According to the U.S. Fire Administration, the home fire death rate in 2022 was 13.3 deaths for every million people in the population. When fires at home occur, there are instances when smoke alarms do not alert homeowners because the alarms aren't working properly. But what if there was no risk of this happening?
A recent study in the Chemical Engineering Journal has shown that hydrovoltaic devices may have the potential to become a viable (and less expensive) energy source for fire sensors than batteries. These mechanisms use water to create energy, but unlike hydropower, which produces energy from fast-moving water, hydrovoltaic mechanisms harness energy from water evaporation.
The study reported on by Tech Xplore was the first one to look at the integration of fire sensors and hydrovoltaic systems.
What makes this fire sensor different from the smoke alarms in your home? Perhaps the most significant benefit of a hydrovoltaic fire sensor is that it doesn't involve batteries but instead sits in a few millimeters of water and draws energy from that.
Smoke alarms typically run off batteries, which can die suddenly or explode in high heat, rendering the alarm useless. Exploding batteries can also make an already dangerous situation worse, but because a hydrovoltaic fire sensor works by sitting in water, it's much safer for home use.
Harnessing energy from water is safer for the planet than using batteries, too, as batteries are created from valuable resources, can contain toxic materials, and may even cause fires as they age.
Plus, with a hydrovoltaic fire sensor, you won't get false alarms like with a smoke alarm. Everyone's experienced an episode where they're cooking, and the smoke alarm goes off because food is burning. But hydrovoltaic sensors won't go off unless there's a substantial change in evaporation.
Best of all? The device from the study had a response time of five to 10 seconds for fire, which could increase the number of lives saved.
Associate Professor Byungil Hwang, who led the research team, said the following, according to Tech Xplore: "Our hydrovoltaic system can produce up to a few tens of microwatts, making it perfect for small-scale applications like fire detectors and health monitoring systems. This system is self-reliant, requires only a few milliliters of water, and has a fast response time."
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Definitely 👍 The team developed the device using waste cotton and a chemical known as Triton X-100, then tested it over 28 days to determine its stability and whether it has the potential for long-term use.
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While researchers didn't release a timeline for when this kind of sensor might be publicly available, they did mention its potential for other applications.
Professor Hwang also shared, "Our HV system has the potential to be a sustainable power source for various sensor systems, such as health and environmental monitoring systems that require uninterrupted operation."
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