January 26th, 2011

Dr. Andrew Rawicz

School of Engineering Science

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, BC

V5A 1S6

Re: ENSC 440 Project Proposal for Safety Add-on for Electric Stoves

Dear Dr. Rawicz,

Attached is our team’s project proposal for a safety add-on for Electric Stoves, in the context of

the ENSC 440 project course. Our company, Universal Safety Solutions Inc., is proposing the

design for an add-on feature that would facilitate the safe usage of electric stoves throughout

North America. This add-on will essentially work as an emergency response to unattended stoves

that are a major cause of fires in houses. It would nullify the human errors due to common user

negligence by alerting the users of unattended stoves, or by disconnecting the power supply to

the stove thereby preventing any major mishaps. This product will be stove independent, in the

sense that it can be installed by the user for any electric stove without making any major changes

in the stove design.

The attached proposal further explains the reasons and goals behind this project choice. It covers

the product design and the design approach in fine details. It also discusses project scheduling,

milestones and team organisation. Lastly, it provides a detailed breakdown of project funding

and budgeting – where we discuss the product’s feasibility and market potential.

USS is a team of four hard-working and committed engineering students – Abhishek Dubey,

Milad Hajihassan, Sibghat Ullah and Vikas Yadav – who bring to the table a wide spectrum of

knowledge from various fields of engineering. If you have any questions or concerns regarding

our project proposal, please feel free to contact me by email at vya3@sfu.ca.

Sincerely,

Vikas Yadav

Project Manager

Universal Safety Solutions Inc.

Enclosure: Proposal for a Safety Add-on Device for Electric Stoves

Page | 2

On January 3rd, 2009 a New Year’s Day party in Port Hardy, BC, turned into a tragic event for a

family, when a fire broke out in their kitchen claiming three lives and causing property damage.

On investigation the cause for the fire was nailed down to an unattended stove and basic user

negligence [1]. On initial thought, this sounds like a regular accident we hear about or read in the

media on daily basis. But such cases are very common occurrence in households, where a

negligent user leaves the stove unattended and the lack of alert/alarms or an untimely response

leads to massive fires. People often leave their stoves turned on to watch TV or pick up a phone

call. Sometimes stoves are left turned on while people go away for work or some other social

activity. Also, old age accompanies slower reaction times and agility in people and it isn’t

unlikely to leave stoves unattended. In these certain conditions, the risks of fire accidents reach

its zenith. Moreover, preschoolers and school aged kids often have the habit to discover new

things around them and hence, they are the major victims of stove accidents. A 2002 press

release from CCFMFC throws some light on how rampant such accidents are - there were 5541

reported cases of fire due to unattended stoves or delayed response. The result was 19 deaths and

81 million dollars in monetary loss [2].

This raises a critical question – with all the advanced technology available to us today, why don’t

we have a foolproof system of preventing such mishaps in the future? Up until now, there are

some ways (vague rules) to prevent fire in your kitchen. Firstly, when you are cooking

something on your stove it will be better to remain in the kitchen. Secondly, the user should turn

off the stove before leaving his/her cooking station. Thirdly, make sure to check your stove and

oven before leaving your house. Lastly, it will be better for users to utilize timers while cooking.

They can act as a reminder or alarm to help the user keep a check on the stove regularly.

Unfortunately these solutions are all cognitive rather than technological, and leave a huge margin

for human error.

This proposal outlines the planned approach by our company, Universal Safety System (USS), to

address this critical issue and come up with a technological solution which would not be

susceptible to common fallacies on part of the user. We aim to build a device that would alert the

inattentive user on a basic level, and if need be, turn off the stove to avoid any accidents. We

have put lot of efforts in researching this problem and have come up with a cost-effective and

user friendly design for our product. The estimated budget for the first working prototype has

been set to around CAD 1000. The majority of the funding is being anticipated from Engineering

Science Student Endowment Fund (ESSEF). We will be following a strict scheduling procedure

and plan to be done with the final product by April 2011.

