Hello,

In this tutorial, we are going to learn how an MQ-2 Smoke sensor works and also interface with Arduino.

Hardware Required

 

 

Software Required

 

MQ2 Smoke sensor

 

  • Nowadays, electrical systems are used in every part of our lives. Almost everything we use in our day-to-day lives is made of electronic components. And electrical systems are largely comprised of sensors and actuators. There are a lot of different sensors and they detect different things like fire, temperature, smoke, air, humidity, motion etc.
  • MQ2 sensor is a gas sensor that is used to detect gas leakages in homes as well as in industries. This sensor operates on 5V. 
  • One such sensor which is mostly used in home safety systems is the MQ2 smoke sensor.
  • This sensor is used in small robotics projects as it provides great performance and is very economical. The MQ2 can detect a variety of things like methane, butane, smoke, propane, Alcohol, carbon monoxide. This makes it a wonderful choice for detecting many different kinds of things.

 

Construction & Working principle

 

 

  • The MQ2 sensor comprises a sensing element that is mainly made up of aluminum-oxide-based ceramic. This material is coated with Tin dioxide and then this assembly is enclosed with a steel mesh. 
  • The sensing element has six terminals attached to it. Two terminals are responsible for heating up the sensing element, the other four are used for output signals. 
  • Let us consider the example of oxygen gas. When the sensor is heated, it absorbs the gases in the atmosphere around it. 
  • Tin oxide has donor electrons present in it, which are attracted towards oxygen. So we can detect the amount of oxygen present in it by identifying the donor electrons. 
  • The output signals generate the appropriate voltage values which are generated from the amount of the gas which is to be detected. 

Pinout of MQ2 Sensor

 

  • The above image shows the six terminals of the MQ2 sensor. 
  • The MQ2 sensor board has 4 pins
  • VCC is the power supply pin.
  • GND is the ground pin.
  • DO is the digital output pin.
  • AO is the analog output pin.

 

Interfacing with Arduino

 

  • Connect the VCC pin to the 5V pin of the Arduino board.
  • Connect the GND pin to the GND pin of the Arduino board.
  • Connect the digital output pin to digital pin 8 of the Arduino board.
  • Connect the analog output pin to analog pin 0 of the Arduino board. 

 

Arduino Code

#define MQ2pin (0)

float sensorValue;  

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600); 
  Serial.println("Gas sensor warming up!");
  delay(20000); 
}

void loop()
{
  sensorValue = analogRead(MQ2pin);
  
  Serial.print("Sensor Value: ");
  Serial.print(sensorValue);
  
  if(sensorValue > 200)
  {
    Serial.print(" | Smoke detected!");
  }
  
  Serial.println("");
  delay(2000); 
}
  • Upload the code to the Arduino board. Open the Serial monitor. 
  • It will show something like this. Whenever smoke is detected, you will get the message that smoke detected. 

  • I hope you learned something about the MQ2 smoke sensor from this article and I hope that you liked it. Thank you.