Coal Mine Safety System

Sensors and Instrumentation Project – ECE1005

by

Bindu Shree V Shetty (18BIS0041)

Afreen Ahmed (18BIS0157)
Sai Sandeep R (18BIS0039)

School of Electronics Engineering

Vellore Institute of Technology
Vellore
November 2021
 TABLE OF CONTENT

Sr. No Title Page No.

1. Introduction 3

2. Objective 3

3. Proposed System 4

4. Hardware Components 5

5. Software Components 7

6. Design Architecture 8

7. Working of the system 9

8. Results 9

9. Conclusion 10

Appendix A – Hardware Setup

10. Appendix B – Code 11
Appendix C – References
 INTRODUCTION

A monitoring system in coal mines plays a vital role in the protection of underground mine
workers. The current system used in coal mines for protection of mine workers is based on
wired communication which has certain limitations in monitoring. In case of troubled
reconnection or an abandoned laneway, wired communication becomes ineffective. The system
may not be reliable during battery failure or an explosion. There may also be a possibility of
the wires getting damaged due to works that are carried out in the mines. The best alternative
to this scenario is an advanced wireless technology for monitoring directly from surface to
underground and also from underground to surface.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of this project is to provide a safety system in the coal mines through real time
monitoring of the atmospheric conditions in the coal mines. This system uses sensors to
measure the level of toxic gases and if there is any deviation from the optimum range then an
automatic control is provided and an alarm is triggered. This would prevent fire accidents and
the data collected is sent to the workers on the ground level.
 PROPOSED SYSTEM

Coal mining has been a very dangerous activity and the list of coal mining disasters is never
ending. The environment inside a coal mine should always be maintained. Various parameters
in coal mines, certain gases such as methane, smoke, carbon dioxide, temperature, humidity
etc. needs to be monitored and kept under permissible limits. We’ve designed a wireless
system using node MCU for the safety inside the coal mines by continuously monitoring these
parameters and taking appropriate action if they exceed the level.
 HARDWARE COMPONENTS

1. MQ 135 Gas Sensor

The MQ-135 Gas Sensors are excellent for detecting or
measuring NH3, NOx, Alcohol, Benzene, Smoke, and
CO2 and are utilised in air quality control systems. The
MQ-135 sensor module has a Digital Pin that allows it
to work without a microcontroller, which is useful when
you only need to detect one gas. The analogue pin
should be used if you need to measure the gases in PPM. The analogue pin is TTL
driven and operates at 5 volts, making it compatible with most microcontrollers.

2. DHT11
The DHT11 is a temperature and humidity sensor
that is widely used. The sensor includes a dedicated
NTC for temperature measurement and an 8-bit
microprocessor for serial data output of temperature
and humidity values. The sensor is factory calibrated,
making it simple to connect to other
microcontrollers. The sensor can measure temperature from 0°C to 50°C and
humidity from 20% to 90% with an accuracy of ±1°C and ±1%.

3. RFID RC522
The RC522 is a radio frequency module with an
RFID reader, an RFID card, and a key chain. The
module runs on the 13.56MHz industrial (ISM)
band and hence does not require a licence. The
module normally operates at 3.3V and hence it is
widely employed in 3.3V designs. It is utilised in
applications where a certain person or thing needs
to be identified by a unique ID. The module
supports SPI, IIC and UART communication but out of this SPI is often used since it
is the fasted with a maximum data rate of 10Mbps.
4. Node MCU
The Node MCU ESP8266 development board
comes with the ESP-12E module containing the
ESP8266 chip having Tensilica Xtensa 32-bit
LX106 RISC microprocessor. This
microprocessor runs on a configurable clock
frequency of 80MHz to 160MHz and supports
RTOS. It is perfect for IoT projects due to its
high processing power, built-in Wi-Fi / Bluetooth, and Deep Sleep Operating
capabilities. A Micro USB jack and VIN pin can be used to power Node MCU
(External Supply Pin). It has interfaces for UART, SPI, and I2C.

5. Buzzer
Active Buzzer requires only an external DC voltage to make it
sound. It may be turned on or off to produce a variety of sounds.
An active buzzer has a built-in oscillating source, so it will make
sounds when electrified.

6. Other Components
a. Bread board
b. Connecting wires
 SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

1. Arduino IDE
Writing code and uploading it to the board is simple with the open-source Arduino
Software (IDE). Any Arduino board can be used with this software.

2. Blynk App
Blynk is developed for the Internet of Things. It has the ability to control hardware
remotely, show sensor data, store data, visualise it, and perform a variety of other
fascinating things.
The platform contains 3 major components:
a. Blynk App – Used to creates user interface.
b. Blynk Server – Responsible of communications between the smartphone and the
hardware device.
c. Blynk Library - Establishes communication with the server and processes all the
input and output command.

Here wifi technology is used to connect to the blynk server.

DESIGN ARCHITECTURE
 WORKING OF THE SYSTEM

1. The coal mine is divided into different segments and each segment has its own unique
RFID code in a tag.
2. In order to access data of a particular segment, a tag is brought near the RFID reader
module.
3. Gas sensors and temperature humidity sensors are placed in the different segments
which will monitor the air quality, temperature and humidity.
4. This data is sent to the Blynk cloud through the Wi-fi module of the microcontroller
and this can be read using a mobile app. The workers above will keep a check on it.
5. Once the concentration of toxic gas increases above the permissible level, the buzzer
goes on and the LED on the app switches ON which provides the alert signal.