Page | 3

Executive Summary …………………………………………………………………... 2

1. Glossary …………………………………………………………………………........ 4

2. List of Figures and Tables .………………………………………………................. 4

3. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………......... 5

4. Design ………………………………………………………………………………… 6

4.1 System Overview ………………………………………….................................. 6

4.1.1 The Wireless Circuit System ……………………..…………………………... 6

4.1.2 The Control Unit ………………………………………………….................. 8

4.1.3 The Alert System ……………………………………………………………… 9

4.2 User Friendly Operation …………………………...…………………………….. 10

4.3 External Outlay …………………………………………………………………... 10

5. Budget & Funding ………………………………………………………................... 11

6. Scheduling …………………………………………………………………………….. 12

7. Risks …………………………………………………………………………………… 13

8. Description of Team ………………………………………………………………….. 14

9. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………….. 15

10. References ……………………………………………………………………………... 15

Page | 4

AM – Amplitude Modulation

CAD – Canadian Dollars CCFMFC – Council of Canadian Fire Marshals and Fire Commissioners ESSEF – Engineering Science Student Endowment Fund

FM – Frequency Modulation GUI – Graphical User Interface

LED – Light Emitting Diode USS – Universal Stove Solutions Inc.

Figure 1 – A detailed designed of the Wireless Circuit System

Figure 2 – A schematic of the Control Unit

Figure 3 – Overall Product Schematic

Figure 4 – External Outlay of the Safety Add-on

Figure 5 – Scheduling and Milestones

Table 1 – Budget Overview

Table 2 – Summary of Risks and their Prevention Measures

Page | 5

“Invention does not consist of creating out of void, but out of chaos”

– Mark Wollstonecraft Shelley.

This simple yet substantial thought forms the crux of our project idea. Owing to the numerous

accidents stated in the Executive Summary, we wanted to capitalize on the available technology

and our knowledge of the same to build a device that would take care of those user errors. Our

aim is to prevent any such future accidents, and loss of lives from it. A technological solution to

this problem seems like the best one, and this thought gains credibility owing to a 2007 report by

the US Fire Administration, which specifically stated that – “The fire safety community has been

advising people to avoid unattended cooking for decades, yet unattended cooking remains the

leading factor contributing to these ignitions. Technological solutions that either shut off or

turn down stoves when no motion is detected, or before a burner can get hot enough to start a

fire, may offer the opportunity to improve safety without major changes in a behavior that has

proven resistant to change for so long”[3]).

The product idea that our company, USS, has come up with is an effective, affordable and user-

friendly solution to a problem that is rampant in North America. Our product will be combining

electronic and mechanical technologies to provide appropriate feedback to the user in case of

unattended stoves and turn off the stove. The response mechanism will be dual-layered and will

work on a priority basis –

ALERTS and ALARMS - Once the user leaves the stove unattended for a certain period of time, the system would sound an audio alarm along with a flashing LED alerting the user to take immediate action. This would be the first level of response.

STOVE SHUTDOWN - If for some reason, the user is not within reach of the stove or is not stimulated by the visual and audio feedback; our product would then override the stove and cut off the power supply to it.

This dual-layered approach leads to a very balanced outcome. The first level will allow the user

to take action on his/her own, and would be dependent on the user’s preference. On the second

level, the product will deal with the case of user unavailability and will take control of the

situation by cutting off any possibilities of fatal risks. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) for

the device will be kept very simple and the product will not require any technical expertise on

part of the user for initial installation. The components used for this product are readily available,

which will help us in delivering a very affordable product.

Besides designing and building the product, budgeting, time management, resource management,

and market research will be some major challenges we will have to overcome. We plan to do

detailed documentation for this project. While this procedure will be time consuming, we believe

it will ultimately help us in the long run with managing of time and human resources.

