Design of Embedded 3D Printed Sensors on a Robot for Monitoring and Capturing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Gas detection is a critical task in dangerous environments that involve hazardous or contaminant gases. Quick detection of gas leaks and their rectification ensure the protection of lives and safeguards equipment installed in workplaces and industrial sites. Extensive work has been done in remote monitoring of the gas leaks via sensors installed at the locations. Even though these devices can detect harmful gases in the environment, they are not designed to take instant action for gas/smoke removal. We have surveyed the literature and gathered information that smoke from the fire accidents causes a lack of visibility to the exit, and many untimely lives are lost. Thus, further research has to be carried out to develop devices that can not only detect the harmful gases but also have the technology for gas/smoke removal supported by standard protocols to mitigate the effects of the harmful gas on the surrounding environment, such as an explosion, asphyxiation, fire. This thesis addresses the tasks required for developing a mobile robot that not only detects the presence of leakage of harmful gas like carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide(CO), ammonia NH3, liquid petroleum gas (LPG) and broadcast the information via wireless communication modeling system but also has gas filtration mechanism that helps in purifying the surrounding air that has been contaminated by the leakage of the harmful gas. The contributions presented in this thesis are three-fold. Firstly, the fabrication of gas sensors via a 3D printing technique. The 3D printing approach enables the bulk production of the sensors in a short period. It gives control over the repeatability, reproducibility, and sensitivity of the fabricated sensors, especially for CO2.