Consumer/Industrial - Smart Smoke Detector

AN2245
Author: Andrey Magarita
Associated Project: Yes
Associated Part Family: CY8C24xxxA, CY8C27xxx
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Software Version: PSoC Designer™ 4.2
Associated Application Notes: None

Application Note Abstract

This Application Note demonstrates use of a PSoC® device as a smart smoke detector. A smoke detector as part of fire alarm
system is explored.

Figure 1. Ionization Smoke Detector

Introduction
Modern fire alarm systems use electronic smoke detectors
to detect fire. According to the international safety
standards, each home, office or industrial room must be
equipped with a smoke detector. Most fire alert systems
use smoke detection to judge the presence of fire. There
are two types of smoke detectors: ionization and
photoelectric. Both are described in detail as follows.

Ionization
The ionization smoke detector has a small amount of
radioactive material (for example, Americium 241, which Photoelectric
emits the α-particles) that ionizes the air in the sensing Photoelectric smoke detectors use the principle of
chamber. This renders conductive air and permits a scattered or reflected light to indicate the presence of
current flow through the air between two charged visual smoke. When there's no smoke, the chamber is
electrodes. This also gives the sensing chamber effective dark. The light shines across the chamber and is received
electrical conductance. When smoke particles enter the in a light trap on the far side. When smoke is present in
ionization area, they decrease the conductance of air by the chamber, a photocell, located at a right angle to the
attaching to the ionized air particles. This reduction in light source, senses the light scattered off the smoke
conductance can be compared to a reference value and particles and at a certain level of illumination, triggers the
by disagreement an alarm is activated. See Figure 1, alarm sound or sends a signal to the central office module
which shows ionization type smoke detector operation. (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Photoelectric Smoke Detector

February 22, 2005 Document No. 001-32907 Rev. ** 1

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These two types of smoke detectors use different sensitivity region of the photodiode. The internal reflection
detection principles. Their response time is dependent on from the interior chamber is minimal due to the unique
what types of materials are burning. The characteristics of chamber design. With these conditions, only a small
an ionization detector make it more suitable for detection amount of LED light can reach the photodiode when
of fast flaming fires that are characterized by combustion smoke is not present. As a result, the chamber side
particles the size of 0.01 to 0.4 micron range. reflection ratio is very low.
Photoelectric smoke detectors are better suited to detect
slow smoldering fires that are characterized by When smoke (or a similar substance that is able to scatter
particulates the size of 0.4 to 10.0 micron range. Each the light beam) enters the chamber, the LED beam reflects
type of detector can detect both types of fires, but their light from the smoke particles and part of this reflection
respective response times will vary, depending on the type reaches the photodiode. The photodiode signal is
of fire. Note that the sensitivity of photoelectric detectors amplified and measured by a detector. Smoke sensitivity
degrades when detecting dark smoke particles (for depends on many factors including camera design,
example, burning rubber) due to a low light scattering photodiode and LED type and their operating modes. This
ratio. application examines two types of chambers with large
and small volumes that reflect different sensitive element
When the ionization and photoelectric detector chambers characteristics. The unique architecture of the PSoC
become contaminated over time, the result is a more device allows use of different cameras without any electric
sensitive detector. Although this may sound like a good circuit change. Setup can be performed by changing
thing, it is not and will most likely lead to numerous false hardware settings and threshold values inside the PSoC
alarms. As smoke or additional contaminants collect inside device without having to modify schematic/component
the ionization chamber, the headroom between the normal values. PSoC also can support multiple detector features
chamber background value and the alarm threshold value without design modification
is decreased. The result is that, as time goes by, a very
small amount of smoke or contaminates can trigger an
alarm or cause an alert (pre-alarm) condition.
Smoke Detector Flowchart
The smoke detector flowchart is shown in Figure 3. At five-
Intelligent fire panels have special algorithms that can second intervals, the LED receives current pulses of
compensate for this slow increase in detector background approximately 100 microseconds. Part of the LED
level. An indicator is also displayed on the fire panel (if reflection beam touches the photodiode, which creates an
networked equipped) indicating when a specific detector electric current that is translated to voltage on a high-
has a high chamber value, and should be checked, resistance resistor. The AC part of this voltage through a
cleaned, and/or replaced immediately. Therefore, if the fire differentiating circuit (intended to cut the DC component)
panel supports receiving information from a separate is fed to the programmable gain amplifier (PGA). After
detector, customers can remotely check the state of each passing through a PGA, an amplified signal is fed to a
individual detector. This is accomplished only when band-pass filter (BPF) with a gain of about 17 dB. This
networked detectors are used. filter amplifies and filters only friendly signals and removes
When a conventional non-networked detector is used (that the DC component that appears as a result of the PGA
has only relay output, signaling the fire alert), it should be offset voltage amplification. The signal combination of the
equipped by a special test button to initiate the manual PGA and BPF allows a total stable system gain of
chamber testing procedure. The user needs to check approximately 55 dB, which supports chambers with low
detector operation by periodically pressing this button, for sensitivity. The PGA/filter settings were successfully
example, once per month. During this test, the response of tested on ten different CY8C24423A samples and
an empty chamber is measured and the level is compared demonstrated consistent repeatability and stability.
to upper and lower thresholds. When the signal response Therefore, the PSoC device can deliver a total of 55 dB
is too low, the light source or photo-receiver is either gain without problems. Note that higher gain only is
broken or very dirty. When the signal response is too high, required to support the test chamber function, when no
the chamber is slightly contaminated and need to be smoke is reflected, and the signal is received and
cleaned. analyzed. Under normal smoke detection conditions, total
gain is reduced and the signal from the second PGA is
The proposed smoke detector uses the photoelectric sampled by the ADC.
detection principle and provides a multi-level smoke
presence indicator and an automatic smoke chamber self- The following process of 8-bit ADC data stream is
test during start up or user initiation. The device allows implemented in the firmware. If the first threshold level is
modifications for different designs of smoke chambers and reached, the device begins brightly blinking the LED and
their sensitivity, and supports various LED and adjusts the sensitivity level by changing the PGA gain.
photodiodes. It has very low current consumption and Moreover, the detector reduces the measurement interval
noise suppression features. from 5s to 2s. If a second threshold level is reached, the
device begins the time interval to turn on the alert signal
An infrared photodiode and a light emitting diode are used and measure each second. If during this second threshold,
as sensing elements in the chamber. The chamber the level still remains high, a solid-state relay is switched
design does not allow external light to penetrate the and an alarm line is opened, signaling that the system is
inside. The photodiode light is activated using an LED. reaching an alarm situation. The test is repeated up to
The LED is positioned at an angle from the photodiode so three times and the chamber response is averaged to rule
that its directional light pattern does not intersect with the out false readings.

