As I have
progressed through my education I have always enjoyed picking up the background
information related to whatever I was learning. Linear Algebra was OK, but
Moshe Kam’s history lessons about Isaac Newton’s feuds with Robert Hooke were
so much more important to my education. In all seriousness, “background”
information will be critical to my job as an engineer. I could just enter
numbers into RAM and record the outputs, theoretically the building will stand.
Using RAM (or other design software) without understanding the principles
behind it is a dangerous proposition though: garbage-in, garbage-out as they
say. This quest for information is one of the reasons I took this class, I want
to understand the framework behind what we see as “Intelligent Buildings”. How
does Revit work? How do BMS utilize databases to store and process information?
What are those fancy sensors really doing?
For the final project Bryan and I wanted to delve into building sensors. Sensors are used for many different things in buildings: measuring beam deflections, weld quality, temperature and humidity, occupancy, and many, many others. We decided it would be difficult to learn how every single sensor worked, so we decided to focus on indoor air quality, specifically air particles. The EPA states that particulate matter can include acids, organic chemicals, metal, dust, pollen, and mold [1]. Particles occur inside for a variety of reasons (infiltrating from outside, solid mass stoves, cooking, tobacco smoke, laundry, and industrial processes, among others). These pollutants can have a variety of effects on occupants, few of them positive (reduced lung function, heart attacks [1], cataracts, TB, asthma, adverse pregnancy outcomes [4], even brain shrinkage [3]). Zhang and Smith found that “Tobacco smoke accounted for about 4% of the global burden of disease in 2000.”
A lovely
brown haze over Philadelphia [2]
Most
Building Managers try minimizing the concentration of particles in their
buildings and they use sensors to measure the effectiveness of their
strategies. For this project Bryan and I will be examining how these sensors
work, how they convert real particles with mass and volume to digital signals. We
will research the different methods that are used to physically “find” and
measure the air particles. This will allow us to determine the functionality
(usefulness and limits) of such processes. We will also study how this
information is converted into a readable digital signal by modeling one (via
MATLAB or Excel). There will be a number of challenges that we will need to
overcome. Chiefly, we are not very familiar with the physics behind the
different particle detection methods. We also do not have a lot of experience
with signal processing. In addition, many of the specific processes used are
propriety protocols that are closely guarded by the companies that developed
them. This will make research challenging. The project should be very
interesting however, and I am already enjoying learning about particle sensors.
[1] Office
of Air and Radiation. “Particle Pollution and Your Health”. EPA. Accessed 29
January 2016, Available
[2] iStock. Philly.com. 24 April 2015, “Smog May Be
Harming Your Brain.” Philadelphia Media Network LLC. Accessed 29 January 2016,
Available
[3]
Reinberg, Steven of HealthDay News. Philly.com. 24 April 2015, “Smog May Be
Harming Your Brain.” Philadelphia Media Network LLC. Accessed 29 January 2016,
Available
James,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the outlook you have on your project. It is important to understand the concepts we use every day in our work. I am taking the same approach with my group’s project. I hope to understand the underlying concept behind using Revit to incorporate different types of models into one functioning unit. I look forward to hearing about what you and Bryan learn in your quest into sensors. This is an important concept for many of the environmental reasons you hit on. The pollution in certain areas of the world is getting to the point that sensors will need to become more advanced in order to detect and react the environment around them. The challenges you mentioned do include a lot of new concepts to learn, but they sound very interesting and will be useful down the road.
James,
ReplyDeleteYour term project sounds both interesting and challenging. I was exposed to sensors during my freshman design project but thankfully, there was a mechanical engineer and an electrical engineer in the group so they were more informed about how sensors work. Sensors are such a beneficial invention, and learning how they work is a beneficial feat. As building technology progresses, more sensors are being placed in them to detect many different types of things and to be more user-friendly. It surely will be a challenge to find a large amount of technical information, but I am sure that by the end of the term, you will have a plethora of knowledge about indoor air quality sensors. I look forward to hearing the inner workings of these devices.
I was unaware that there are were so many different types of sensors and the magnitude to which these sensors work.I find your ideas very interesting and would love to see the final paper. I think that the mathematics and physics behind the sensors will also prove to be useful information.
ReplyDeleteMy paper is on adaptive buildings and the new technologies associated with such. I think that sensors could also prove to be important in dynamic and adaptive buildings as well.
That's cool. You're kind of looking at the macroscopic side of sensors: what you do with the data once you have it.
DeleteCertainly interesting. I'd be curious to see how this turns out for you
ReplyDelete