New smart actuator based on shape memory alloys for avoiding overheating and preventing fire in electronic devices

Abstract

In the past few years, fire incidents in electronic systems have become frequent and caused many losses of life and property. Consequently, various studies have been conducted in order to establish effective ways to avoid fire caused by electrical devices. In light of the fact that electrical sensors frequently get damaged, it is crucial to develop a smart switch that can detect and control off electrical current during an unexpected heat increase or fire incident. In this study, a numerical study that aims to develop a smart actuators combined with electrical devices in order to protect electronic system from fire accidents has been conducted. The proposed smart actuator is based on the shape memory alloy (SMA), which has a robust thermomechanical coupling that reacts to the temperature variation and generates an important mechanical loading. Using the SMA actuator between an electrical power source and the device will avoid any incident related to the temperature increase. Therefore, mathematical modelling has been conducted to adjust the smart actuator with any electrical device, with rules that will be developed to increase the actual detection rate. The simulation results of the proposed fire detection system has been compared with several current methods. The results show that the proposed engineering is very promising and can respond to a temperature change in 0.2 s and generate a total deformation of about 8%. The results show that the suggested method has a higher fire detection rate that can reach 90% for detection.