Simple Fire Alarm Circuits

Introduction to Fire Alarms:

Just imagine when an apartment is caught fire in the second floor! The people in the second floor
can easily recognize the fire and can inform to their neighbors and run for their lives; but people in
the first, third and fourth floors may not know the fire accident and busy with their work. This will
be great danger to the people live and property also. So there should be an alarm to inform to all
people in the apartment in which the fire has taken place and act immediately. Here fire alarm plays
a key and important role. It will detect the fire automatically and inform to the people with an
alarm. Now-a-days, fire alarms are must for the apartments, theaters, hotels, restaurants, coal mines,
petrol bunks or gas stations, etc.

Here are two simple fire alarm circuits which will use different concepts and different components
for generating the fire alarm. The main basic concept is almost same that sensing the fire or heat by
the component and giving that information to the remaining circuit to give alarm.

Fire Alarm Circuit Using Germanium Diode:

1. This is a simple fire alarm circuit using Germanium Diode and 555 timer. In this circuit
Germanium Diode play very important role in detecting the fire.
2. This circuit is very easy to construct, cost effective and implementable.
Block Diagram of Fire Alarm Circuit Using Germanium Diode:

Here is the simple fire alarm circuit which costs less than 100 rupees. The key component in the
circuit is DR25 (germanium diode) whose resistance will decrease with increase in temperature.
The conduction of germanium diode will start at 70 degrees. So we may use germanium diode as a
heat sensor. When the temperature is more than 70 degree, the germanium diode will conduct and
trigger the NE555 timer through a transistor. The NE555 is configured in astable multivibrator and
make the buzzer to alarm when germanium diode conducts. So that we can get alert and act
according to the alarm.
Circuit Diagram of Fire Alarm Using Germanium Diode:
Circuit Explanation:

The DR25 germanium diode is heat sensor which will conduct when temperature is increased at
certain point. The DR25 is made reverse biased in the circuit. It will conduct only when it is more
than 70degree of room temperature.
The DR25 is connected to the transistor in reverse bias, which has high reverse resistance (more
than 10K ohm) and does not make the transistor to turn off which is connected to the reset pin of
555 timer. The reset pin of 555timer will be in ground level when the transistor is turned off. Here,
the 555 timer is configured as astable multivibrator.
When more than 70degrees in room temperature occurred, the resistance of DR25 diode drops to
1k ohm which will make the transistor to turn off and make the reset pin to go high. This will
generate the output at pin3 and make the sound through the alarm.
We can use 3 or more diodes in reverse bias connected in parallel and placed in different room. If
there is fire accident, it will sense and make the alarm.

Note:

If DR25 germanium diode is available, you can still use AC128, AC188 or 2N360 germanium
transistors. Use base and emitter junctions in place of cathode and anode.
Diode must be connected to the circuit in reverse bias.

Fire Alarm Circuit Using LM341:

Here is another small project on fire alarm. When a fire accident is happened in home or office, it
will detect the fire (intensity of fire in the room) at instant and give the alarm so we can be ready
and act accordingly.
Block Diagram of Fire Alarm Circuit Using LM341:

The thermistor is the main component which detects the fire by sudden change in the room
temperature because of the heat generated by the fire. The thermistor will detect the heat and give
the information to the LM741 OP-AMP. The op-amp will make the NE555 to generate pulse which
has been given to a buzzer to buzz.

Main components:

Thermistor: The resistance of the thermistor will change according to the temperature. There are
two types of thermistors of which one type of thermistor will increase its resistance with increase in
temperature called as positive temperature coefficient and the other type of thermistor will decrease
its resistance with increase in temperature called as negative temperature coefficient. In this project,
we use the thermistor which will have lower resistance with respect to the temperature (negative
temperature coefficient thermistor). Thermistor has large applications in consumer electronics, food
preservation sectors etc.
LM741: LM741 is an operational amplifier which will work according to the difference in the input
voltages. LM741 has following features like high current driving, voltage gain, noise amplification
and also provide low output impedance. LM741 can also used as a short circuit protection.
Circuit Diagram of Fire Alarm Using LM741:

Circuit Explanation: There are two modes in this project:

Mode 1: How the circuit will work if there is no fire

Mode 2: How the circuit will work if there is fire.

Let us now study about these 2 modes in detailed way.

Mode 1 When there is no fire: The thermistor will have high resistance and there will be no
difference in the voltages coming to the LM741 at pin2 and pin3 so there will be no output which
will help to trigger the timer.
Mode 2 When Fire started: The thermistor resistance will go down to the heat produced by the
fire and the resistor R3. And thermistor will act as a potential divider circuit resulting a low voltage
at pin2 of LM741 as the temperature goes high. The reference voltage is given by the R4 to the pin3
when there is a difference in the voltage. The pin6 will trigger the timer configured as astable
multivibrator. NE555 timer will activate the speaker which makes the alarm. The variable resistor
R5 will vary according to the difference in the voltage of the op amp. According to the resistor R5,
the timer will generate pulse. If temperature goes high, the speaker will make high noise.

Fire Alarm Applications:

Fire alarms can be used in any place like parks, theaters, hotels, restaurants, boats, ships, etc.
Fire alarms can be also used as temperature sensors in some applications, when the temperature
goes up abruptly it can inform.
Fire alarm can be used in our home for safety purpose and it is a very good precautionary
measure