A study on the indoor air quality in home and office setting

• Main Author: Eng, Jasmine Yee Ching
• Other Authors: Tiong Lee Kong, Robert
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/68010
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The ability to determine a set of guidelines for designers and planners to create an optimum living and working environment is vital to ensure a sustainable and liveable community. The average Singaporean sleeps for an average of 6.5 hours and work for more than 9 hours a day. That accounts to more than 60% of our day. (Klepeis et al, 2001). Therefore it is crucial to ensure that the environment that we are in indoor is conducive for work and healthy for our well-being. Although there has been an increasing number of study about Indoor Air Quality, there has been a lack of study in determining the optimal indoor air quality and how our daily activities affect the air quality around us. Hence the objective of this report is to develop a set of guidelines for planners to create a perfect living environment and also to help people decide on making alterations to their homes to ensure the air quality indoor remains at optimum levels. In order to determine how our living and working environment will be at its optimum, we first determine the factors affecting indoor air quality at work and at home (the 2 spaces we spend most of our time indoors). Then, we measure the variables using sensors and draw relationships to formulate a set of guidelines that is optimal for the air quality indoor. This study concluded that while this set of guidelines can function as a mean for urban planners and owners of home and office to create a good living and working environment, it will requires a larger base of historical data for greater accuracy of the results. In addition, constant monitoring and collection of more data is required to ensure the realism of the results. To improve indoor air quality, indoor air quality sensors are used to measure several main constituents of indoor air quality, namely: particulate matter (PM 2.5), temperature, relative humidity, Volatile Compounds (VOC), and also Carbon Dioxide. In addition, factors that may affect these constituents like human activities, active ventilation devices and human activity are also analysed. This way, not only we are able to understand the thermal comfort levels of indoor air quality and also, the healthy levels of indoor air quality. Therefore, we can propose solutions to improve the quality of air. Ultimately, the project aims to integrate the stages of tracking, analysis and corrective actions together into an automated, interconnected smart system that can improve the indoor quality of air, so as to live, work and play healthily.