Developing of Low-Cost Air Pollution Sensor—Measurements with the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in Poland

Abstract

This article presents the capabilities and selected measurement results from the newly developed low-cost air pollution measurement system mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The system is designed and manufactured by the authors and is intended to facilitate, accelerate, and ensure the safety of operators when measuring air pollutants. It allows the creation of three-dimensional models and measurement visualizations, thanks to which it is possible to observe the location of leakage of substances and the direction of air pollution spread by various types of substances. Based on these models, it is possible to create area audits and strategies for the elimination of pollution sources. Thanks to the usage of a multi-socket microprocessor system, the combination of nine different air quality sensors can be installed in a very small device. The possibility of simultaneously measuring several different substances has been achieved at a very low cost for building the sensor unit: 70 EUR. The very small size of this device makes it easy and safe to mount it on a small drone (UAV). Because of this device, many harmful chemical compounds such as ammonia, hexane, benzene, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, as well as flammable substances such as hydrogen and methane, can be detected. Additionally, a very important function is the ability to perform measurements of PM2.5 and PM10 suspended particulates. Thanks to the use of UAV, the measurement is carried out remotely by the operator, which allows us to avoid the direct exposure of humans to harmful factors. A big advantage is the quick measurement of large spaces, at different heights above the ground, in different weather conditions. Because of the three-dimensional positioning from GPS receiver, users can plot points and use colors reflecting a concentration of measured features to better visualize the air pollution. A human-friendly data output can be used to determine the mostly hazardous regions of the sampled area.

Analysis and Evaluation of Heat Pipe Efficiency to Reduce Low Emission with the Use of Working Agents R134A, R404A and R407C, R410A

“…The heat pipe (1) was enclosed in the evaporating and condensing parts with heat exchangers for its heating and cooling. The evaporator was heated in the temperature range of 15-50 • C, and the condenser was cooled with water at 10 • C. To maintain constant temperature parameters in the heat exchangers, the station was equipped with two ultrathermostats equipped with a microprocessor-based temperature control system (2,3) cooperating with an ice water unit (4). Photos of the heat pipe with exchangers are shown in Figure 6.…”

“…Due to its structure, the heat pipe is an economical heat exchanger compared to other commonly used approaches. For this reason, and in an era of striving to save [4] and limit the unnecessary dissipation of energy, interest in this type of heat exchangers is still growing [5]. To facilitate this technology, a series of tests has been found to be necessary to analyze the operation of heat pipes and to identify the most effective heat exchangers of the heat pipe type depending on their operating conditions [6].…”

Optimization of air pollution measurements with unmanned aerial vehicle low-cost sensor based on an inductive knowledge management method

“…This is the next prototype. The first PCB prototypes were presented in Pochwała et al (2020). The PCB has a very simple design and is based mainly on external modules such as external GPS module.…”

“…Individual modules of the system are as follows: MCU;GPS; barometric altimeter; voltage converter and regulator circuit; FSK transmitter-wireless data transmission-does not write to SD; PMS dust sensor adapter; connectors. The board used in the research described in this paper was an improved version presented in Pochwała et al (2020). The improvement concerned primarily the layout and, consequently, further reduction of dimensions.…”

Development of a Colorimetric Sensor for Autonomous, Networked, Real-Time Application

“…The idea behind this approach is to utilize Sensors 2020, 20, 5857 2 of 21 multiple low-cost sensors that are small, low power, and autonomous [24,25]. The devices could be used with unmanned vehicles for deployment and/or delivery [26][27][28][29][30] or may be scattered around an area of interest for long-duration monitoring. The concept of use involves a population of these sensors rather than a single device.…”