project

4.4.2 AC to DC Conversion
Transformer convert voltage to 12 volt AC voltage. Now the next step is to modify
the AC voltage to the DC voltage. Here in the project, the bridge rectifier circuit
is applied for conversion from AC to DC voltage. Small electronic devices work
on the DC voltage. The bridge rectifier circuit remodelize the AC voltage to
DC voltage. It is a type of rectifier which consist of four diodes. The diodes
are connected in an arrangement as shown in Fig 4.3 When the AC signal is
applied at the inputs A and B, two diodes gets active. During the positive part
of cycle, the diode D1 and D2 become forward biased and the rectified output
can be obtained at the output terminals. When negative part of cycle is applied
between the input terminals A and B, the diodes D3 and D4 becomes active and
diodes D1 and D2 becomes in-active. Single direction output can be collected at
output terminals. This is highly efficient method of AC to DC conversion. Now
at the end of this stage, we have obtained a 12 volt DC.

31
 Figure 4.3: Bridge rectifier use for AC to DC conversion

4.4.3 Capacitor working in Supply

Till now we have obtained the 12 volt DC from 220V AC. The DC voltage ob-
tained through the Bridge rectifier has fluctuations that are not suitable for the
electronic devices used in the project. These fluctuations or ripples can be re-
moved by using capacitor. The fluctuations can be removed easily by a capacitor
placing in parallel with the bridge circuit. The circuit can be shown in Fig 4.4.
It will remove the pulses and gives us a smooth DC output as illustrated in Fig

Figure 4.4: Capacitor Working

4.5 Filters circuit can be used even to remove slight fluctuations. At the end of
this stage we have obtained, a smooth 12 V DC from 220 V AC voltage.

32
 Figure 4.5: DC output after passing through parallel capacitor

4.4.4 Voltage Regulator

working step by step, we have now obtained the 12 V DC voltage. Now the next
step is to maintain the voltage level. For this purpose the professional device used
is the voltage regulator. The output voltage usually decrease when the voltage

Figure 4.6: Voltage Regulator

is applied. This decrease in voltage is not good for the devices. The voltage
regulator gives a fixed output voltage despite of change in input voltage. The
voltage regulator give low ripples in output voltage. It has fast response and
low noise factor due to low electromagnetic interference. There are many types
of voltage regulators varying from simple to more complex. The basic voltage
regulator circuit diagram can be drawn as in Fig 4.7. The voltage regulator is

33
 Figure 4.7: Schematic diagram used for voltage regulator used in circuit

more productive, highly reliable and inexpensive. It is easy to use in outdoor

applications. Now, at this stage the components related to power supply ended.
At current stage we obtain a highly smooth 12 V DC which can be used by small
electronic devices used in the project without any problem.

4.4.5 GAS Chamber

The chamber is designed from polypropylene Random Copolymer. The material
used in gas chamber fabrication is highly durable and stable. They provide a good
gloss. They are the radiation resistant and are the best among all polymers.
The chamber is filled with a methane gas. It is very delicate and dangerous
part of the project. It is filled with the gas. The material is constructed with
new techniques. The is fabricated with a polymer which is resistant to gaseous
reaction. The chamber is constructed with a polymer material which cannot be
solder or weld.For jointing or making the openings,special technique known as
heat fusinon technique is used.It is also known as heat welding and also use to
connect to different pieces of thermoplastic resisns that are heat resistant. Both
pieces are place at high temperature and make them cool togather. The chamber
have high wall strengths so that it can bear a pressure. The volume of chamber
is 150 ml.If the volume is more increased,then there is increase in terbulance and
other unwanted phenomena.The chamber contain methane gas and the sensor
MQ7 is dipped in the chamber.As the cocnetration of gas increase,sensor detects

34
 Figure 4.8: Gas chamber made of polypropylene random Copolymer

it.The chamber consist of four opening in the walls.These openings act as inlet
and outlet to the wall. Water valve are used to control enter and exit the chamber.
The water valves of size inch is used here to control the gas inside chamber.

4.4.6 Aurdino interfacing

The details about the aurdino are discussed earlier in the chapter 3.Here the
working of audino elaborated The audino pin configuration is shown in Fig 4.9.
Pin configuration is already discussed in chapter3. Code is given to arduino which

Figure 4.9: Pin configuration of arduino

35
sends information to sensors. The sensor then sends the electrical signal to ar-
duino due to variation in physical quantities. The Arduino is programmed and
perform the functionalities in the project. The following program takes the input
from the sensor and displays it on lcd. It will tuned the buzzer if the concentra-
tion is higher then certain level.The Screen Shorts of Program are shown in Fig
4.4.6 and Fig 4.10 Now the nex step is to apply loop function so that it will work

automatically on condition.