Page | 6

The basic design consists of a wireless circuit system that detects whether something is being cooked or not and whether the stove is left on. If this is the case, then the circuit communicates

with the control box. The control box is the main body of this product and is kept somewhere in the kitchen. The wireless system sends a command to the control box indicating that there is nothing being cooked on the stove coil, it has been left on and that the user must be made aware

of this. On receiving this signal, the control unit generates a warning for 5 minutes to alert the user. If for some reason, the user does not respond in this time period, the control unit shuts

down the stove automatically by draining out the power supply. The stove designs being used throughout North America are quite similar in structure and

mechanism which makes out product compatible to almost every stove running on electricity. In other words, our product is largely stove independent i.e. the user is not required to make any

physical changes in the stove so as to fit in this product. It will be designed and developed in such a way that the user can deploy it with any stove of any model. The wireless detection system can fits easily under any coil of the stove and it communicates with the control unit

which manages the power to the stove and shuts it down if the hazard call is not answered by the user.

In North America, almost every electric stove functions with the same design of either two or

four electric coils in cavity like structures on the stove top. These coils are detachable and can be very easily taken out individually from the stove body through hooks and sockets. Keeping this feature in mind, our product design is going to consist of a wireless circuit system that goes

under each coil in such a way that it does not interfere with the alignment of the coil. The distance from the coil above, and the nature of materials used will make sure that it can

withstand high heat radiation. The following is a list of components required for the circuit system:

Spring system circuit breaker

Heat resistant covering

40 kHz, 9V FM transmitter

9V battery

Trimpots

Resistors

Capacitors

Thermistors

Heat sensors

Conducting wires

Page | 7

The spring system circuit-breaker is a device that breaks our circuit once anything is placed on the stove. It consists of two pins that act as push buttons and are exposed near the center part of

the coil. When a pot or anything similar is placed on the coil of a stove, it is going to press the two pins hence causing the pressure to flow downwards. This applies a tension on the spring which is holding the breaking point of our circuit. When the force is felt by the spring, it is going

to move down causing the conducting piece of metal to miss its alignment with the rest of the circuit – hence, breaking the circuit. Figure 1 below demonstrates this effect. This means that we do not need to generate any signal from the wireless circuit system below the coil, as we are

assuming the user is cooking something or has placed something on the coil.

If the user lifts the pot from the coil, the two pins are going to be pushed upward again hence closing the circuit which means nothing is on the coil now. If the user forgets to turn off the stove, the heat from the coil is going to transfer downwards through radiation causing the

thermistor’s resistance to become significantly low. Once this condition is reached and our circuit is closed simultaneously (as nothing is being cooked and the stove coil is hot), the voltage

being supplied to the FM transmitter is going to significantly increase. This will start generating an FM wave of specific frequency which is later going be used by the control unit’s receiver and will pass on this signal to a microcontroller which will determine which specific action needs to

be taken. In case the user puts back something on the coil for cooking purpose, then the circuit will break again and hence the FM transmitter will immediately stop transmitting waves.

Figure 1: A detailed design of the Wireless Circuit System

Page | 8

The control unit is a box that is attached in between the stove and the wall supply. It manages the

power to the stove. It consists of the following:

40 kHz FM Receiver

Frequency to voltage converter(interacting with FM Receiver)

Control board with microcontroller

Buzzers and LEDs

High Current Relay switch system

Reset and auto set push buttons

9V battery

Resistors

Capacitors

Adapter cord for micro-controller board

Fuses

Once the signal from the wireless circuit – located under the coil - is received in the form of FM waves, the FM receiver detects those waves and coordinates with the frequency to voltage

converter in order to generate a specific voltage depending on the incoming frequency. This voltage is then supplied to one of the ports of the microcontroller board. The microcontroller is programmed in such a way that when it detects a specific voltage at the port, it judges the extent

of the heat from the coil based on the frequency being generated by the transmitter. If the coil is hot enough that it is too dangerous to be left on, then the signal received by the microcontroller

gives two instructions, one to the timer and other to the alarm system. The timer is supposed to run for 5 minutes and if no one turns off the stove, the microcontroller will generate a specific voltage at one of the output ports of the control board. This voltage is going to be used by the

relay switch system to completely shut down the stove.

