Purpose

Indoor air quality is an important factor affecting public health.  The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its Science Advisory Board consistently rank indoor air pollution among the top five environmental public health risks.  Average person spends an estimated 90% of their time indoors so that poor indoor air quality is a substantial risk to public health.  For example, poor indoor air quality may cause increased short-term health problems such as fatigue and nausea as well as long-term health problems such as chronic respiratory diseases, heart disease, and lung cancer.  It is even more alarming when we consider air quality conditions in schools and classrooms and its implications to the health as well as learning achievements of the young generation.  Students are particularly at risk for health problems such as asthma and allergies linked to indoor air pollutants commonly found in schools.  According to the US General Accounting Office, 20% of all US schools currently report indoor air quality problems [EPA11a].  

In this project, teachers will learn to build a small IAQ control system using Arduino microcontroller board and micro gas sensors (CO2, O3, etc.).  The microcontroller system will continuously monitor IAQ. Based on a set of pre-configured trigger conditions, the system will send control signals to HAVC system.  In this implementation of a small demo system, HAVC system will be simulated using a desk fan.  Air quality (or the amount of air contaminants) in the conditioned space will be controlled by properly adjusting ventilation rate.

From this project, teachers will gain hands-on engineering experience in building small electronic system and programming microcontrollers.  Teachers will also be able to acquire a good understanding of IAQ-related issues, government regulations and policies, and best practices.