Investigation of indoor air quality in university residences using low-cost sensors

Afroz, Mst Rowshon; Guo, Xinyang; Chen, Chuwen; Duruisseau-Kuntz, Ryan; Delorme, Ariel; Zhao, Rongqin

doi:10.1039/d2ea00149g

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 72 publications

(127 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Prior studies demonstrated that the use of ultrasonic humidifiers can result in similarly elevated PM 2.5 concentrations in residences. 32 , 33 Participant 3 was the only participant exposed to a higher work-week averaged PM 2.5 concentration while away from work. This exposure was mostly attributed to soil and might have occurred when Participant 3 completed a mowing task at home.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

AirPen: A Wearable Monitor for Characterizing Exposures to Particulate Matter and Volatile Organic Compounds

Tryner

Quinn

Rueda

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Exposure to air pollution is a leading risk factor for disease and premature death, but technologies for assessing personal exposure to particulate and gaseous air pollutants, including the timing and location of such exposures, are limited. We developed a small, quiet, wearable monitor, called the AirPen, to quantify personal exposures to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The AirPen combines physical sample collection (PM onto a filter and VOCs onto a sorbent tube) with a suite of low-cost sensors (for PM, VOCs, temperature, pressure, humidity, light intensity, location, and motion). We validated the AirPen against conventional personal sampling equipment in the laboratory and then conducted a field study to measure at-work and away-from-work exposures to PM2.5 and VOCs among employees at an agricultural facility in Colorado, USA. The resultant sampling and sensor data indicated that personal exposures to benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes were dominated by a specific workplace location. These results illustrate how the AirPen can be used to advance our understanding of personal exposure to air pollution as a function of time, location, source, and activity, even in the absence of detailed activity diary data.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

AirPen: A Wearable Monitor for Characterizing Exposures to Particulate Matter and Volatile Organic Compounds

Tryner

Quinn

Rueda

et al. 2023

Environ. Sci. Technol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Their photometric measuring method operates via transmission effects, which results in a wider detectable particle-size range than with the SMPS. There are already a number of studies with the mentioned low-cost sensors [39][40][41][42][43][44], where the comparison to different laboratory measuring devices (Optical Particle Counter, SMPS, etc.) showed that the PM2.5 values are comparable [39,41,43].…”

Section: Measurement Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are already a number of studies with the mentioned low-cost sensors [39][40][41][42][43][44], where the comparison to different laboratory measuring devices (Optical Particle Counter, SMPS, etc.) showed that the PM2.5 values are comparable [39,41,43]. As soon as the range allowed by the manufacturer for the relative humidity is exceeded, the measured values are detected incorrectly [41,44].…”

Section: Measurement Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Suitability of Low-Cost Sensors for Submicron Aerosol Particle Measurement

Stoll,

Kerner,

Paas

et al. 2023

ASI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The measurement and assessment of indoor air quality in terms of respirable particulate constituents is relevant, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and associated infection events. To analyze indoor infectious potential and to develop customized hygiene concepts, the measurement monitoring of the anthropogenic aerosol spreading is necessary. For indoor aerosol measurements usually standard lab equipment is used. However, these devices are time-consuming, expensive and unwieldy. The idea is to replace this standard laboratory equipment with low-cost sensors widely used for monitoring fine dust (particulate matter—PM). Due to the low acquisition costs, many sensors can be used to determine the aerosol load, even in large rooms. Thus, the aim of this work is to verify the measurement capability of low-cost sensors. For this purpose, two different models of low-cost sensors are compared with established laboratory measuring instruments. The study was performed with artificially prepared NaCl aerosols with a well-defined size and morphology. In addition, the influence of the relative humidity, which can vary significantly indoors, on the measurement capability of the low-cost sensors is investigated. For this purpose, a heating stage was developed and tested. The results show a discrepancy in measurement capability between low-cost sensors and laboratory measuring instruments. This difference can be attributed to the partially different measuring method, as well as the different measuring particle size ranges. The determined measurement accuracy is nevertheless good, considering the compactness and the acquisition price of the low-cost sensors.

show abstract

“…The EC sensors generally operate in amperometry mode, wherein the electrochemical reactions between the target gas and an electrolyte produce a current dependent on the gas concentration [ 8 ]. The NDIR technology, widely applied for CO 2 sensor making [ [9] , [10] , [11] ], is based on the spectroscopic principle in which the gas concentrations are proportional to the amount of infrared (IR) light being absorbed by the gas molecules in the air, measured as the difference between the amount of light radiated by the IR lamp and the amount of IR light received by the detector [ 12 , 13 ]. In the PID sensors, the air samples are ionized by UV light; this ionization process leads to the release of electrons and the creation of positively charged ions that generate an electric current signal output.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and machine learning-based calibration of low-cost multiparametric stations for the measurement of CO2 and CH4 in air

Biagi,

Ferrari,

Venturi

et al. 2024

Heliyon

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Investigation of indoor air quality in university residences using low-cost sensors

Abstract: Exposure to air pollutants can cause serious adverse effects on human health; thus, indoor air quality (IAQ) is an important health and safety concern for occupants. A significant fraction of...

Cited by 3 publications

References 72 publications

AirPen: A Wearable Monitor for Characterizing Exposures to Particulate Matter and Volatile Organic Compounds

AirPen: A Wearable Monitor for Characterizing Exposures to Particulate Matter and Volatile Organic Compounds

Suitability of Low-Cost Sensors for Submicron Aerosol Particle Measurement

Development and machine learning-based calibration of low-cost multiparametric stations for the measurement of CO2 and CH4 in air

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About