The instruction sent to the alarm system will turn on the alarm which includes constant beeping from the buzzer. This function has been added to remind the user to shut down the unattended stove before the control unit overrides user control and cuts off the power supply to the stove by

itself. The schematic in Figure 2 describes this process visually:

Page | 9

Figure 2: A Schematic of the Control Unit

The control unit is going to have a built in alert system different from the alert system when the stove is unattended. This alert system is like a timer that a user can set when he/she is using the

stove. It allows the user to set a time required during cooking and it will beep once the set time deadline is met. In case the user is not responding to the alarm, the system then communicates

with the shut-down mechanism of the control unit and starts another timer with even further warnings. If still the user does not respond then it shuts down the stove so that the food does not burn to ashes or the unoccupied stove doesn’t result in the breakout of a fire. This way we can

prevent any major accidents from taking place.

The product is designed keeping user’s convenience as the most important aspect. It’s easy to install, easy to operate and easy to replace. The alert system can be turned off by pressing a button that resets everything and starts the cycle again. The timer system gives sufficient time to

the user to turn off the unattended stove before its shut down automatically. The beeping alert system can be used by the user to cook food for a specific duration of time and it minimizes the

possibility of food being burned because of user’s absence from the kitchen.

Page | 10

The overall design is depicted in Figure 3:

Figure 3: Overall Product Schematic

4.2 External Outlay Figure 4 depicts the external outlay of our product connected to the stove

Figure 4: External Outlay of the Safety Add-On

Page | 11

An overview of the budget for our project is given in Table 1 below. The budget covers the cost

of all essential parts required for the completion of project. Various factors can affect the pricing

of certain parts such as expedited shipping and retail availability. As depicted in the Gantt chart

earlier, enough time is allocated for shipping and handling to avoid such situations. However, to

compensate for unforeseeable circumstances such as unexpected design complications, damage

to an electronic device, we have allocated 20% of the total cost for the contingency expenses.

Equipment Source Cost (CAD)

40 kHz, 9V FM transmitter http://www.electronickits.com 23.95 40 kHz FM receiver http://www.electronickits.com 23.95 9 V Battery 4-pack www.canadiantire.ca 7.69 Trimpots (Qty: 4) http://www.a1parts.com 3.92

Resistors & Capacitors ENSC LAB 1 0.00 Switches & circuit breaker www.homedepot.ca ~ 100.00 Fuses of different rating www.homedepot.ca ~ 50.00

Thermistors http://www.home.agilent.com 105.00 Conducting wires www.rpelectronics.ca ~40

Multimeter www.rpelectronics.ca 130.80 Microcontroller (PICAXE 18 X IC) http://www.sparkfun.com ~ 150.00

Buzzers and LEDs www.rpelectronics.ca ~ 50.00 PCB fabrication and Integration Creation Technologies (Burnaby) ~300

Tax (12% HST) 118.24 Total 1103.55

Contingency Expenses (20% of total above) 220.71

Final Total 1324.26

Table 1: Budget Overview

Our team will be actively applying for any funding opportunities that we come across. So far we

have presented our project to ESSEF for funding. Their decision is still pending, but we hope to

get it approved soon. Another good and reliable source of funding is the Wighton fund

administered by Dr. Andrew Rawicz. However, by any chance, where we don’t get enough

funds, we are highly motivated and dedicated to go an extra mile by financing it on our own.

Each of our team members is willing to put in about 200-300 CAD for the project.

Page | 12

Figure 4 gives the scheduling details and milestones that for our project.

Figure 5: Scheduling and Milestones

Page | 13

Since we are dealing with high voltage and high currents in this project, there are huge amounts

of risks involved, which have been discussed by the team and have come up with certain precautions that must be taken. Below is a table (Table 2) describing various risks and their respective prevention procedures.

Risk Level of Risk Prevention

High Voltage

High – arcing caused by instant shutoff using a relay

may cause fire.

Used better rating relays. Another way would be to

divide the current path into several branches.

Temperature

High – 9V battery bursts under high temperature

causing circuit failure.

Insulate the battery and its

connections with a heat resistant material. Have a

backup battery and alerts going out advising of the

battery failure.

FM Radio waves

Moderate - Health Canada has a safety code for restricting

exposure to the general public to no higher than 1/50th of the

levels which must be taken

into consideration [4].

Abide by the standard

guidelines set by Health Canada.

