Towards the Development of an Affordable, Miniaturized, Low Power Consumption Liquefied Petroleum Gas Leakage Detector for Environmental Safety

There is limited availability and usage of cooking gas leakage detectors for fire safety purposes in developing countries of Africa owing to their high cost, unstable electric power supply source and inefficient gas sensor architecture although over 80% of the population relies on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) for cooking. Unfortunately, LPG cookers are associated with most fire and gas explosions in this region because of its high flammability emanating from gas leakages within the system, leading to environmental hazards. This paper presents the development of low cost, reduced electric power consumption, miniaturized LPG gas leakage detector. The developed device implements unique system for the detection of LPG gas, triggers an alarm through a buzzer upon detection of leakage, and delivers a warning short message service (SMS) to the enrolled users prompting them of the LPG gas leakage or incomplete combustion of the LPG gas at the burners. The deployed circuitry demonstrates high levels of efficiency, reliability, and is affordable, therefore is attractive for low-income countries of Africa.