Multisensor IoT Platform for Optimising IAQ Levels in Buildings through a Smart Ventilation System

Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) issues have a direct impact on the health and comfort of building occupants. In this paper, an experimental low-cost system has been developed to address IAQ issues by using a distributed internet of things platform to control and monitor the indoor environment in building spaces while adopting a data-driven approach. The system is based on several real-time sensor data to model the indoor air quality and accurately control the ventilation system through algorithms to maintain a comfortable level of IAQ by balancing indoor and outdoor pollutant concentrations using the Indoor Air Quality Index approach. This paper describes hardware and software details of the system as well as the algorithms, models, and control strategies of the proposed solution which can be integrated in detached ventilation systems. Furthermore, a mobile app has been developed to inform, in real time, different-expertise-user profiles showing indoor and outdoor IAQ conditions. The system is implemented in a small prototype box and early-validated with different test cases considering various pollutant concentrations, reaching a Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 3–4.

[1]  Oar,et al.  Introduction to Indoor Air Quality , 2014 .

[2]  Stuart Batterman,et al.  Air exchange rates from atmospheric CO2 daily cycle. , 2015, Energy and buildings.

[3]  Allan Melvin Andrew,et al.  Development of indoor environmental index: Air quality index and thermal comfort index , 2017 .

[4]  Giacomo Chiesa.  Data, BigData and smart cities. Considerations and case study on environmental monitoring / Dati, bigdata e città intelligenti. Riflessioni e caso studio per monitoraggi ambientali , 2014 .

[5]  Shivangi Nigam,et al.  Air Quality Index-A Comparative Study for Assessing the Status of Air Quality , 2015 .

[6]  Who Regional Office for Europe,et al.  WHO Guidelines for Indoor Air Quality: Selected Pollutants , 2011 .

[7]  Baizhan Li,et al.  Natural ventilation potential for residential buildings in a densely built-up and highly polluted environment. A case study , 2019, Renewable Energy.

[8]  Dhaval R Vyas,et al.  Use of PWM Techniques for Power Quality Improvement , 2009 .

[9]  Mario Grosso,et al.  Passive Downdraught Evaporative Cooling System Integration in Existing Residential Building Typologies: A Case Study ☆ , 2017 .

[10]  Abdullah Kadri,et al.  A Modular IoT Platform for Real-Time Indoor Air Quality Monitoring , 2018, Sensors.

[11]  M. Shin,et al.  Performance evaluation of CO2-based ventilation control to reduce CO2 concentration and condensation risk in residential buildings , 2018, Building and Environment.

[12]  Elisa Di Giuseppe,et al.  Moisture buffering "active" devices for indoor humidity control: preliminary experimental evaluations , 2014 .

[13]  Who Europe.  Air Quality Guidelines Global Update 2005: Particulate Matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide , 2006 .

[14]  T. Sterling,et al.  Indirect health effects of relative humidity in indoor environments. , 1986, Environmental health perspectives.

[15]  Luigi Marletta,et al.  Refurbishing an existing apartment block in Mediterranean climate: towards the Passivhaus standard , 2017 .

[16]  Andreas Holm,et al.  Moisture Buffering Effects on Indoor Air Quality— Experimental and Simulation Results , 2004 .

[17]  C. Corvalan,et al.  Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks , 2016 .

[18]  Fitz-Simons.  Guideline for reporting of daily air quality: Air Quality Index (AQI) , 1999 .

[19]  Gerhard Zucker,et al.  A ventilation system controller based on pressure-drop and CO2 models , 2017 .

[20]  Shengwei Wang,et al.  In-situ implementation and validation of a CO2-based adaptive demand-controlled ventilation strategy in a multi-zone office building , 2011 .

[21]  Joseph G. Allen,et al.  Associations of Cognitive Function Scores with Carbon Dioxide, Ventilation, and Volatile Organic Compound Exposures in Office Workers: A Controlled Exposure Study of Green and Conventional Office Environments , 2015, Environmental health perspectives.

[22]  C. Balocco,et al.  Heat and moisture transfer investigation of surface building materials , 2018, Mathematical Modelling of Engineering Problems.

[23]  Giacomo Chiesa.  Explicit-digital design practice and possible areas of implication , 2017 .