Team: 12
School: Capital High
Area of Science: Comp., Environmental, Data Sci./Engineering/Math
Interim: Problem Definition:
Bad ventilation and the lack of air purifiers traps pollutants and allergens in the enclosed areas causing serious health problems, such as headaches, tiredness, drowsiness, loss of focus and concentration, dizziness, etc. Bad ventilation also means increased risk of catching a virus. It’s because with no or poor ventilation, the particles in the air build up and have no way to escape. Very high concentration of CO2 may even lead to the loss of consciousness, coma, and death. There are some ways to improve the quality of the air, but before implementing any of them, it’s important to first know the level of each type of air particulates, especially pollutants and allergens.
Problem Solution:
If, for example, there is an increased level of CO2, simply opening the window may keep its concentration from rising too high. This will however invite pollen and dust inside, which is a serious problem for people suffering from allergies. This could be minimized by air purifiers.
In order to check what’s in the air and which preventive actions to take, we used our robotic air quality monitoring system. We measured the quality of air in various enclosed areas, such as our classroom and our own houses, during a variety of changing circumstances (for example, with the door/window open/closed; with air purifier on/off; in smoking/smoke-free areas; after spraying air freshener and/or other chemicals, such as deodorants, perfumes; with burning incense, etc.).
Expected Results:
Using Python, we presented our data graphically, and this let us see how these changing circumstances affected the quality of air. Like we predicted, the level of pollen in the closed areas was at a very low level, but the level of CO2 and TVOC went drastically up. Opening the window, on the other hand, invited pollen inside, but at the same time it also let CO2 and TVOC escape from the room. And finally, using good air purifiers with HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters helped with lowering the level of all these pollutants and allergens a lot.
Engineering mentor: David Ritter and Mr. Chris Karr
Team Members:
Joshua Tamarra
Zachariah Burch
Britny Marquez
Isel Aragon
Sponsoring Teacher: Barbara Teterycz