Alcohol Detection For Car Locking System

Shahad Al-Youif., Musab A. M. Ali, M. N. Mohammed

Management & Science University
Faculty of Information science and Engineering
Malaysia
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Abstract—In this prototyped project, an attempt will be made as its name implies, detecting alcohol by breathing directly
to develop a locking system for cars so it would not start without into it. The second part is the controlling unit; it has the
alcohol checking mechanism. The system will take the advantage necessary functions to read alcohol sensor’s output,
of a pre-existing Alcohol sensor. In fact, the project is intended furthermore, the microcontroller will act accordingly in
for granting a base start for further explorations in the future. response to the detected alcohol percentage by controlling the
This project aimed at the exiting efforts of accidents prevention DC motors (either stop or run) and visually indicating its
system developments, in hope of implementing it in the real life to status. Last but not least, the third part; the Motor driver
increase roads safety.
shield, this part in particular is to simulate a hypothetical
Keywords—Alcohol detection system; Vehicle control; Gas
scenario of motor control. The shield itself meant for driving
sensor; MQ3 sensor; DC motor; Arduino. DC motors since they need more current, which compensated
via an on-board chip with external power feed.
I. INTRODUCTION What comes next is a brief explanation of each part
contribute into this project:
Roads safety have always been in the center of attention.
The signboards, direction arrows and lanes have made
A. Arduino Microcontroller Board
following rules much easier and served as an excellent guide,
nevertheless, uncontrollable factors such as drunken drivers The Arduino board is the central unit of the system.
exits and thus accidents still happen. In the united states of
America alone and during 2014 nearly “9,967 people died of
alcohol-impaired-driving” [1], that is one alcohol-impaired-
driving fatality every 53 minutes. The list goes on and on for
other countries too [2], therefore it is necessary to enhance and
improvise new techniques. This project pushes towards the
public safety in general and roads safety in particular. The idea
is characterized by being deliberately dependent on personal
contribution. The system should make a significant leap in
terms of public awareness in addition to the reduction of
accidents caused by drunken drivers.
Fig. 2. Arduino Board Description
II. HARDWARE MODULES
1) Introduction: Arduino is an open source electronic
prototyping platform. Arduino is a single- board
microcontroller that uses Atmel AVR processor as a brain.
The built in I/O board can be easily programmed by
Processing/Wiring based language. The programming
language is similar to C++ with some modification and
simplification. Arduino projects can be used standalone or by
connected to computer by the software. The open source IDE
program software can be downloaded for free from the official
Arduino website.
The Arduino Uno board uses the IC ATmega328 as the
Fig. 1. Block Diagram microcontroller processor. The Arduino Uno board comes with
14 digital input/output pins (which 6 can be used as PWM
The diagram shown above (Fig. 1) can be divided into outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB
three major parts; the first part (from the left) is the key connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button.
component in this project which is the Alcohol sensor, its role,

978-1-5386-3527-8/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE 230

The Arduino Uno can be powered via either a USB connection 2) Specifications:
or by an AC-to-DC adapter [3]. • Power supply needs: 5V
2) Highlighted Features: • Interface type: Analog

Microcontroller ATmega328 • Fast response and High sensitivity

Operating Voltage 5V • Stable and long life
Input Voltage (limits) 6-20V
Digital I/O Pins 14 (of which 6 provide PWM output) C. DC Motor Shield
Analog Input Pins 6
To extend the functionality and ease the integration with
DC Current per I/O Pin 40 mA
microcontrollers, a specifically designed shield manufactured
Clock Speed 16 MHz
by one of the companies hosting the chip L293D (Motor
Driver) and other supporting modules for better integration
and consistent performance.
B. Alcohol Sensor (MQ-3)
The Gas Sensor MQ-3 (Figure II-2) is a gas leakage
detector used for indoors (e.g. home) or outdoors (e.g.
industry). It is suitable for detecting few types of gases namely,
Alcohol, Benzine, CH4, Hexane, LPG and CO. The sensor is
characterized by its high sensitivity and fast response time [4],
thus, enabling an almost immediate data retrieval of the
measured gases.

