Air quality sensor
First Claim
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1. An air quality sensor comprising:
- an optical particle sensor for detecting particles having a size of 10 microns or less in diameter in ambient air of the optical particle sensor, wherein the optical particle sensor outputs an output signal;
wherein the optical particle sensor comprises a LED and detects particles based on reflection of light energy from the LED by particles in a chamber of the optical particle sensor; and
a programmable processor circuit in communication with the optical particle sensor that is programmed to continuously compute updated air quality measures for the ambient air using an estimation algorithm based on pulses in the output signal from the optical particle sensor over time;
wherein the programmable processor circuit computes the updated air quality measures by performing operations that comprise;
adjusting a current value of the air quality measure at a first rate proportional to a difference between the current value and a raw value from the optical particle sensor, scaled by a constant, when the raw value is non-zero; and
exponentially decaying the current value of the air quality measure toward zero at a second rate when the raw value is zero, wherein the second rate is less than the first rate.
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Abstract
Air quality sensor comprises an optical particle sensor and a programmable processor circuit. The optical particle sensor detects particles having a size of 10 microns or less in diameter in ambient air of the optical particle sensor. The programmable processor circuit continuously computes updated air quality measures for the ambient air using an estimation algorithm based on pulses in an output signal from the particle sensor over time, such as a cumulative particle density value and/or a cumulative particle weight value. The optical particle sensor may comprise a LED and accordingly detect particles based on reflection of light energy from the LED by particles in a chamber of the sensor.
37 Citations
25 Claims
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1. An air quality sensor comprising:
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an optical particle sensor for detecting particles having a size of 10 microns or less in diameter in ambient air of the optical particle sensor, wherein the optical particle sensor outputs an output signal; wherein the optical particle sensor comprises a LED and detects particles based on reflection of light energy from the LED by particles in a chamber of the optical particle sensor; and a programmable processor circuit in communication with the optical particle sensor that is programmed to continuously compute updated air quality measures for the ambient air using an estimation algorithm based on pulses in the output signal from the optical particle sensor over time; wherein the programmable processor circuit computes the updated air quality measures by performing operations that comprise; adjusting a current value of the air quality measure at a first rate proportional to a difference between the current value and a raw value from the optical particle sensor, scaled by a constant, when the raw value is non-zero; and exponentially decaying the current value of the air quality measure toward zero at a second rate when the raw value is zero, wherein the second rate is less than the first rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method of determining the quality of ambient air, comprising:
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detecting particles having a size of 10 microns or less in diameter in ambient air with an optical particle sensor, wherein the optical particle sensor comprises a LED and detects particles based on reflection of light energy from the LED by particles in a chamber of the optical particle sensor, and wherein the optical particle sensor outputs an output signal; and computing, by a programmable processor circuit that is in communication with the optical particle sensor, a continuously updated air quality measure for the ambient air using an estimation algorithm based on pulses in the output signal from the optical particle sensor over time; wherein computing the continuously updated air quality measure comprises; adjusting a current value of the air quality measure at a first rate proportional to a difference between the current value and a raw value from the optical particle sensor, scaled by a constant, when the raw value is non-zero; and exponentially decaying the current value toward zero at a second rate when the raw value is zero, wherein the second rate is less than the first rate. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An air quality sensor comprising:
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an optical particle sensor for detecting particles having a size of 10 microns or less in diameter in ambient air of the optical particle sensor; wherein the optical particle sensor comprises a LED and detects particles based on reflection of light enemy from the LED by particles in a chamber of the optical particle sensor; a programmable processor circuit in communication with the optical particle sensor for computing a continuously updated air quality measure for the ambient air based on an output signal from the optical particle sensor; wherein the programmable processor circuit computes the continuously updated air quality measure by performing operations that comprise; adjusting a current value of the air quality measure at a first rate proportional to a difference between the current value and a raw value from the optical particle sensor, scaled by a constant, when the raw value is non-zero; and exponentially decaying the current value of the air quality measure toward zero at a second rate when the raw value is zero, wherein the second rate is less than the first rate; a memory unit for storing the continuously updated air quality measures computed by the processor circuit; and a display in communication with the processor circuit that displays real-time and historical air quality measures computed by the processor circuit and stored in the memory unit. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21)
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22. A method of determining the quality of ambient air comprising:
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detecting particles having a size of 10 microns or less in diameter in ambient air with an optical particle sensor, wherein the optical particle sensor comprises a LED and detects particles based on reflection of light energy from the LED by particles in a chamber of the optical, particle sensor; computing, by a programmable processor circuit that is in communication with the optical particle sensor, continuously updated air quality measures for the ambient air based on an output signal from the optical particle sensor; wherein computing the continuously updated air quality measures comprises; adjusting a current value of the air quality measure at a first rate proportional to a difference between the current value and a raw value from the optical particle sensor, scaled by a constant, when the raw value is non-zero; and exponentially decaying the current value toward zero at a second rate when the raw value is zero, wherein the second rate is less than the first rate; storing, in a memory unit associated with the processor circuit, the continuously updated air quality measures computed by the processor circuit; and visually displaying, on a display in communication with the processor circuit, real-time and historical air quality measures computed by the processor circuit and stored in the memory unit. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25)
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Specification