AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Evaluation of Low-Cost PM Sensors, Intended for Use in a Dense Monitoring Grid
David M. Broday, Barak Fishbain, YAEL ETZION, Ilan Levy, Technion - Israel Institute of Tehcnology
Abstract Number: 275 Working Group: Portable and Inexpensive Sensor Technology for Air Quality Monitoring
Abstract Particulate matter (PM) was found to be associated with adverse health effects in humans, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. This is particularly true in urban areas where there are multiple sources for air pollution. Measurements of particulate matter levels in urban areas are based on data collected at monitoring sites with dedicated and accurate instrumentation that is too expensive to deploy in high density. As a result, urban areas are typically monitored only at few locations. Yet the complexity of the emissions sources results in large uncertainties in the fine scale variance of particles at different size distributions, and particularly in near-road levels.
A complementary approach to the standard air quality monitoring networks is the use of low-cost sensors that are less accurate but can be deployed in large numbers over relatively small areas. Several such sensors are available in the market today. Here we present results of an evaluation of two such devices against a hi-end instrument.
Measurements were applied simultaneously by two Sharp's dust sensors onboard ambient monitoring systems (AirBase 's CanarIT 1.0), two standalone Air Quality Monitors of Dylos (DC1700), and two aerosol spectrometers ( DMT's PCASP-X2 and GRIMM 1.103) . The evaluation included 1) inter-unit consistency, and 2) agreement with the particle counts by an aerosol spectrometer. The experiment was conducted under full ambient conditions, namely, no filters were used to remove coarse particles. The Sharp dust sensors are measuring all particles in ambient air. The Dylos DC1700 measures particle counts at two size fractions: particles greater than 0.5 micron and greater than 2.5 microns, while the aerosol spectrometer measured particle-size resolved concentrations in the 0.12-10 micrometer range.
Preliminary results show a very good agreement between the two Dylos DC1700 units and also a good agreement between the counts of Dylos units and the integrated counts of DMT in the 0.5-2.5 µm size range. The Sharp sensors in comparison were found less responsive to changes in ambient concentrations.