Smart system for monitoring and controlling oxygen gas level in high purity germanium detector room: a case study of Tanzania atomic energy commission, Arusha-Tanzania

Abstract

Low-oxygen air causes death all around the world. Even though the number of fatalities varies from year to year and location to location, nitrogen gas replaces oxygen in the atmosphere, increasing its percentage to less than 21% by volume. Special environment/room such as High Purity Germanium Detector Room (HPGDR) requires tailored techniques to ensure that oxygen levels are properly monitored to avoid any hazard. This study was designed for the HPGDR at Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC). The V-Model was used which works well for small projects with clear requirements. It facilitated each step before moving on to the next level of development, resulting in the design of an error-free and high-quality system. The ESP32 microcontroller which is built in Wi-Fi was used to send data to the Blynk cloud server. The developed system is made up of four parts: The sensing component continuously monitors environmental parameters with Oxygen, MQ-135, and DHT22 sensors. The processing section processes and analyzes sensor data. The notification component alerts workers via a buzzer and Short Message Service (SMS). While the controlling component replaces the contaminated compressed air with fresh air from outside. To provide real-time monitoring, the developed system employs the Blynk Application. All processed data was accessible via mobile phones using the Blynk application. The system eliminates both danger and fear because it alerts workers through SMS and switches on exhaust fan automatically. The HPGDR workers and the administrators are the main beneficiaries of the developed system.