System and method for assessing and reducing air pollution by regulating airflow ventilation

• US 8,190,367 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2007
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Urecsys - Urban Ecology Systems - Indoor Air Quality Management Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Bassa Nir, G.R.G. Patents Ltd.
• Inventors: Bassa, Nir
• Primary Examiner(s): SUGLO, JANET L
• Application Number:
  US12/280,288
• Publication Number:
  US 20090265037A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,931 Days
• Field of Search: 702/3, 73/310.1, 73/310.2, 73/310.3, 731/706
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/00771 the input being a vehicle position or surrounding, e.g. GPS-based position or tunnel
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 1/008 the input being air quality
• CPC Class Codes: B60H 3/0085 Smell or pollution preventing arrangements B60H3/0007, B60H3/0071, B60H3/02, B60H3/06 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/30 for purposes related to the operation of the system, e.g. for safety or monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/65 for selecting an operating mode
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 11/74 for controlling air flow rate or air velocity
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/50 Air quality properties
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 2110/52 of the outside air
• CPC Class Codes: F24F 8/99 for treating air sourced from urban areas, e.g. from streets
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 30/70 Efficient control or regulation technologies, e.g. for control of refrigerant flow, motor or heating
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/84 Greenhouse gas [GHG] management systems

Abstract

Disclosed are means for monitoring the levels of air pollution in urban areas for the purpose of optimizing the conditions of airflow ventilation of buildings according to air pollution levels in their area. The invention supplies data in real time regarding local air pollution levels or relative levels, i.e. current air pollution levels in relation to previous ones. The disclosed system and method makes use of the fluctuations in air pollution levels in order to achieve optimal reduction of air pollution levels inside buildings. The system defines optimal times for ventilation in order to achieve a significant and persisting improvement of indoor air quality, in a routine manner, by using measurements of nondeterministic, continuous and effective fluctuations in air pollution levels at the surroundings of each building, specifically in locations which don'"'"'t include monitoring stations.

Claims

1. A method for minimizing levels of air pollution in a non-monitored remote enclosed structure in an urban area, said method comprising the steps of:

a. using no less than two independent air pollution monitoring stations and at least one computing center, continuously gathering outdoor air pollution data and detecting variable frequent fluctuations of outdoor air pollution levels which recur within the day;

b. transmitting said data gathered by the monitoring stations in real time to the computing center;

c. routinely and in real time, analyzing said gathered data in said computing center to identify relative levels of air pollution from at least two specific locations in said urban area;

d. based on said identified relative levels of air pollution, identifying synchronizations and dependencies of relative air pollution levels between at least two different locations of the urban area;

e. determining a relative influence factor for each monitoring station regarding its relative influence in calculating air pollution relative levels for different non-monitored locations of the urban area;

f. based on said synchronizations or dependencies of relative levels and on said determined factor, identifying relative minimal levels of outdoor air pollution, by calculating ratios between air pollution levels measured in different points in time for at least one remote structure which does not include an outdoor monitoring station; and

g. ventilating the remote enclosed structure that its outdoor surroundings is not being independently monitored with outside air, during periods of minimal levels of air pollution thereby reducing air pollution concentration inside the structure.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of identifying relative minimal levels of outdoor air pollution is preceded by the steps of:

a. using said gathered data;

analyzing patterns, regularities and dependencies regarding differences in air pollution tendencies at said locations by said computing center;

b. identifying optimal periods for ventilation in different locations of the urban area based on the patterns, regularities and dependencies regarding the differences in air pollution tendencies at said locations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of gathering further comprising the steps of:

continuously gathering data concerning intervening factors from a monitoring station in at least one location in said urban area.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein said intervening factors are:

the distance between each monitoring station and each location, wind direction, wind speed, temperature, topography, barometric pressure, humidity levels, angles or vectors of these parameters in relation to each location, composition of air and sunlight intensity or any combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 3 further comprising the step of calculating a factor for determining the relative influence of each monitoring station in estimating air pollution tendencies of each non-monitored remote enclosed structure.

6. The method of claim 5, whereby the factor is calculated for each possible pair of a monitoring station and a location according to:

the distance between each monitoring station and each location, wind direction, wind speed, temperature, topography, barometric pressure, humidity levels, angles or vectors of these parameters in relation to each location or each line between every possible pair of monitoring station and a location, composition of air, sunlight intensity or any combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein said intervening factors include parameters which influence the concentration, diffusion and dispersion of air pollution.