Figure 4.10: Arduino programming to run the whole project

36
 Table 4.1: Pin Configuration of sensor
Pin No. Connection
Pin 1(red) Vcc
Pin 2(black) GND
Pin 3(yellow)h Do
Pin 4(Green) Ao

4.4.7 The arduino interfacing with Sensor

The sensor have four pins.The pin configuration can be illustrated by Table 4.1.
The table 4.1 can be interpreted by Fig 4.11

Figure 4.11: Arduino interface with a sensor

4.4.8 The arduino interfacing with LCD

The project include the Arduino and LCD. LCD is functionalized by the arduino
to display the value of concentration in the chamber. Arduino interfacing with
LCD can be shown in Fig 4.12

37
 Figure 4.12: Arduino interfacing with LCD

4.4.9 The Arduino interfacing with buzzer

As explained in chapter 3, buzzer is used for alarm. The arduino will activate
the buzzer as concentration of gas becomes higher in the chamber.The buzzer
interfacing with the arduino can be shown in Fig 4.13

Figure 4.13: Arduino interfacing with buzzer

38
4.5 Assembling the whole hardware
At this stage the whole hardware and software requirements are completed. Now,
the whole hardware can be assembled as shown in Fig 4.5 and Fig 4.14

39
Figure 4.14: Assembling the whole hardware

40
Chapter 5

Result And Analysis

In this chapter of result and analysis, all the data associated to the project is
assembled from different sources. All the aspects of the project are completely
collected. The chapter include the result and statically analysis of different sets
of experiment during the development of the project. These sets of experiment
are described already in chapter 4.

5.1 Presentation of finding

In this section describes the result obtained from the project. We will discuss the
project details and results. As, already mention in the statement of the purpose
that our work is to customize a gas sensing setup. We have now developed a
customizing a gas sensing setup. The main component of our project are a gas
sensor, gas chamber, arduino, LCD and step-down transformer. First of all, we
supply 220V AC which pass through step down transformer and voltage down to
12V AC. This AC voltage pass through the bridge circuit and rectified output
is obtained with fluctuations. The Capacitor is connected in parallel to bridge
circuit which lessens the fluctuations and give a relatively smooth output. The
voltage regulator is applied to get the constant voltage through the supply. The
gas sensor is dipped into the chamber which is filled with gas. The arduino is
connected to the LCD, buzzer and the gas sensor. When the concentration level
of CH4 gas becomes high, the sensor send analog signal to the arduino which
activate the alarm through the buzzer. Let discuss the result obtained from
hardware and software

1. Hardware Results

2. Software Results.

41
 Table 5.1: Hardware results of proposed system
Sr. No. Condition(concen.)Result & analysis
1 No gas Displays a constant small value
2 Less than 300 Result is displayed on the screen
3 More than 300 Result is displayed on the screen and
the buzzer is activated

5.1.1 Hardware Results

When then valves are open, the gas enter into the chamber. Arduino is already
programmed and has interface with LCD, Sensor and buzzer. When power supply
is turned ON, the sensor try to sense the gas and demonstrate the normal value
on the LCD. As the concentration of gas is increased the more powerful signal
is generated. When the concentration of gas increase the set value, the arduino
then turned ON the buzzer. The buzzer alarm till the concentration of gas is
higher than set value. The arduino send an oscillating signal to the buzzer and
buzzer produce a beep sound. When the concentration becomes low, the buzzer
is turned off and the corresponding value is displayed on the LCD. The result
is tabulated in Table 5.1. At the initial stage, the LCD displays a high value
and then value start decreasing rapidly. At a certain point the value becomes
constant. This should be considered the initial value. The buzzer is turned ON
when concentration cross the set value.
By applying the measurement method described in chapter 4, we can draw a
sensitivity curve for MQ-5 methane gas sensor. When the concentration of gas
inside chamber increases, the resistance of the sensor material changes. As the
concentration increases, the conductivity increases which gives rise to an output
signal. Sensitivity curve for the sensor can be obtained by drawing the ratio of
resistance RS and RO verses the concentration of CH4 gas. RS is the resistance
that varies with the concentration of gas. RO is the resistance of the sensor at a
known concentration in the absence of other gases. For methane gas, at all STDs
the following readings are obtained shown in table 5.2
The corresponding curves for resistance can be obtained by drawing concen-
trations of gas in ppm against variation in resistance as shown in Fig.5.1. The
efficiency of the sensor is effected by the humidity and variation of temperature.

42
 Table 5.2: Rs/Ro values for different concentration of air and methane
Sr. No. Condition(concen.
Air Methane
of gas in ppm)
1 100 1
2 500 1 0.6
3 1000 1 0.37
1 10000 1 0.02

Figure 5.1: Typical sensitivity curve

Experiments are carried out under varying conditions of temperature and humid-
ity the sensitivity varies. Temperature is drawn against resistance ratio RS/RO
Where Rs is the resistance of sensor at various temperature and humidity values
Ro is the sensor resistance of CH4 in air at 33% humidity and 20◦ C. Readings
obtained from the experiment carried out under the variation of temperature and
humidity can be tabulated as in table 5.3. Curves displayed, when ratio of resis-
tance at different temperature and humidity level are drawn against temperature
as shown in Fig5.2. When output voltage is measured against the concetrations
of methan gases,the following reading are obtained noted in Table 5.4 A curve is
obtained when output voltage is drawn against concentration of methane gas as
shown in Fig5.3
The gas sensor work for a specific range of concentration.The gas sensor will
take some to reach that level when installed.This phenomena depicted in the

