4EvAirSense: a retrofittable, self-powered and maintenance-free LoRa wireless indoor air quality sensing platform for ventilation improvement enabling safe and healthy environments

4EvAirSense：可改造、自供电、免维护的 LoRa 无线室内空气质量传感平台，用于改善通风，打造安全健康的环境

• 批准号: 85662
• 金额: $ 11.47万
• 依托单位: LIGHTRICITY LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=85662
• 关键词: 4EvAirSense; retrofittable; self; powered; maintenance

The economic and social impact of Covid-19 is evident in the constraints placed on businesses, schools and various public and private indoor spaces with regards to occupancy and ensuring safe return-to-work strategies. Exhaled CO2 affects human health at levels as low as 1,000 ppm, commonly observed in crowded, poorly ventilated rooms. Many countries have or are setting maximum Permissible Exposure Limits. Covid-19 mitigation strategies also cite improved ventilation, regularly exchanging indoor air with fresh outdoor air, as key to reducing indoor airborne virus transmission.Whilst the sophisticated ventilation systems can automatically manage IAQ, there is a clear opportunity to develop affordable technical solutions based on CO2 monitoring that support improvements to ventilation for the widest possible range of users. There is also clear Covid-19 economic impact mitigation in reducing the operating costs e.g. energy usage and system maintenance, by introducing more efficient ventilation control options that are retrofittable and have lower cost of installation and ownership than competing options.This project develops an autonomous prototype wirelessly communicating self-powered CO2 sensor device beyond current state-of-the-art to enable effective ventilation control. Combining GSS's new ultra-low power NDIR CO2 sensor, LoRa wireless communication and Lightricity world-leading indoor PV along with further sensors (Temperature/Humidity/Pressure/Light -- for further IAQ information and device management) in a miniaturised package would deliver the world's first truly self-powered long-range wireless CO2 sensor nodes for ventilation control and occupancy determination.With only one gateway per building and long wireless range (km), LoRa Wide Area Network saves the deployment cost of multiple gateways per building compared with SoA short-range wireless approaches (Wifi, BLE, EnOcean) enabling much easier installation, maintenance and better affordability to different types of users e.g. individuals, housing associations, residential care homes. It enables economic fit-and-forget retrofitting/upgrading of control or adjustment notification to facilities managers and allows care home and residential users to be notified for simple, practical actions like opening windows when air quality indicates insufficient ventilation. The project builds upon previous feasibility work powering a short-range CO2 wireless sensor using Lightricity PV and significantly extends functionality and capability beyond the state-of-the-art in wireless CO2 sensors.The solution is sustainable through better ventilation control reducing wasted energy and using a renewable energy source (PV) to avoid environmental impact of battery waste. It is also inclusive in bringing ventilation control options and therefore health to the widest possible range of users.

Covid-19的经济和社会影响在企业、学校和各种公共和私人室内空间在占用和确保安全重返工作岗位战略方面受到的限制中显而易见。呼出的二氧化碳影响人体健康的水平低至1000ppm，通常在拥挤、通风不良的房间中观察到。许多国家已经或正在制定最大允许接触限值。Covid-19缓解战略还指出，改善通风，定期将室内空气与室外新鲜空气交换，是减少室内空气传播病毒的关键。虽然复杂的通风系统可以自动管理室内空气质量，但显然有机会开发基于二氧化碳监测的经济实惠的技术解决方案，以支持尽可能广泛的用户改善通风。通过引入更有效的通风控制方案，降低运营成本，例如能源使用和系统维护，也明显减轻了Covid-19的经济影响，这些方案可进行改造，安装和拥有成本低于竞争方案。该项目开发了一种自主原型无线通信自供电二氧化碳传感器设备，超越了目前最先进的技术，实现了有效的通风控制。结合GSS的新型超低功耗NDIR二氧化碳传感器、LoRa无线通信和Lightricity世界领先的室内光伏以及其他传感器（温度/湿度/压力/光-用于进一步的室内空气质量信息和设备管理），在一个小型化的封装中，将提供世界上第一个真正自供电的远程无线二氧化碳传感器节点，用于通风控制和占用确定。与SoA短距离无线方式（Wifi、BLE、EnOcean）相比，LoRa广域网每栋楼只有一个网关，无线范围长（公里），节省了每栋楼多个网关的部署成本，使不同类型的用户（如个人、房屋协会、养老院）更容易安装、维护和负担得起。它使经济的改造/升级控制或调整通知设施管理人员，并允许护理院和住宅用户进行简单而实际的行动，例如当空气质量表明通风不足时打开窗户。该项目建立在之前使用Lightricity PV为短程二氧化碳无线传感器供电的可行性工作的基础上，并大大扩展了无线二氧化碳传感器的功能和性能。该解决方案是可持续的，通过更好的通风控制减少能源浪费，并使用可再生能源（PV）来避免电池浪费对环境的影响。它还包括为尽可能广泛的用户提供通风控制选项和健康。