Abubaker Waswa Matovu’s paper wins “Best Paper Award”

Mr Abubaker Waswa Matovu , an assistant lecturer in the Department of Electrical and computer Engineering, won  “The Best Paper Award” during a conference held on 25-26 April, 2015 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

His paper “Design and Implementation of a GSM based Fuel Leakage Monitoring System on Trucks in Transit” was chosen best during the 3rd International Conference on Emerging Trends in Scientific Research.

THE PAPER:

Design and Implementation of a GSM- based Fuel Leakage Monitoring System on Trucks in Transit

Researchers: Abubaker Waswa Matovu, Kedi Wagobera, Edgar Nsamba

A group of Engineers from College of Engineering Design Art and Technology have innovated developed a system that detects a fuel leak and notifies the driver and police. Mr. Abubaker Waswa Matovu, Kedi Wagobera and  Edgar Nsamba Sula were looking at reducing the number of death and injuries arising out of fuel  tank  explosions .

Last year in June, a fuel tank exploded at Namungoona on the Northern Bypass in Kampala killing 40 people, most of whom were boda-boda cyclists who had gathered to collect the leaking fuel.

Mr Waswa Matovu.jpg
Mr Waswa Matovu

Mr. Waswa Matovu, says the design consists of sensors that can reliably monitor, detect, and send alerts upon occurrence of any fuel leakages. The message can either be sent to police, truck owner or the driver of the truck who can in turn react accordingly.

“The web portal in the control room can as well proactively monitor the truck’s real time movements,” he says.

“The main aim of this system is to present a working mechanism that will help to reduce on the  number of people that would be involved in any fuel explosions and to proactively monitor the  truck the truck to avoid any explosions just in-case there is a fuel leakage.”

How it works

This project is going to work on the principle that if there is a fuel leakage, this fuel will get in contact with air and if this happens, it evaporates turning into gas. It is this gas that will be detected using a gas sensor that will transduce into a voltage to be sent a signal to the microcontroller which will automatically pick coordinates from the GPS module at that same time sending it to the GSM module and pinpoint the current location of the truck. The GSM module device will then send a message to the Police, driver and the company responsible for the fuel in transit.

The system, the researcher says is an effective system which is quick and a safer replacement for the elementary method of smelling fuel to ascertain whether fuel has leaked or not.

This technology could help save the lives of Ugandans as well the company’s revenue lost due to fuel leakages and explosions.

Congratulations to Mr Waswa Matovu.

Best Paper Award [PDF]

Project Paper Presented [PDF ]