Mobile Detection and Alarming Systems for Hazardous Gases and Volatile Chemicals in Laboratories and Industrial Locations.

Mohammed Faeik Ruzaij Al-Okby,Kerstin Thurow,Thomas Roddelkopf,Sebastian Neubert

doi:10.3390/s21238128

Abstract

The leakage of hazardous gases and chemical vapors is considered one of the dangerous accidents that can occur in laboratories, workshops, warehouses, and industrial sites that use or store these substances. The early detection and alarming of hazardous gases and volatile chemicals are significant to keep the safety conditions for the people and life forms who are work in and live around these places. In this paper, we investigate the available mobile detection and alarming systems for toxic, hazardous gases and volatile chemicals, especially in the laboratory environment. We included papers from January 2010 to August 2021 which may have the newest used sensors technologies and system components. We identified (236) papers from Clarivate Web of Science (WoS), IEEE, ACM Library, Scopus, and PubMed. Paper selection has been done based on a fast screening of the title and abstract, then a full-text reading was applied to filter the selected papers that resulted in (42) eligible papers. The main goal of this work is to discuss the available mobile hazardous gas detection and alarming systems based on several technical details such as the used gas detection technology (simple element, integrated, smart, etc.), sensor manufacturing technology (catalytic bead, MEMS, MOX, etc.) the sensor specifications (warm-up time, lifetime, response time, precision, etc.), processor type (microprocessor, microcontroller, PLC, etc.), and type of the used communication technology (Bluetooth/BLE, Wi-Fi/RF, ZigBee/XBee, LoRa, etc.). In this review, attention will be focused on the improvement of the detection and alarming system of hazardous gases with the latest invention in sensors, processors, communication, and battery technologies.

Highlights

The term hazardous gases refer to the toxic/reactive behavior, and it can be conformed to one of the following definitions: harmful to living subjects, dangerously reactive, acutely toxic, flammable, corrosive, or oxidizing gases [1,2,3]
We focus on mobile detection and alarming systems for hazardous and toxic gases and vapors that can be used especially in laboratories and chemical companies
We have focused on compact mobile systems that provide a wireless, Internet of things (IoT) based monitoring and alarming for targeted gases data which is more integrated into Industry 4.0

Summary

Introduction

The term hazardous gases refer to the toxic/reactive behavior, and it can be conformed to one of the following definitions: harmful to living subjects, dangerously reactive, acutely toxic, flammable, corrosive, or oxidizing gases [1,2,3]. The urgent need for detection and warning devices of odorless, harmful, and toxic gases and vapors in places exposed to this, prompted the use of primitive methods that may be harsh to protect the lives of the public in these places. Until the eighties of the previous century, miners used canaries kept in a special glass cage to detect the presence of toxic gases (especially carbon monoxide) when entering the mines (see Figure 1). Since the effect of harmful gases is greater and faster on the canaries than humans, workers were alerted to any possible danger by the ‘bird sensors’. The system included an oxygen chamber to save the bird’s life after facing the toxic gases [4].

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Conclusion