Fig. 3. Alcohol Sensor

Fig. 4. L293D Arduino-Compatible Shield with illustrated capabilities
The sensor outputs its values in term of varying voltage
(Analog output); therefore, the data can be obtained via the The shield’s specifications can be summarized as
microcontroller using its built-in Analog-to-Digital converter. follows [6]:
The sensor has several specifications; Table I lists some of it. • Four H-Bridges: Two L293D Motor driver chips.
• 600mA per bridge (1.2A peak).
TABLE I. MQ-3 GAS SPECIFICATIONS [5]
• Thermal shutdown protection (internal kickback
protection diodes).
• Motor Voltages from 4.5VDC to 16VDC.
• Up to 4 bi-directional DC motors with individual 8-
bit speed selection (256 speeds)
• Separate Logic and Motor power connections
• Terminal block connectors for motors and power

1) Sensitivity Adjustment: Resistance value of MQ-3 is The motor rotation direction is given by Fleming’s left
difference to various kinds and various concentration gases. hand rule. It states if the index finger, middle finger and thumb
So, when using these components, sensitivity adjustment is of your left hand are extended perpendicularly to each other
very necessary. It is recommended to calibrate the detector for and if the index finger represents the direction of magnetic
field, middle finger indicates the direction of current, and then
0.4mg/L (approximately 200ppm) of Alcohol concentration in
the thumb represents the direction in which force is
air and use value of Load resistance that (RL) about 200 KΩ experienced by the shaft of the dc motor [7].
(100KΩ to 470 KΩ). When accurately measuring, the proper
alarm point for the gas detector has to be determined after
considering the temperature and humidity influence.

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Fig. 5. Dc motor principle and construction
Fig. 7. The sensor’s starting up readings

The main share of focus is directed towards the gas sensor. The instability, and then the stability, of the gas sensor is
The gas sensor and Arduino UNO modules are set up to attributed to the fact that it is a heat-driven device. Thus, the
retrieve the data for interpretation. The gas sensed is Butane device needs some time to warm up before it can be
(Used in Lighters) as a cheap substitute for Alcohol. interpreted correctly.

Fig. 8. Internal circuitry of the sensor showing the heating coil

Upon starting testing for the Butane gas; at the second (13)
with a sampled voltage of (82), the reading starts to increase
until it reaches the second (31) with a sampled voltage of
(139). Nearly a 69.5% of change in the value of sampled
voltage over 18 seconds. After the demise of gas, readings
starts to decrease towards the initial value.

Fig. 6. Setup of the MQ-3 sensor during the experimental phase

III. RESULTS
Retrieved readings exhibits a behavior of a descending
order. The sampled voltage starts at its highest and decreases
until it stabilizes. The sensor begins to show signs of stability
after approximately 20 minutes.

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 Nevertheless, this is a mere prototype and it could be used
as a base for other improvised systems that could incorporate
other functions which in return leads to enhanced systems
filling the needs and niches of markets and allowing
customizability.
The prototype can be further improved by replacing parts of
the 2-wheeled car with more logical components such as a
relay. A relay could be placed as a part of a real system that
could be integrated in a real car to controller the ignition of the
car.
The breathalyser system then becomes equipped with the
ability to automate the process of detection and correlate it with
the car disabling/enabling process. Furthermore, the system can
be equipped with a more than a visual indicator; the system
could include a wireless alarming system or an audible alarm
even both at the same time.
REFERENCES
[1] N. H. T. S. Administration, "Traffic Safety Facts 2014," Alcohol-
Impaired Driving, pp. 1-7, December 2015.
[2] I. T. S. D. a. A. Group and I. T. Forum, "IRTAD road safety annual
report 2015," Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Develop,
2015.
[3] "Arduino - ArduinoBoardUno," [Online]. Available:
https://www.arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoBoardUno. [Accessed 2016].
[4] J. Lavanya and R. E. Raj, "A Mobile Based Novice Detection of
Driver’s Fatigue Level and Accident Reporting Solution," Power
Electronics and Renewable Energy Systems Proceedings of ICPERES
Fig. 9. Testing for Butane gas 2014, vol. 326, pp. 883-892, 2015.
[5] L. HANWEI ELETRONICS CO., "MQ-3 Gas Sensor Datasheet,"
Those observations will help during programming. [Online]. Available: https://www.sparkfun.com/datasheets/Sensors/MQ-
3.pdf. [Accessed 2016].
[6] L. Ada, "Adafruit Motor Shield," Adafruit Industries, 7 June 2015.
IV. CONCLUSION [Online]. Available: https://cdn-
The prototype has successfully demonstrated the ability to learn.adafruit.com/downloads/pdf/adafruit-motor-shield.pdf. [Accessed
detect, and hence, identify a concentration of a gas; the Butane 2016].
gas in this case. It complied with the given requests and acted [7] http://electrical4u.com/.
upon it in terms of controlling the ignition of the 2-wheeled car
and indicating the exceedance of a specific prohibited gas
threshold.

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