Air quality monitoring systems and methods

• US 20060173580A1
• Filed: 03/28/2006
• Published: 08/03/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Aircuity Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Aircuity Incorporated
• Inventors: Desrochers, Eric M., Sharp, Gordon P.
• Granted Patent: US 7,389,158 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/276
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2800/22 of not identical elements of the same category, e.g. combinations of not identical springs
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 1/2273 Atmospheric sampling
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 1/24 Suction devices G01N1/22 - G01N1/2294 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 1/26 with provision for intake from several spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2001/021 Correlating sampling sites with geographical information, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0034 comprising neural networks or related mathematical techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/0075 for multiple spatially distributed sensors, e.g. for environmental monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 706/93 Environment

Abstract

An air monitoring system is disclosed having an air monitoring unit with at least one sensor for measuring data of an air quality parameter and a computer for storing the air quality parameter data received from the sensor. The air monitoring unit may use an installed or a portable system, or a combination of both, for measuring the air quality parameters of interest. A remote data center may be provided, and the data may be uploaded to the data center from the unit by a communications media such as the Internet. Information or instructions may also be downloaded from the data center to the unit via the communications media for controlling or modifying the function of the unit. An expert system may be provided with the air monitoring system for controlling the unit. The information or instructions downloaded to the unit may be generated by the expert system.

Claims

3. The method of 2 wherein the step of collecting data comprises sending data via an Internet to a database.

16-1. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of comparing comprises using an expert system to compare the indoor air quality data.

18. A method of making an indoor air quality scorecard, comprising the steps of:

collecting indoor air quality data for at least two distinct areas by measuring a plurality of indoor air quality parameters; and

combining multiple indoor air quality parameters of the indoor air quality data from each area to create at least one index for each distinct area.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising the steps of:

comparing said indexes of the two distinct areas to each other; and

ranking the distinct areas according to one or more criteria based on said indoor air quality data.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of ranking comprises ranking the distinct areas based on the index.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the step of comparing comprises using an expert system to compare the indexes.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the distinct areas are ranked against a plurality of other distinct areas that are similar in at least one attribute.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein all the distinct areas are located in a same predefined geographic region.

25. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of collecting data comprises collecting data from a carbon dioxide sensor, a particle detector, and a humidity sensor.

26. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of collecting data comprises collecting data from a carbon dioxide sensor, a TVOC sensor, and a humidity sensor.

27. The method of claim 18, where the step of combining comprises using multiple air quality parameters to create at least one subindex.

28. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of combining comprises using multiple air quality parameters to create a plurality of subindices.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the step of combining comprises a further step of combining said subindices in a weighted manner to generate an index for each distinct area.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of combining comprises using multiple air quality parameters to create at least three subindices.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the step of combining comprises rating the distinct areas based on said subindices, wherein three of said subindices are based on comfort, healthiness and operational efficiency.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein the step of combining comprises a further step of combining said subindices in a weighted manner to generate an index for each distinct area.

33. The method of claim 31 wherein the step of ranking comprises ranking the distinct areas based on the index for each distinct area.

34. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of combining comprises combining the indoor air quality data in a weighted manner using the measurements of the indoor air quality parameters.

35. The method of claim 18 wherein the step of combining comprises using an expert system to create at least one index for each area.

36. The method of claim 18 wherein the distinct areas are separate buildings.

37. The method of claim 18, further comprises a step of combining the indexes of more than one area together to create a multiple area index that is representative of more than one area.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the said multiple area index is representative of the indoor air quality of an entire building.

39. The method of claim 18, further comprises the steps of:

combining the indexes of a plurality of areas together to create one or more multiple area indices that are each representative of a multiple area group;

comparing said multiple area indexes of at least two multiple area groups to each other; and

ranking the multiple area groups according to a criteria based on said indoor air quality data.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein said multiple area indexes are representative of the indoor air quality of an entire building.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the buildings are ranked against a plurality of other buildings that are similar in at least one building attribute.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein all the buildings are located in a same predefined geographic region.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein a portion of one or more of said buildings is ranked against one or more portions of a plurality of other buildings that are similar in at least one particular building attribute.

44. The method of claim 39, wherein said multiple area indexes are representative of the indoor air quality of a portion of a building.

24. The method of 18 wherein the step of collecting data comprises sending data via the Internet to a database.