Monitoring air quality and estimation of personal exposure to particulate matter using an indoor model and artificial neural network

Abstract

Exposure to particulate materials (PM) is known to cause respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Respirable particles generated in closed spaces, such as underground parking garages (UPGs), have been reported to be a potential threat to respiratory health. This study reports the concentration of pollutants (PM, TVOC, CO) in UPGs under various operating conditions of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems using a real-time monitoring system with a prototype made up of integrated sensors. In addition, prediction of the PM concentration was implemented using modeling from vehicle traffic volumes and an artificial neural network (ANN), based on environmental factors. The predicted PM concentrations were compared with the level acquired from the real-time monitoring. The measured PM10 concentrations of UPGs were higher than the modeled PM10 due to short-term sources induced by vehicles. The average inhalable and respirable dosage for adult was calculated for the evaluation of health effects. The ANN predicted PM concentration showed a close correlation with measurements resulting in R2 ranging from 0.69 to 0.87. This study demonstrates the feasibility of the use of the air quality monitoring system for personal-exposure to vehicle-induced pollutant in UPGs and the potential application of modeling and ANN for the evaluation of the indoor air quality.