BATTERY FREE SELF DIAGNOZING CO/SMOKE DETECTOR NETWORK

2018 ELE Engineering Design Project (XF04)

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Faculty Lab Coordinator

Xavier Fernando

Topic Category

Intelligent Instrumentation

Preamble

Ten children aged from three months to 16 years have died after an apartment fire in Chicago in August 2018. This is not an isolated event. Non-functional smoke and CO alarms have caused numerous catastrophes. There many unqualifies alarms are in the market as well. TWO out of five smoke alarms tested by ‘Which?’ (UK based Consumer Group) have been deemed as "don't buys" after failing to sound an alarm in multiple test fires. One main reason for the failures in Canada is the lack of battery. Another study suggests having multiple (interconnected) alarms is the kay for safety. How, as engineers we can address this issue?

Objective

To develop the network of self diagnosing, energy harvesting CO/Smoke alarms that will keep the residents safe.

Partial Specifications

1. Each alarm shall harvest its own energy from ambient radio signals.
2. Each alarm has self diagnosing capability to alert the residents.
3. The shall be connected using a wireless network and monitor each other. Other nodes shall report in case of one node’s failure.

Suggested Approach

The interesting portion is energy harvesting, that will make your product unique. Properly designed, this product may have commercial potential.

Group Responsibilities

The group is responsible for the successful completion of the overall project.

Student A Responsibilities

Student A is responsible for the reliable sensing and self diagnosing portion.

Student B Responsibilities

Student B is responsible for the wireless networking and reporting.

Student C Responsibilities

Student C is responsible the energy harvesting portion.

Course Co-requisites