Background

Ahmedabad is one of the hottest places in my country, and the climate here, it comes in three distinct states: hot, hotter, and hottest. Don't believe me?

This is taken from an NDTV article (2016)

To make matters worse, the tapwater here is brackish, and not fit for drinking. So, we have to buy water from the local water supplier, who delivers it to our doorstep. The guy who delivers the water, Indra, has to carry the water cans on his bike, and walk around in the scorching heat. And, he's not the only one. Not by a long shot.

While I find solace in the cool confines of my home, there are many people who have to work outdoors, and they are all at risk of heat-related illnesses.

So, I decided to do something about it. This CAS project logs my journey of creating a small, portable, and cheap kit that warns outdoor workers when temperatures are dangerously high.

The detector design

Moved it around so you can see each component

Heat Threshold

Taken from NOAA

The arduino has the table hard-coded into it and it compares the humidity and temperature values to the table. If the values are above the threshold, the buzzer and the LED lights up when it exceeds the threshold.

Results

After a few weeks, Indra convinced me to turn of the annoying noise from the buzzer and just keep the LED on. I figured whatever works for him. Making this project was a great experience - I haven't messed around with electronics in a while, but it was nice to get back in touch. By all means, this is not a perfect solution, but it's a start. In the near future I hope to fix some of the problems with this design, and make it more robust. In the end, I'm grateful to Indra for letting me test this with him, and I hope that this project made a difference in his life.