8. The method of claim 3, further comprises the step of transmitting said data of said intervening factors to said computing center;

and estimating the air pollution fluctuation tendencies in sections of said urban area that do not include a monitoring station in accordance with data from at least one remote monitoring station and said intervening factors.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of ventilating comprises the step of providing ventilating commands that are determined according to current estimations of relative levels of air pollution for the surroundings of each non-monitored remote enclosed structure compared to a calculated threshold for the specific non-monitored remote enclosed structure.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said threshold is determined by said computing center according to relative levels of pollution in previous ventilation points in time.

11. The method of claim 10, whereby the step of ventilating is preceded by the steps of:

measuring time span since the last ventilation of said enclosed structure to the present;

taking into account said time lapse in calculating said threshold wherein the longer the time lapse the higher the threshold.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the maximum time span between every two consecutive ventilation commands is predefined.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the recipient of the ventilating command is an automatic ventilation regulating unit in said non-monitored remote enclosed structure, a person located in said urban area, or both.

14. The method of claim 13 further including the step of, using a CO2 sensor, allowing the activation of air flow ventilation from the outside when CO2 levels exceed a predefined CO2 threshold.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said ventilation commands are determined in accordance with characteristics of said non-monitored remote enclosed structure.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein said characteristics of said non-monitored remote enclosed structure are volume, population, levels of activity inside said enclosed environment or a combination thereof.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of receiving feedback information from said non-monitored remote enclosed structure and adjusting said threshold calculations accordingly.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein said non-monitored remote enclosed structure is a building, a vehicle or both.

19. A system for minimizing the levels of air pollution in a non-monitored enclosed structure by optimizing the conditions of airflow ventilation, said system comprises:

a. at least one independent first air pollution monitoring station placed in a urban area capable of continuously and in real time, monitoring and transmitting data relating to fluctuations in the air pollution levels;

b. a second independent monitoring station capable of identifying and transmitting data relating to fluctuations in the air pollution levels;

c. a centralized optimization and control computing center capable of;

i. gathering and analyzing data of air pollution received from said monitoring stations through a first communication network, identifying tendencies, synchronizations of tendencies and dependency of tendencies of air pollution levels between different locations of the same urban area;

ii. identifying in real time periods of relative minimal pollution levels at the monitored locations; and

iii. calculating relative influence factor for each monitoring station regarding its relative influence in calculating air pollution relative levels for each non-monitored location of the urban area; and

iv. using said identified spatial synchronizations of pollution tendencies or using said relative influence factor and said identified spatial dependencies between different locations, in order to identify periods of relative minimal pollution levels for remote structures which does not include an outdoor air pollution monitoring station; and

V. sending ventilation control commands through a second communication network and based on the relative influence factor to a recipient in said non-monitored remote enclosed structure.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said recipient is an automatic ventilation regulation unit capable of receiving said control command, a person located within said urban area, or both.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said automatic ventilation regulating unit controls the ventilation of said non-monitored enclosed structure with air from the outside.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein said automatic ventilation regulating unit further includes a timer for activating air flow ventilation from the outside after a predefined time.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein said automatic ventilation regulating unit further includes a CO2 sensor capable of effecting ventilation of air flow from the outside when CO2 levels exceed a predefined threshold.

24. The system of claim 19, further including a positioning system for determining the location of said recipient.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein said positioning system is at least one of the following:

a GPS unit;

or a cellular communication unit.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein said non-monitored enclosed structure is a building, or a vehicle.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein said second monitoring station is mobile.

28. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one monitoring station is used for gathering and transmitting information concerning intervening factors.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said factor is calculated for each possible pair of a monitoring station and a location based on the distance between each monitoring station and each location, wind direction, wind speed, temperature, topography, barometric pressure, humidity levels, angles or vectors of these parameters in relation to each location or each line between every possible pair of monitoring station and a location, composition of air, sunlight intensity or any combination thereof.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein said intervening factors comprise parameters which influence the concentration, diffusion and dispersion of air pollution.

31. The system of claim 19, wherein the centralized optimization and control computing center further including a processing unit with an algorithm for periodic measurements and assessments for predicting regular points in time in which air pollution levels are relatively low.

32. The system of claim 19, wherein the command sent to the recipient is based on a calculated factor determining the relative weight of each monitoring station.