Design And Fabrication Of A Labview Automated Computer-Based Fire Fighting System

ABSTRACT

Despite many building have firefighting systems installed in them; many people are still losing their lives and property due to fire accidents. The cost of installation of these systems is usually high and most of them are operated manually. They are often located inside the building which may not be accessible during fire accidents. In this research, an automatic cost effective prototype of a fire fighting system for the detection and control of fire has been designed and fabricated. The system has an additional feature of sending a short text message to all the occupants of the building and the fire department for immediate response. It is made up of 8 sensors, computer interfacing board, system software and 8 controlled firefighting equipment (water sprinkler) operated by an electric valve. Smoke and temperature sensors have been integrated to form a single unit to improve the accuracy and efficiency of fire detection. LM 35 IC has been used as temperature sensor while light dependent resistor (LDR) made of cadmium sulphide has been used as smoke sensor. All sensors are interfaced to computer through an 8 input; 8 output interfacing board using parallel port. The controlling software for the whole system is designed in LabVIEW in conjunction with attention (AT) commands. The system is finally tested by introducing fire parameters (smoke and temperature) close to the detector. When the parameters go above the set level in the detectors, audio alarm is initiated. Indicators on the computer are switched on automatically after 5 seconds and the corresponding water sprinkler activated after 10 seconds. Short text messages are sent to all the occupants and the fire fighting department within a period of 70 seconds. With feedback mechanism sprinklers are switched off when fire is fully extinguished.