The Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center (SEMC) enjoys the highest recognition in the country for its advanced work. The institution is responsible for monitoring the city’s environmental quality and emission sources, water, atmosphere, ecological and biological environments. It is also an information and training center for the environmental monitoring department of Shanghai. High precision measurement is essential at SEMC. So, when the officials heard about the Palas® AQ Guard Ambient’s excellent performance, it was decided to use this instrument to carry out a field test in the Shanghai 2021 autumn and winter special pollution operation.
A ride with ambient air monitoring equipment
The AQ Guard Ambient has a compact design. It can be easily mounted in a car for mobile ambient air monitoring. This is what the researchers of the SEMC did. The experts from Palas® helped to fix the AQ Guard Ambient safely on the car. Then the instrument needed to be connected to the data platform of SEMC in real-time. The researchers started the ride, and what they saw impressed them greatly.
Ready for the test drive: Real-time mobile air quality monitoring for SMEC
The Palas® AQ Guard is safely fixed at the car sending data every second to the data platform
New data every second
For the researchers of SEMC, it is a routine procedure to measure the number of particles in the air. With the technology of Palas® AQ Guard, they also had the opportunity to see which size of particles are predominantly in the air. On top of that: The Palas® AQ Guard refreshes the data every second. It means: Combined with the installed camera, the researchers could see the potential source of the increase of particles. This is a game-changer in air quality analysis.
The data showed an intense increase in particle volume during the test drive. Thanks to the measuring technology of the AQ guard, the researchers could see that the majority of the particles were PM10 particles. When checking the video, they could see the particles were coming from a construction site they had just passed by. The measured particles were mainly dust. In a different situation, the proportion of PM2.5 particles went straight up. When checking the video, it turned out this happened while on a high road with heavy traffic, so the particles were emissions from cars and trucks.
Step 1: AQ Guard measures the volume of particles in the air
Step 2: AQ Guard shows the proportions of the different particle sizes in the total amount
A game-changer in real-time monitoring
When the test drive ended, the researchers clearly understood the data’s air quality. Thanks to the combination of measuring particle amount, particle size, real-time data, and video monitoring, effect and causes could be defined. This fact made such a big impression that later the SMEC sent Palas® an official certificate as recognition for the test performance of the AQ Guard and the Palas® team.
AQ Guard Ambient Air Quality Monitor
Advantages:
· Technology based on the type approved Fidas® 200 series (EN16450 and MCERTS)
· Simultaneous measurement of Cn, PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10
· High accuracy due to advanced algorithms
· Long-term stability due to self-calibration for measurement of flow rate, particulates, and gaseous pollutants
· Operates on AC, DC, or power-over-Ethernet
Applications：
· Industry: production process, bulk material handling (mixing, unloading, storage, packaging, etc.), and factory boundary monitoring
· Construction site: road, railway, demolition site
· Buildings: schools, kindergartens, hospitals, hotels, offices, public service buildings
· Residential buildings near construction sites or other contaminated areas
· Public transportation: airports, railway stations, tram and subway stations, cruise ships, cabins