BlazeGuard: An Automated Fire Prevention Plug for Electronics and Appliances

The leading cause of home fires is appliance and battery fires, where devices get extremely hot and typically produce smoke before catching fire. These fires can be prevented if devices can be shut off when high heat or smoke can be detected before a fire starts. This paper presents the design and implementation of BlazeGuard, a smart plug, capable of being used with any existing outlets which can enable the user to plug in any devices or appliances. These plugs will be able to automatically monitor current, detect heat, smoke, and voltage usage using onboard sensors. To adapt to various devices/appliances they will include a module with external sensors for situations where the outlet is far away from the device in question. If anyone of these parameters nears concerning levels the device will shut off power to that device and alert the user. BlazeGuard will also have the ability to cut off power after a time limit to prevent overcharging on devices without that protection and offer real time alerts to the user. Contrary to current solutions which require extensive rewiring, and offer only certain features, BlazeGuard provides a cost effective and reliable solution to fire prevention.