There are two ways of improving the air quality in teaching areas: open the windows or use air purifiers. In the field tests conducted by Palas® on campus sites, it could be shown that both methods are helpful for improving indoor air quality. Air purifiers, in particular, can reduce the risk of infection by up to 65%. See the previous article “Ventilation or Filtration: How to Improve Classroom Air Quality?” For more information click here. How can schools judge whether an air purifier is effective? Recently, the University of Stuttgart has established a set of standardized testing procedures for air purifiers with the help of Palas® technology.
Judging in a cost-effective way
There are six AQ Guard aerosol spectrometers and one PAG 1000 aerosol generator at the University of Stuttgart. At the Institute for Building Energetics, Thermotechnology and Energy Storage (IGTE), the devices are mainly used to test air purifiers and their effectiveness regarding the occurrence of indoor infections. For this purpose, known substances (such as DEH) are placed at different positions in the room. Using six concentration curves determined over time, the infection risks of these positions can thus be calculated with spatial and temporal resolution.
The goal of the investigations is to develop a standardized test procedure for air purifiers. This would make it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of the devices in the room: both against particles or fine dust in general and against infectious agents such as viruses.
Lukas Siebler, deputy head of the working group, explains: “The AQ Guard is particularly convincing due to its price-performance ratio. It allows us to take measurements of several devices despite a limited project budget. Furthermore, we are able to estimate the probability of infection in a room with different ventilation measures in a location- and time-resolved manner.”
Technical Principle
AQ Guard, the advanced compact analyser for determining indoor air quality, continuously and reliably analyses air-borne fine dust particles in the range of 175 nm to 20µm. A newly developed single particle aerosol distribution spectrometer (SPADS) calculates PM values based on single particle optical light scattering, taking signal duration and shape into account. Sensor system and algorithms were developed based on the technology of the EN 16450 certified Fidas® 200. The ambient version achieves precision comparable to type approved analysers, which makes AQ Guard stand out compared to similar devices. Thanks to Palas’s advanced technology, recently, the AQ Guard Ambient air quality monitor has also been approved as MCERTS Indicative Ambient Particulate Monitor.
AQ Guard Air Quality Monitor
Advantages:
· Technology based on the type approved Fidas® 200 series (EN16450 and MCERTS)
· Simultaneous measurement of Cn, PM1, PM5, 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
PAG 1000 Portable Aerosol Generator
Advantages:
· Small, portable
· Easiest handling
· Fast responding qualities
· Internal pump for autonomous operation
· Particle size distribution and concentration
– Wide setting range by high-/low-switching
– Highest stability even for very low concentrations
– Best reproducibility
· 6 h of operating time in battery mode
· Robust, long-living, low-maintenance
· Cost-effective
Applications:
· Test of Laminar-Flow-Boxes
· Clean room acceptance test
· Recovery test
· Smoke detector test
· HEPA/ ULPA filter testing
· Laboratory applications
· Flexible aerosol supplies on side
Palas® China will arrange a series of online webinars both in English and Chinese for Ambient air quality continuous monitoring system, Palas SMPS scanning mobility particle sizer, Palas Promo & Aerosol Generator & Dilution system, ISO 16890 filter media tester, Palas MFP 3000 G, ISO 29463-3 filter media tester, Palas MFP Nano plus 4000, ISO 17536 Fractional filtration efficiency tester of Oil Mist Separator, Palas HMT 1000, as well as Particle Distribution Measurement Devices Introduction – Optical Scattering Method and many other solutions. If interested in the webinars for our products, you are more than welcome to register on our official website and get the latest webinar plan!
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