February 22, 2005 Document No. 001-32907 Rev. ** 2

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The BPF and Delta Sigma ADC provide noise immunity. performed before the current pulse is fed to the LED and
The BPF reduces the noise level by limiting the input followed by estimating the offset value. This offset value is
signal frequency spectrum and integrating a Delta Sigma subtracted from the LED signal value while the level of
noise signal filter. The influence of temperature on voltage scattered light is being estimated.
bias drift and voltage reference change is eliminated as
well by using the correlated double sampling technique.
Voltage measurement of the smoke level channel is

Figure 3. Smoke Detector Flowchart

Smoke
chamber

PGA1 BPF PGA2 ADC

FILMWARE

To fire signaling
system
PWM
LED
PSoC’s inside

The chamber's LED pulse current should be not less than

300 mA (this is true for chambers embodied in this
Device Schematic design). Since this pulse current does not produce high
The device schematic is shown in Figure 4. In today’s consumption from the linear regulator, the limiting resistor
market, much attention is focused on minimizing power R9 is used in the supply path for noise reduction. The LED
consumption of smoke detectors. In this application, some pulse current accumulates energy in the C7 capacitor,
methods are used to achieve this. First, the device sleep which is later charged via R9 following 1s. This
mode is used in standby state. In this state, analog and arrangement allows an average consumption in standby
digital modules are switched off. The device’s active work state of about 20-25 µA and a peak current in standby
time is decreased to a minimum of 1.2 ms during 5s sleep state that does not exceed 170 µA. For peak current
intervals. The current impulse duration of the LED is limitations, resistance R7 is used and stay time in sleep
decreased to 100 μs. The analog modules are switched on mode between active working phases does not exceed 2s.
only during measurement and threshold level detection. This time is necessary for full capacitor C4 charging in the
The device uses the linear regulator with separate power device supply circuit. Moreover, after power up and the
consumption and the input voltage is supplied through configuration is loaded, the device goes into sleep mode.
limited 1 kilohm resistance. After the analog modules are For 2s the full filter C4 and C7 capacitors are charging.
turned on, the active work time is set by estimating the The detector supply current is shown in Figure 5. During
duration of the transient process in a photodiode normal operation, as can easily be seen, the sleep current
amplification channel. is about 10 µA. The LED is blinks for a very short time
(pulse duration is about 100μs) during normal operation,
The threshold measurement level is defined by the local
signaling each threshold-measuring event. The nominal
requirements for fire alarm detection and can easily be
measurement period is set to 5s.
adjusted. The linear regulator reduces power supply to 5V
(a 3.3V reduction does not significantly reduce system
consumption). The duration of the LED current pulse is
limited by the minimum BPF filter setup time and the ADC
conversion time.

