Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

Presence of cooking oils and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) make it an ideal combination for fire hazard in Indian kitchen. Approximately 16% of domestic fire accidents in India originate from the kitchens. In the present work, a microcontroller based fire detection system is designed to collect data of the parameters (e.g., temperature, concentration of gases) around the Indian kitchen cooking appliances due to oil heating and alert the possible fire event. Experiments were conducted by heating cooking oils typically used in India such as sunflower, soybean, groundnut and mustard oil. The kitchen environment was instrumented to measure temperatures and carbon monoxide concentrations which were collected using a data acquisition system. Based on the observations and analysis of the experimental data, an algorithm was developed to predict potential occurrence of fire. The algorithm includes CO monitoring in the kitchen ventilation (exhaust). The algorithm is incorporated in a microcontroller based fire detection kit to provide a multi- level response to the fire threat. It can, for example, (i) alert the home occupant through an alarm; (ii) send Short Messages (SMS); and (iii) cut off the LPG (fuel) supply to cooktop. The system was also used to monitor LPG concentration (LPG Sensor) and unattended cooking (Presence or absence of human beings using PIR motion sensor) in the kitchen. The developed fire safety system is a modular and low cost kit which is intended to save loss of property and lives due to kitchen fires.