Citation

Chen CC, Sung GN, Chen WC, Kuo CT, Chue JJ, Wu CM, Huang CM. Sensors (Basel) 2016; 16(10): s16101568.

Affiliation

National Chip Implementation Center, National Applied Research Laboratories, 7F, No. 26, Prosperity Rd. I, Science Park, Hsinchu City 30078, Taiwan. cmhuang@cic.narl.org.tw.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/s16101568

PMID

27669255

Abstract

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning from natural gas water heaters is a common household accident in Taiwan. We propose a wireless and batteryless intelligent CO sensor for improving the safety of operating natural gas water heaters. A micro-hydropower generator supplies power to a CO sensor without battery (COSWOB) (2.5 W at a flow rate of 4.2 L/min), and the power consumption of the COSWOB is only ~13 mW. The COSWOB monitors the CO concentration in ambient conditions around natural gas water heaters and transmits it to an intelligent gateway. When the CO level reaches a dangerous level, the COSWOB alarm sounds loudly. Meanwhile, the intelligent gateway also sends a trigger to activate Wi-Fi alarms and sends notifications to the mobile device through the Internet. Our strategy can warn people indoors and outdoors, thereby reducing CO poisoning accidents. We also believe that our technique not only can be used for home security but also can be used in industrial applications (for example, to monitor leak occurrence in a pipeline).

Keywords: Pipeline transportation

Language: en