Air quality monitoring device & sensors research

Air Quality monitoring is well known and established science which started back in the 80's. At that time, the technology was quite limited, and the solution used to quantify the air pollution complex, cumbersome and really expensive.

Fortunately, now days, with the most recent and modern technologies, the solutions used for Air Quality monitoring are becoming not only more precise, but also faster at measuring. Devices are becoming smaller, and cost much more affordable than ever before. For instance, new technologies like the Tapered element oscillating micro balance (TOEM) provide significant advantages over the traditional Beta Attenuation Monitors (BAM)

Even more recently, ultra-affordable sensors are starting to appear on the market - many of them linked to the IOT trend of sensing everything. While most of them are purely gimmick, and so definitely useless toys, some of them are starting to achieve performances comparable to professional monitors, at one hundred time less of cost of them. In order to asses the reliability of those sensors, the Earth Sensing Labs from the World Air Quality Index project is and has been conducting many Air Quality Sensor research and live-data experiments from many years.

The particle sensors can detect the amount of dust in the Air. While the first generation was just able to detect the amount of opacity, most recent sensors can now detect not PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ but also up to 7 different particle size (aka bins).

Plantower PMS 7003
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
20USD (130CN¥)

Plantower PMS 5003
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
18USD (120CN¥)

Plantower PMS 3003
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
14USD (90CN¥)

Plantower PMS 1003
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
14USD (90CN¥)

Comming Soon

Plantower PMS A003
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
24USD (160CN¥)

Novafitness SD011
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
23USD (150CN¥)

Comming Soon

Novafitness SD018
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
19USD (128CN¥)

Novafitness SD021
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
23USD (155CN¥)

Yuntong YT-001
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
20USD (130CN¥)

Comming Soon

Sharp DN7C3JA001
Virtual Impactor for Sharp
GP2Y1051AU0F
20USD (135CN¥)

Shinyei PPD42NS
LPO Optical PM sensor
5USD (35CN¥)

Samyoung DSM501
LPO Optical PM sensor
4USD (24CN¥)

Modified Shinyei PPD42NS
Analog Optical PM sensor
5USD (35CN¥)

Dylos DC1100
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀
integrated monitor
300USD (2000CN¥)

Comming Soon

Alphasense OPC-N2
Laser based PM_2.5/PM₁₀ sensor
500USD (3333CN¥)

On the opposite of particle sensors, the gas sensor can detect and count the type of particle present in the air, such as for instance Ozone (O₃), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO₂), Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂), ...

MQ 131
Ozone Electro-Chemical sensor
60CNY

Specs
Ozone Electro-Chemical sensor
57USD (380 CN¥)

SGX MiCs 2614
Ozone MEMS sensor
18USD (120 CN¥)

SGX MiCs 2714
NO₂ MEMS sensor
23USD (150 CN¥)

Alphasense NO2 B43F
NO₂ Electro-Chemical sensor
90USD (600 CN¥)

MQ 9
Carbon Monoxyde Electro-Chemical sensor
5CNY

The graph "BAM PM_2.5" is the reference measurement from a professional BAM monitor. A loess smoothing is applied to all the other graphs in order to minimize the noise. You can move your mouse over the graph labels to see the actual output vs. the averaged values.

About the Air Quality Levels

AQI	Air Pollution Level	Health Implications	Cautionary Statement (for PM2.5)
0 - 50	Good	Air quality is considered satisfactory, and air pollution poses little or no risk	None
51 -100	Moderate	Air quality is acceptable; however, for some pollutants there may be a moderate health concern for a very small number of people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution.	Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
101-150	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Members of sensitive groups may experience health effects. The general public is not likely to be affected.	Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
151-200	Unhealthy	Everyone may begin to experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects	Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion
201-300	Very Unhealthy	Health warnings of emergency conditions. The entire population is more likely to be affected.	Active children and adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid all outdoor exertion; everyone else, especially children, should limit outdoor exertion.
300+	Hazardous	Health alert: everyone may experience more serious health effects	Everyone should avoid all outdoor exertion

To know more about Air Quality and Pollution, check the wikipedia Air Quality topic or the airnow guide to Air Quality and Your Health.

For very useful health advices of Beijing Doctor Richard Saint Cyr MD, check www.myhealthbeijing.com blog.