RESULTS

1. Serial monitor
 2. Blynk App

CONCLUSION

A real time monitoring system is developed to provide a point to point perspective of the
underground coal mines. The various parameters are monitored by using an app on the mobile
phone which makes it feasible. An alarm is also triggered in case of a sudden increase in the
air quality ppm which proves to be helpful in avoiding casualties.
APPENDIX A – HARDWARE SETUP
 APPENDIX B – CODE

#define BLYNK_PRINT Serial

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>

#include <BlynkSimpleEsp8266.h>

// You should get Auth Token in the Blynk App.

// Go to the Project Settings (nut icon).

char auth[] = "oIJIcWgu5x0D3TZFGoW5YKUUgOyCVqRB";

#include "MQ135.h"

#define ANALOGPIN A0

MQ135 gasSensor = MQ135(ANALOGPIN);

const int buzzer = 15;

// Your WiFi credentials.

// Set password to "" for open networks.

char ssid[] = "code66";

char pass[] = "BindushreeS";

WidgetLCD lcd(V1);

WidgetLCD led(V2);

WidgetLCD gs(V3);

WidgetLED led1(V4);
#include <SPI.h>

#include <MFRC522.h>

#define SS_PIN 4

#define RST_PIN 5

MFRC522 mfrc522(SS_PIN, RST_PIN); // Create MFRC522 instance.

#include "DHT.h" // including the library of DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor

#define DHTTYPE DHT11 // DHT 11

#define dht_dpin 0

DHT dht(dht_dpin, DHTTYPE);

void setup()

dht.begin();

// Debug console

Serial.begin(115200);

Blynk.begin(auth, ssid, pass);

// You can also specify server:

//Blynk.begin(auth, ssid, pass, "blynk-cloud.com", 8442);

//Blynk.begin(auth, ssid, pass, IPAddress(192,168,1,100), 8442);

pinMode(buzzer, OUTPUT);

lcd.clear(); //Use it to clear the LCD Widget

led.clear();
 gs.clear();

lcd.print(0, 0, "Card UID:"); // use: (position X: 0-15, position Y: 0-1, "Message you want
to print")

led.print(0, 0, "Temp:");

led.print(0, 1, "Humidity:");

gs.print(0, 0, "PPM:");

// Please use timed events when LCD printintg in void loop to avoid sending too many
commands

// It will cause a FLOOD Error, and connection will be dropped

Serial.begin(115200); // Initiate a serial communication

SPI.begin(); // Initiate SPI bus

mfrc522.PCD_Init(); // Initiate MFRC522

Serial.println("Approximate your card to the reader...");

Serial.println();

void loop()

lcd.clear();

led.clear();

lcd.print(0, 0, "Card UID:"); // use: (position X: 0-15, position Y: 0-1, "Message you want
to print")

led.print(0, 0, "Temp:");

led.print(0, 1, "Humidity:");
gs.print(0, 0, "PPM:");

if ( ! mfrc522.PICC_IsNewCardPresent())

return;

// Select one of the cards

if ( ! mfrc522.PICC_ReadCardSerial())

return;

//Show UID on serial monitor

Serial.print("UID tag :");

String content= "";

byte letter;

for (byte i = 0; i < mfrc522.uid.size; i++)

Serial.print(mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i] < 0x10 ? " 0" : " ");

Serial.print(mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i], HEX);

content.concat(String(mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i] < 0x10 ? " 0" : " "));

content.concat(String(mfrc522.uid.uidByte[i], HEX));

Serial.println();

content.toUpperCase();

lcd.print(4, 1, content);
float ppm = gasSensor.getPPM();

Serial.println(ppm);

if(ppm>47000)

digitalWrite(buzzer, HIGH);

led1.on();

else

digitalWrite(buzzer, LOW);

led1.off();

float h = dht.readHumidity();

float t = dht.readTemperature();

Serial.print("Current humidity = ");

Serial.print(h);

Serial.print("% ");

Serial.print("temperature = ");

Serial.print(t);

Serial.println("C ");

led.print(8, 0, t);

led.print(10, 1, h);
 gs.print(1, 1, ppm);

Blynk.run();

delay(1000)

APPENDIX C – REFERENCES

https://components101.com/

https://www.arduino.cc/

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/321479127_Hazard_mitigation_in_coal_mines
Coal Mine Safety System
Review II
Group name: ABS
Code: 661
TEAM

Bindu Shree V Shetty 18BIS0041

Afreen Ahmed 18BIS0157

Sandeep 18BIS0039
Abstract
A monitoring system in coal mines plays a vital role in the protection of
underground mine workers. The current system used in coal mines for protection
of mine workers is based on wired communication which has certain limitations in
monitoring. In case of troubled reconnection or an abandoned laneway, wired
communication becomes ineffective.The system may not be reliable during
battery failure or an explosion. There may also be a possibility of the wires getting
damaged due to works that are carried out in the mines. The best alternative to
this scenario is an advanced wireless technology for monitoring directly from
surface to underground and also from underground to surface.
Objective
The objective of this project is to provide a safety system in the coal mines
through real time monitoring of the atmospheric conditions in the coal mines. This
system uses sensors to measure the level of toxic gases and if there is any
deviation from the optimum range then an automatic control is provided and an
alarm is triggered. This would prevent fire accidents and the data collected is sent
to the workers on the ground level.
Block Diagram
Hardware

1. MQ135 Gas Sensor

2. DHT11
3. RFID RC522
4. Node MCU
5. Buzzer
6. Resistor
7. Wires
Software

1. Arduino IDE
2. Blynk IoT Platform and App
Conclusion
A real time monitoring system is developed to provide a point to point perspective of the
underground coal mines. The various parameters are monitored by using an app on the
mobile phone which makes it feasible. An alarm is also triggered in case of a sudden
increase in the air quality ppm which proves to be helpful in avoiding casualties.
Thank You