TECHNOLOGICAL FIELD

Example embodiments of the present invention relate generally to air quality monitoring and, more particularly, to reducing air pollutants.

GOVERNMENTAL RIGHTS

The project leading to this application has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 680517.

BACKGROUND

The air quality in open environments may be maintained by the nature of the space (e.g., outdoor location, fauna, and the like). In contrast, the interiors of buildings such as schools, commercial buildings, governmental buildings, or the like are often closed environments. As such, the quality of the air in these closed environments may be affected by the size of the interior, the number of people within the interior, ventilation, and any airflow within the interior.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer program products are disclosed herein for performing air quality maintenance. In one embodiment, with reference to the claimed computed implemented method, a method for performing air quality maintenance may include receiving an air quality dataset that includes pollutant concentration data associated with respective time data. The method may further include generating a quality tendency projection based upon the air quality dataset that includes a quality rate of change. In an instance in which the quality tendency projection exceeds a prediction threshold and the quality rate of change exceeds a pollutant rate increase threshold, the method may include performing air degradation analysis. The air degradation analysis may include generating a pollutant increase forecast, and determining a critical time based upon the pollutant increase forecast. The critical time may include a time in which pollutant concentration is projected to exceed a critical threshold. In an instance in which the quality rate of change exceeds a pollutant rate decrease threshold, the method includes performing ventilation analysis. The ventilation analysis may include generating a pollutant decrease forecast, and determining a safe time based upon the pollutant decrease forecast. The safe time may include a time in which the pollutant concentration is projected to satisfy a safety threshold.

In some embodiments, in an instance in which the quality tendency projection exceeds the warning threshold, the method may include generating a warning transmission. In other embodiments, in an instance in which at least one pollutant concentration data entry exceeds the warning threshold, the method may include generating a warning transmission.

In some embodiments, performing the degradation analysis further includes receiving pollutant concentration data over a first time period from the air quality dataset. In such an embodiment, the method may further include selecting a parametric function that models the pollutant concentration data over the first time period and forecasting the parametric function (e.g., forecasting using the parametric function) over a second time period to generate the pollutant increase forecast.

In some embodiments, performing the ventilation analysis further includes receiving pollutant concentration data over a third time period from the air quality dataset. In such an embodiment, the method may include selecting a parametric function that models the pollutant concentration data over the first time period and forecasting the parametric function (e.g., forecasting using the parametric function) over a fourth time period to generate the pollutant decrease forecast.

In response to determining the critical time, the method may further include generating a regression ventilation model based upon the air quality dataset. In such an embodiment, the method may include determining a ventilation duration based upon the regression ventilation model. The ventilation duration may include a time required to reduce the pollutant concentration to satisfy the safety threshold.

In any embodiment, the critical threshold may be greater the prediction threshold, the prediction threshold may be greater than the warning threshold, and the warning threshold may be greater than the safety threshold. In some embodiments, the prediction threshold may be less than the warning threshold such as in instances in which a rapid increase of pollutants are provided to a relatively pollutant free environment.

The above summary is provided merely for purposes of summarizing some example embodiments to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the above-described embodiments are merely examples and should not be construed to narrow the scope or spirit of the invention in any way. It will be appreciated that the scope of the invention encompasses many potential embodiments in addition to those here summarized, some of which will be further described below.

