I-Corps: Zero-power Wireless Flame Detector for Ubiquitous Fire Monitoring

I-Corps：零功耗无线火焰探测器，用于无处不在的火灾监控

• 批准号: 2034804
• 负责人: Matteo Rinaldi
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: Northeastern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-07-15 至 2020-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2034804&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; Zero; power; Wireless; Flame

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a flame detection technology that consumes near zero power in standby mode, hence enabling the implementation of wireless fire sensor networks with greatly reduced cost for ubiquitous fire monitoring. A flame detector can often respond more accurately and faster than a smoke or heat detector, since its targeting indicator is more exclusive to fires and it does not experience the delayed detection time. The drawbacks of existing flame detector technologies include high power consumption, high manufacturing cost, and bulky form factor. These drawbacks prevent current flame detectors from being widely adopted in the market. Instead, the proposed miniaturized battery-powered wireless flame detectors may last up to 10 years without charging and be easily retrofitted to address multiple deployment needs. The new detectors may provide a primary safety measure for fire monitoring in broader commercial market sectors such as construction sites, waste facilities, warehouses and forests. The project may have an immediate impact on the disruptive fire-related accidents such as 2019-20 Australian bushfire and Notre Dame Cathedral fire, saving hundreds of lives and preventing billions of dollars in asset losses worldwide. This I-Corps project is based on the development of micromechanical flame detectors that consume near-zero power in standby mode until awakened by the specific infrared signature emitted by a flame. Currently, no existing technology could enable the implementation of large-scale wireless fire sensor networks due to the prohibitive cost associated with ownership, installation and maintenance. The fundamental technical challenge lies in the continuous power consumption of state-of-the-art sensor technologies. Commercially available sensors rely on active electronics to detect and discriminate signals of interest. Therefore, current flame detectors consume power continuously to monitor the environment even when there is no relevant data to be detected, which results in a short battery lifetime (a few months). The proposed flame detector relies on the recently developed, zero-power digitizing infrared sensors that can selectively harvest the energy from specific infrared signatures emitted from a warm object to operate without using any electrical power. The fire sensor market requires products to have certificated performance and to meet different standards and regulations. The goal of is to pinpoint customers’ needs and develop a commercialization path to deliver products meeting all requirements for a beachhead market.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种在待机模式下消耗接近零功率的火焰检测技术，从而使无线火灾传感器网络的实施能够大大降低无处不在的火灾监测成本。火焰探测器通常可以比烟雾或热探测器更准确和更快地响应，因为它的目标指示器更专门用于火灾，并且它不会经历延迟的检测时间。现有的火焰检测器技术的缺点包括高功耗、高制造成本和庞大的形状因子。 这些缺点阻止了当前的火焰检测器在市场上被广泛采用。相反，拟议中的小型电池供电无线火焰探测器可以在不充电的情况下使用长达10年，并且可以轻松改造以满足多种部署需求。新的探测器可以为建筑工地、废物处理设施、仓库和森林等更广泛的商业市场部门的火灾监测提供主要的安全措施。该项目可能会对2019-20年澳大利亚大火和巴黎圣母院大火等破坏性火灾事故产生直接影响，挽救数百人的生命，并防止全球数十亿美元的资产损失。这个I-Corps项目是基于微机械火焰探测器的开发，这种探测器在待机模式下消耗接近零的功率，直到被火焰发出的特定红外信号唤醒。目前，由于与所有权、安装和维护相关的高昂成本，没有现有技术能够实现大规模无线火灾传感器网络。最根本的技术挑战在于最先进的传感器技术的持续功耗。 市售传感器依赖于有源电子器件来检测和区分感兴趣的信号。因此，当前的火焰检测器即使在没有相关数据要检测的情况下也持续消耗电力来监测环境，这导致电池寿命短（几个月）。拟议的火焰探测器依赖于最近开发的零功率数字化红外传感器，该传感器可以选择性地从温暖物体发出的特定红外信号中获取能量，从而在不使用任何电力的情况下进行操作。火灾传感器市场要求产品具有经过认证的性能，并满足不同的标准和法规。的目标是准确定位客户的需求，并开发一种商业化途径，以提供满足滩头市场所有要求的产品。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。