Indoor Air Pollutant Monitoring in Classrooms & Laboratories (VOC’s, CO, CO2, & ventilation Rates)

Methodology:	Integrated Sensor Systems
Application:	Environmental
Primary Focus:	Application
Title:	Indoor Air Pollutant Monitoring in Classrooms & Laboratories (VOC’s, CO, CO2, and ventilation Rates)
Keywords:	Analysis Detector Electrochemistry Environmental/Air

Assignment Status:	Assigned CO-662	Session Title:	New Developments in Analytical Instrumentation and Software
Session Date	03/11/2012	Starting Time:	( Slot # 25 )

15 students present in the room and 4 adults

Poor air quality in school classrooms is a serious problem now since school classrooms can have occupancy levels as high as 40 sq. ft per persons compared to average office occupancy of 140 sq. ft. per person. Other considerations include the number of portable classrooms being used on a semi-permanent basis.  Many of the urban schools are old, situated near industrial sites and have poor HVAC equipment. With class rooms that have individually controlled HVAC, improving the air quality could be accomplished by simply monitoring CO2 and using that to control the HVAC system. Of course, most schools do not have that capability.

PID Analyzers, LLC Model 114

We have developed an IAQ sensor package that has the capability to monitor CO2 in the crowded class rooms (high levels of CO2 cause drowsiness),  air  velocity in ducts to detect problematic HVAC problems, VOC’s from a variety of sources, and a fourth sensor  that can be selected. The CO2 sensor is an IR sensor with a range of 0-1,500 ppm and the VOC sensor is a photoionization detector with ppb capability. The third sensor is a air velocity sensor. The fourth sensor can be chosen from a variety (30) of electrochemical sensors.

18 students present in the room and 2 adults

A battery operated system with the capability to run for 80-90 hours could provide two weeks of data which would be sufficient to evaluate class room and make decisions  about   the corrective actions to be taken.  A variety of classrooms will be evaluated with the sensor package including labs, portable class rooms, lecture halls.  A positive benefit to improving IAQ in classrooms is that  a number of studies have shown that this can lead to higher test scores.
Authors: Jack Driscoll and Jennifer Maclachlan, PID Analyzers, LLC