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Examining the functional range of commercially available low‐cost airborne particle sensors and consequences for monitoring of indoor air quality in residences
Author(s) -
Zou Yangyang,
Young Matthew,
Chen Jiawei,
Liu Jiaqi,
May Andrew,
Clark Jordan D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12621
Subject(s) - indoor air quality , environmental science , air quality index , air monitoring , range (aeronautics) , particulates , environmental engineering , waste management , engineering , meteorology , geography , aerospace engineering , chemistry , organic chemistry
Low‐cost airborne particle sensors are gaining attention for monitoring human exposure to indoor particulate matter. This study aimed to establish the concentrations at which these commercially available sensors can be expected to report accurate concentrations. We exposed five types of commercial integrated devices and three types of “bare” low‐cost particle sensors to a range of concentrations generated by three different sources. We propose definitions of upper and lower bounds of functional range based on the relationship between a given sensor's output and that of a reference instrument during a laboratory experiment. Experiments show that the lower bound can range from approximately 3 to 15 μg/m 3 . At greater concentrations, sensor output deviates from linearity at approximately 300‐3000 μg/m 3 . We also conducted a simulation campaign to analyze the effect of this limitation on functional range on the accuracy of exposure readings given by these devices. We estimate that the upper bound results in minimal inaccuracy in exposure quantification, and the lower bound can result in as much as a 50% error in approximately 10% of US homes.