Optimizing office space utilization using an Indoor Air Quality sensor network

Bachelor thesis (2019)

Authors

S.S. Ranjha Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
J. Gmelig Meyling Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
L.J. Hoek Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Contributors

H.S. Hung Pattern Recognition and Bioinformatics - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
E. Gedik Pattern Recognition and Bioinformatics - EEMCS (supervisor 1)
Faculty
Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
Copyright: © 2019 Sayra Ranjha, Jan-Willem Gmelig Meyling, Leon Hoek
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Published Date

02-07-2019

Language

English

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Faculty

Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science

Abstract

Sick Building Syndrome is present in 30% of all office buildings and can cause serious health damage over time. This is an era where sustainability and well-being are becoming dominant aspects of life. As a result, it is becoming increasingly important to businesses to invest in their employees' well-being and health. The VTTI group cares for the well-being of their employees, and is looking for a tool to optimize the utilization of their building for perceived thermal comfort and indoor air quality.

This report documents the development of Claire, an indoor air quality dashboard that helps to identify local air quality problems. Using Claire, employees can be rearranged throughout the space, learn about the characteristics of their office, and for example switch to another meeting room. Claire translates measurements into insights. Claire learns about the behavior of the office, and gives recommendations once she notices that the indoor air quality can be improved.

Claire is backed by an indoor air quality sensor mesh network, which has been developed as part of this project. The sensors continuously measure temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide concentrations. The sensors connect to a cloud infrastructure through a local internet gateway. In the cloud the data gets processed. All measurements are displayed real-time in the dashboard.

Claire is different from existing products in several ways. First, the sensors developed measure both dry-bulb and black globe temperature, which gives it a temperature reading that describes human thermal comfort more accurately. This is not done in competing products. Furthermore, the sensors fill the gap for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): the sensor network is able to get fine-grained results due to its high sensor density, whilst still being very easy to setup with no adjustments to the building being required. Finally, the developed data analysis methods translate the measurements from the sensor network to concrete suggestions, sent through a push notification, which enables workers to get involved with improving the indoor air quality in their office space.