> Discover the PurpleAir PIXEL, one of the first end devices featuring the BMV080 particulate matter sensor for precise local air quality measurement. This user-friendly device provides real-time PM2.5 readings with a quick response time, clearly displayed via LED indicators. The BMV080‘s fanless design ensures completely silent operation, making it both effective and unobtrusive.
That's the form factor you'd be looking at when its included with the rest of the supporting circuitry and logic.
So... possibly might be able to get it into a smaller package if the data display is externalized (Purple Air uses LEDs).
My parents are interested in this as one of their use cases is to put it on their e-bike so that they can be made aware of worsening air conditions after they've left the house.
love this... while the politicians busy angle themselves over stances on whether air filtration is required for public space during a pandemic engineers and companies come up with products and solutions ready to deploy.. it is my dream that our last generation gave us clean-ish water, and we can somehow pass down clean-ish air...
Does anybody know how they actually do it without a fan and a defined volume around it? The marketing fluff says "It applies sophisticated algorithms to measure the PM2.5 concentration directly in free space, without requiring a fan", so I assume the main difference to traditional PM sensors is the software?
The entire device is tiny: 20mm x 5mm x 5mm approx. It looks to work using a small laser and a lens which focuses the beam about 5mm above the device. The sensor unit contains a photodiode(s), and algorithms count the particulates. It looks to need a heat sink.
I've been running multiple Sensirion SPS30 PM sensors for years, and I'm honestly amazed how well they've held up. Particularly with respect to, within their spec'd error, how new/unused SPS30s report similar values to my heavily used ones.
Curious if there are any maintenance requirements for the bosch sensor.
Do you actually do anything with the data you collect?
As someone who manages commercial building automation system installations, I have never understood the obsession that HN has with residential IAQ sensors. The number will go up if you cook, burn a candle, use a hairdryer, or if there’s wildfire smoke outside and you have a ducted HVAC installation with an outdoor air intake.
In a commercial BAS, IAQ sensors (CO/NO to be more specific) are used to turn on exhaust and make-up air fans to increase the air quality in a space, but in every single thread about IAQ monitoring on HN, nobody ever seems to use the sensor readings to automate their HVAC equipment to do anything. In fact, almost all commercial BAS systems have zero IAQ sensors (especially in offices), the vast majority of them are use for turning on exhaust fans and make-up air units in buildings where cars are driving inside, like a parking ramp or drive-in warehouse.
I guess my question is, why collect this information and do nothing with it? Maybe you actually do something with it, or you monitor local outdoor air quality as a hobby. I’m asking a more general audience than you specifically.
Lastly, ensuring your house is positively pressurized by paying a testing and balancing contractor to come over and adjust your HVAC system will do more to keep out particulate matter than measuring it ever will.
Many particle sensors are useless in foggy/hazy conditions, which ruins many citizen science projects in terms of data quality. Currently, the best solution is to calculate the dew point and then switching them off once you hit a specified limit.
I mean this is cool but the size claims are somewhat misleading. They only sell you a sensor element on flatflex PCB, then you need to add own metal cage for thermal dissipation and a lens, so the overall size is significantly larger.
This is great for flexibility but very impractical especially for DIY space. Hopefully small fully integrated modules on something like edgeconnector PCB come out soon enough.
What use case would miniaturisation of dust sensors have, i mean i am unsure if it is going inside smartphones or smartwatches? What can it do that others cannot?
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[ 5.6 ms ] story [ 37.2 ms ] thread> Discover the PurpleAir PIXEL, one of the first end devices featuring the BMV080 particulate matter sensor for precise local air quality measurement. This user-friendly device provides real-time PM2.5 readings with a quick response time, clearly displayed via LED indicators. The BMV080‘s fanless design ensures completely silent operation, making it both effective and unobtrusive.
https://www2.purpleair.com/products/purpleair-pixel
That's the form factor you'd be looking at when its included with the rest of the supporting circuitry and logic.
So... possibly might be able to get it into a smaller package if the data display is externalized (Purple Air uses LEDs).
My parents are interested in this as one of their use cases is to put it on their e-bike so that they can be made aware of worsening air conditions after they've left the house.
Curious if there are any maintenance requirements for the bosch sensor.
As someone who manages commercial building automation system installations, I have never understood the obsession that HN has with residential IAQ sensors. The number will go up if you cook, burn a candle, use a hairdryer, or if there’s wildfire smoke outside and you have a ducted HVAC installation with an outdoor air intake.
In a commercial BAS, IAQ sensors (CO/NO to be more specific) are used to turn on exhaust and make-up air fans to increase the air quality in a space, but in every single thread about IAQ monitoring on HN, nobody ever seems to use the sensor readings to automate their HVAC equipment to do anything. In fact, almost all commercial BAS systems have zero IAQ sensors (especially in offices), the vast majority of them are use for turning on exhaust fans and make-up air units in buildings where cars are driving inside, like a parking ramp or drive-in warehouse.
I guess my question is, why collect this information and do nothing with it? Maybe you actually do something with it, or you monitor local outdoor air quality as a hobby. I’m asking a more general audience than you specifically.
Lastly, ensuring your house is positively pressurized by paying a testing and balancing contractor to come over and adjust your HVAC system will do more to keep out particulate matter than measuring it ever will.
How does this model deal with this?
This is great for flexibility but very impractical especially for DIY space. Hopefully small fully integrated modules on something like edgeconnector PCB come out soon enough.
it might make people give a darn how bad it typically is everywhere now
But won't trust this sensor until there are tech comparisons by AirGradient and BreatheSafeAir.com