Overview
I am undertaking this project to expand my understanding of Arduino microprocessors and to build something that I feel is important and often overlooked, especially as a volunteer firefighter.
Aim
I hope to achieve a functional gas detector which can sense and accurately ascertain the PPM and/or % concentration of a substance within the atmosphere for under $200 AUD.
Considerations
I am trying to keep my project as open source as possible and as low cost as possible without too many compromises, keeping in mind that this is also a learning project, I also welcome all constructive criticisms and will try to provide as much rationale and context around why I made certain design choices.
I have based the raw functionality/price point to a MSA Altair 5x this is approx. $2800 AUD from the cheapest price I briefly saw online. My initial price was based off the Altair 4x, but since I am trying to match the functionality of the 5x, then I should compare apples with apples.
Known Challenges
For this to really be a functional gas detector I believe I will have to overcome the following challenges:
- Calibration - I don't believe I have done enough research yet into this area, however this project is still in the incipient phase.
- Intrinsically Safe - Not sure about what standards are involved and how to test this non-destructively, again more research is required.
- Power Consumption - Ideally I would like at least a 14 hour battery life, however more considerations have to be given to what technology, charging circuits and capacity.
- Testing - I would need to source various toxic substances or potentially attempt to monitor the atmosphere at an incident which may require some form of approval through my brigade or higher.