43
 Table 5.3: Rs/Ro values under the effect of temperature and humidity
No. Temperature 30%RH 85%RH
1 -20
2 -10 1.7 1.28
3 0 1.6 1.19
4 10 1.4 1.18
5 20 1.25 0.92
6 30 1.17 0.85
7 40 1 0.72
8 50 0.86 0.62

Table 5.4: Sensitivity curve which shows VRL for various gaseous concentration
Sr. No. concentration VRL
of gas
1 300
2 500 2
3 1000 2.58
4 2000 3.3
5 3000 3.6
6 4000 3.9
7 6000 4.2
8 8000 4.25
9 9000 4.5
10 10000 4.5

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 Figure 5.2: Temperature or humidity characterstic curve

Figure 5.3: Sensitivity curve

Fig5.4

5.1.2 Software Result

The arduino is programmed by using a software named ARDUINO IDE. The soft-
ware part of the project is very simple. It work completely and verified through
the proteus. Arduino has several inputs and outputs pins. Several pins are analog
and some pins are digital. The connection is made, and result is verified. The
input and output pins are connected to LCD and buzzer also. At the end result
is verified. The program helps and runs the whole circuit automatically.

45
 Figure 5.4: Response and Resume time

5.2 Discussion of Findings

The main focus of our effort is to build a customize gas sensing project. The
hardware small in size and inexpensive as compared to other projects. When the
concentration of gas is low, the LCD displays the value only but when the value
becomes higher than the set value (the value which is provided in the program to
the arduino) the arduino will activate the buzzer. Methane is highly combustible
gas. It is colorless and odorless. It concentration cannot be detected ordinarily.
It is highly explosive. Therefor a normal value is set. The concentration of gas
higher than this value is dangerous. This project can be used to build the other
sensors and various test results can be taken to verify the working of the sensors.
At this stage comparing to initial goals give us that we have customize a gas
sensing setup with some shortcomings.

5.3 Reasoning for short coming

The basic reason for short coming is that we were not able to build the gas cham-
ber. Due to this reason, the chamber used is of higher volume. This involved
many resistive phenomena. As the size of chamber increase the turbulence also
increases which is a bad thing for the sensing project. The more expensive cham-
ber are also available which are least reactive, but we have chosen polypropylene
chamber as of our budget.

46
5.4 Limitations
The limitations of the project are at present the volume of chamber is somehow
more than required. Due to turbulence and resistance phenomena there may be
a fractional change in output value. The sensing setup can be used for a limited
number of gasses.

5.5 Recommendations
There are still sites in the project where the improvements will be proved more
fruitful. We can add pressure sensor and temperature sensor inside the gas cham-
ber. So that we have full information of the gas. A resistive coil may be added
to the sensing chamber so that the sensing test may be verified at higher temper-
atures. The sensing setup chamber may be used which is less reactive then the
present chamber used in the project.

47
Chapter 6

Conclusion & Future Work

By this project we come to the point that instead of using highly expensive sens-
ing setup we can build a customized gas sensing setup. The setup can carry out
many gas sensing projects. The setup carry out many tests in order to verify
the sensor outputs. The setup include a port for the sensor. As the chamber
is least reactive and fabricated by a temperature resistant polymer, therefor it
can be used to sense the different gases by changing the sensors. The gas can
be sense for a wide range of temperature. The alarm system also added to the
gas sensing setup. The higher concentration of gas is dangerous as methane is
explosive. Proper ventilation system is required as a precautionary measure. The
above detailed low cost project can be used to observe the concentration of the
gases and take alarming actions. summarizing in short, the gaseous detection
is important field of technology. Our educational institutions lack of setup for
designing and implementing sensing devices. Usually the cost of the gas sensing
setup or the setup used in fabrication have a very high cost.We have provided
more efficient and low cost gas sensing setup.The setup can be used for sensing
various gases. Setup is able to carryout all the experiments that are involved in
fabrication of sensors.The setup can be applied with a high range of temperature
and pressure.The project will meet the sensing design,fabrication and implemen-
tation neesd of our educational institutions. In other word, it is a laboratory and
by using that laboratory we are able to enter into the world of sensors.

6.1 Future work

As we mentioned earlier that we want to customize a gas sensing setup to meet
the requirements of our laboratory and other health and educational institutions.
We have taken first step toward developing a customized gas sensing setup. It
will be extended and will be more fruitful. We can add many attributes to the
project and may use sensing at higher temperatures. We can also build a setup

48
with lower response time. We may add the devices, so that setup will send re-
sults to all the experimenters. The project may be extended to the portable
gas sensing setup. A series of experiments can be done to verify the sensors re-
sults. It may be extended to a customized gas sensing setup having small physical
size, easy to operate and portability features.At this time, the no materials were
available in our educational institutions which help us in progressive working.In
future, the project may be extended to a small laboratory which would help in de-
signing,fabrication and implementation of sensors.The project will help to make
research in the sensing field which is currently negligible in the educational insti-
tutions of Pakistan.We will be able to take forward in the economically growing
field of sensing technology.

49
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