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Figure 4. Detector Schematics

R1
3K

R2 R4
U4 TPS71501 510k 3M
R7 1k C1
4 5 C5 100nF
Vp VIN VOUT 5V 100nF
9-18V 1 R7 U1
FB 3.3M 100uF 10V 28
+ + C4 VCC
C3 1 27 U2B
D1 0.1u 2 P0[7] P0[6] 26 R3 C6
LL4148 R14 3 P0[5] P0[4] 25 100K 560pF Photo-Diode
C2 1M 4 P0[3] P0[2] 24
100uF 25V P0[1] P0[0]
5 23
6 P2[7] P2[6] 22 AGND
7 P2[5] P2[4] 21
8 P2[3] P2[2] 20 R6
P2[1] P2[0] 510K
MH1 SW1 9 19
U3 Clare LCB120 R10 5V SMP XRES
6 2 10 18 5V
11 P1[7] P1[6] 17
MH2 510R Test button 12 P1[5] P1[4] 16 LED
13 P1[3] P1[2] 15 R9
4 1 ALARM P1[1] P1[0]
5.1k
14 C7
Vss D2 47*6.3v

CY 8C24423A LED + U2A

IR_LED

C8 0.1uF
R8
5V
R15 R12
150k 750R 2.7R
J1
1
2 5V
3 R5 1k Q1
4
5 BC817
R11

ISSP 10K

Figure 5. Power Supply Current Time Graph The normally closed optically isolated solid-state relay,
manufactured by Clare as Type-1B, is used as a galvanic
alarm signaling control circuit. When the alarm condition is
true, the relay breaks the signaling line. The chambers
from existing smoke detectors were used in this design
(see Figure 10 in Appendix C). The detector can be
supplemented with a temperature measurement circuit
without noticeable modifications by adding a thermistor
and an additional bias resistor. Temperature measurement
is required by fire security standards in some countries.

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PSoC Internal Placements

Figure 6. PSoC User Module Placement

User module placement is shown in Figure 6. DBB00, a

clock source for the filter, can be eliminated by setting References
VC1=4 and VC2=5 (if you need one free digital block). 1. Moore, W. D., "Automatic Fire Detectors," Fire
DBB01 is an ADC timer. DCB02 to DCB03 are 16-bit Protection Handbook, 17th Ed., National Fire
PWMs used to set LED brightness and some service Protection Association, Quincy, MA, 1991.
functions.
2. Burry, P., "The Principles of Fire Detection - Ionization
You can use an 8-bit PWM with little code modification if Chamber Smoke Detectors," Fire Surveyor, April
you need another digital block for other purposes. These 1982, p. 20
blocks can be useful if you want to deliver an address
(networked) smoke detector, where communication 3. http://www.interfire.org/features/smokedetector.asp
protocol needs to be supported. This design is under
4. http://www.sas.org/tcs/weeklyIssues/2004-07-
current development.
23/feature1/

Summary
This Application Note describes a smart smoke detector
with multi-level detection capabilities. The detector can
cover worldwide fire system standards, including
networked operation support, with minimal modifications.
About half the Flash memory is free and can be used for
various purposes.

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Appendix A: Software Flowcharts

Figure 7. Boot Procedure

Start

Init device

Sleep 2 sec.

Analog modules start

Chamber test

Analog modules OFF

Test value add

No End number
test?

Sleep 1sec.

YES

Test value YES Number gain No

overflow? out?

New gain set

No YES
New number test

Test value No
normal?

LED on
Opto-relay off
YES Work stop

To work Cycle Halt

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Figure 8. Main Operation Procedure

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Appendix B: Detection Waveforms for Various Smoke Levels

Figure 9. Waveforms on IR LED Cathode (Red) and ADC Input (Blue)

for Different Smoke Concentrations Inside Chamber

No smoke

Low smoke level

High smoke level

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Appendix C: Detector Photographs

Figure 10. Internal Construction of Smoke Chamber

Figure 11. Two Detectors with Different Chamber Sizes and Different Chamber LED and Photodiodes

February 22, 2005 Document No. 001-32907 Rev. ** 9

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About the Author

Name: Andrey Magarita
Title: Sr. Application Engineer
Background: Andrey graduated from National
University “Lvivska Polytechnika”
(Lviv, Ukraine) in 1989 and is
presently working as Senior
Application Engineer for Zuvs, a
private company. He has more than
15 years experience with embedded
systems design.
Contact: You can contact him at
[email protected]

In March of 2007, Cypress recataloged all of its Application Notes using a new documentation number and revision code. This new documentation
number and revision code (001-xxxxx, beginning with rev. **), located in the footer of the document, will be used in all subsequent revisions.
PSoC is a registered trademark of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. "Programmable System-on-Chip," PSoC Designer, and PSoC Express are trademarks
of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks or registered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

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February 22, 2005 Document No. 001-32907 Rev. ** 10

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