LPG Smart Guard: An IoT-Based Solution for Real-Time Gas Cylinder Monitoring and Safety in Smart Homes

An advanced IoT-based Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) cylinder monitoring and safety system is presented in this work. The proposed technique provides continuous monitoring of residential gas usage and detects any potential leakage. It utilizes an MQ135 gas sensor for gas leakage detection, a load cell to monitor the weight of the cylinder, and a DHT22 sensor for temperature sensing. The sensors are mounted on a customized trolley for domestic LPG cylinders. All the sensors are connected to NodeMCU microcontroller, which exchanges sensor data with a cloud platform using HHTP GET and POST method to transmit the data to a cloud-based MySQL database. Unlike other existing methods, the proposed approach does not necessitate any modifications to the existing setup, which includes the gas cylinder, regulating valve, and distribution pipe.

Furthermore, a mobile application that emphasizes the needs of the user is developed to enable a wider range of functionalities using cloud data collected from the sensors. The application facilitates the real-time monitoring of gas levels, provides comprehensive usage records for daily, weekly, and monthly intervals, issues immediate alarms in the event of gas leakage, low gas levels, and detects any unauthorized movement of the LPG cylinder such as theft. The proposed technique not only improves user safety but also streamlines gas cylinder management with predictive analytics based on gas consumption trends and projected days of usage. Moreover, the application includes a functionality that automatically orders a new cylinder with the vendor when the gas level drops below the predetermined threshold, therefore ensuring continuous availability of gas supply.