Current leakage

High – since there will be high

currents flowing up to 40 amperes. Any small amount of

current leakage may cause

serious risks including electric shocks.

Use properly insulated wires.

Double check the ground connections. Insulate as many

connections as possible inside the box.

Exposure to water

High – When boiling milk or other substances on the stove,

spilling of any liquid may

cause current leakage and short circuit leading to circuit

failure.

Enclose all mechanical devices underneath the stove

with a water tight and heat resistant material.

Table 2: Summary of Risks and their prevention measures

Page | 14

Vikas Yadav (Project Manager) - Vikas is a final year computer engineering student at SFU.

His areas of interest include software development, hardware designing and graphic designing. He started off his career in IT industry through his first 8 month coop job at Glentel Inc., where he dealt with various computer and network problems. The experience he gained from that job

later on helped him to complete his last coop at TELUS as a computer operator. He still continues to work for TELUS part time and effectively manages his time with school. Some of

the other things he likes to do in this vacant time include playing soccer, watching a Bollywood movie every Friday and VB scripting to automate everyday tasks.

Sibghat Ullah (Integration Engineer) – Sibghat is a 4th year Electronics Engineering student at

Simon Fraser University. He has expertise mainly in hardware and somewhat in software

development. He has 8 months of co-op work experience in power electronics and power systems industry at one of the world’s most prestigious companies like Schnieder Electric. He

will play the role of an Integration Engineer in our company and his tasks will involve integrating the hardware and software components together such that they all work in a nice timely fashion. He is also responsible for suggesting solutions to the problems regarding

integrating various parts of our projects together. Moreover, his clear understanding of the whole design of the project will help in completing and resolving any technical issues that may arise

during the testing process.

Abhishek Dubey (Hardware Engineer) – Abhishek is a 5th year Electronics Engineering

student at Simon Fraser University. Owing to his specialisation in the hardware field, he will

head the Hardware Engineer post in our company. His wide experience with problem solving

and troubleshooting in the IT industry (Glentel Inc.) will play a critical role during the course of

this project. His exception documentation and orating skills are an added bonus.

Milad Hajihassan (Software Developer) – Milad is a fourth year Simon Fraser University

student. He enjoys designing graphical models and contributing in firmware development. His

goal is to make a difference in the world and that is why he decided to study engineering. He

would like to have his own engineering company. He enjoys sports, especially soccer and he

follows most of the professional leagues. He does graphical design in his spare time as well as

web development. He enjoys designing websites for non-profit organizations - he designed the

website of SFA Education for health society which is designed for helping to create an online

community.

Page | 15

As demonstrated in the proposal, this Stove Safety Add-on product is set to raise the standards of

kitchen safety throughout North America. The product has a clear advantage over the current

stove systems. Our team at the USS strongly believes that any new product that helps in

improving the safety of the public is definitely worth giving a thought to. Therefore, this

product’s safety features which might eventually help in saving lives and property damage is

what drives us towards achieving success in this project. While it is hard to put a price on

someone’s life, our product will be extremely affordable and usable for the general public, and

will not be limited to the elite classes.

We are confident of successfully wrapping up the project by April, 2011 with a working and

thoroughly tested prototype of our product.

[1] CTVBC.CA, “Unattended stove likely behind deadly Port Hardy fire”. Internet:

http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100103/bc_port_hardy_fire_100103/2010

0103/?hub=BritishColumbiaHome, January 3, 2009* [January 20, 2011]

[2] Eugene Marotta, “Council of Canadian Fire Marshals and Fire Comissioners – Annual Report

2002”. Internet: http://www.ccfmfc.ca/stats/en/report_e_02.pdf, March 2007* [January 18, 2011]

[3] Amy LeBeau, John Comoletti, et al., “Behavioral Mitigation of Cooking Fires”. Internet:

http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/cooking/fa-312.pdf, August 2007*

[January 18, 2011]

[4] Tannis Thiessin, “Further Applications of Radiation”. Internet:

http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/cur/science/support/stuguide/students_chapter6.pdf, October

2009* [January 24, 2011]