Design and Analysis of Automatic Fire Extinguisher for Vehicles

Abstract

These days there is a rapid increase in automobile utilization in urban and rural areas, along with this there is an increase in the number of accidents related to automobiles. Apart from user/ driver related accidents a large number of other reasons cause fires in automobiles. Three components are needed to make a fire, Oxygen, Fuel and a source of ignition. Car fires are usually caused due to issues associated with fuel, electrical systems, the exhaust system and petroleum based fluids. By far though, the biggest causes of vehicle fires are fuel (gasoline) related. The source of fire can be external or within the vehicle itself. Vehicle fires used to be quite common. Back in 1980’s there were 456,000 car fires. In 1978 a big issue occurred with Pintos catching on fire. This led the manufacturers to look at what design changes in vehicles will limit the three elements of the fire triangle from coming together. Our project aims to design a device which automatically detect fire in vehicles and suppress them to prevent further damage to the vehicle. The device which contains sensors and an extinguisher and a microprocessor can be placed under the hood of vehicles near the engine compartment and works when the engine (or any other part) catches fire. This application minimizes the possibility of death or injury and loss of property due to fire accidents in vehicles.