Science Fair Projects on Indoor Air Quality

Awards:

• SELECTED FOR IRIS (INITIATIVE FOR RESEARCH AND INNOVATION IN SCIENCE)-2007 AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL


• WON THE 3RD PRIZE IN D.A.V. INTERSCHOOL SCIENCE PROJECT COMPETITION

Title: MONITORING INDOOR AIR QUALITY- E- COOLER

Purpose: We are becoming wealthier and moving towards a consumerist society. The pollution level is alarming because as we are consuming more and more, we are also releasing more and more effluents into the environment. This is overwhelmingly threatening, so we need to wake up!!

Hypothesis

While searching for the causes of indoor air pollution, we zeroed down on the following-

* Emission of CFCs by A/Cs and refrigerators leading to ozone layer depletion.
* The release of excessive carbon di-oxide in our homes is also a cause of this pollution

On becoming aware of the fact that water vapour is the most important green house gas which contributes to nearly 60% of the total green house gases, we thought of modifying the present desert cooler into an eco-friendly cooler.

It struck our minds that humidity level in Delhi is going up to a great extent and as a result A/Cs are being used indiscriminately in each and every house leading to power woes. The desert coolers have lost their function in the months of July and August when the humidity level is very high.

Our ideology aimed at modifying the desert cooler into an eco-friendly cooler that can help to bring the humidity and temperature to the level of thermal comfort. We got started in the month of July,2007 as the humidity in this season is around 90% or even higher.

DATE RELATIVE HUMIDITY
2nd July 90%
13th July 95%
17th July 90%
18th July 85%
21st July 63%
4th Aug 97%
5th Aug 98%
11th Aug 82%
12th Aug 77%
14th Aug 82%
When we talk about humidity, it is relative humidity.

Looking at the alarming scenario, we thought to modify existing desert cooler to suit our climatic conditions so that it could function to provide a comfortable working zone by controlling humidity level.

Materials
We (I and my mentors) used the following materials to make the e-cooler:
•Bamboo
•Plastic tub
•Fan
•Pump
•Bentonite clay
•Sieve
•Hygrometer cum thermometer was used to take the measure the temperature and humidity.

HYGROMETER - an instrument used for measuring relative humidity. It consists of two thermometers- one of which includes a dry bulb and the other of which includes a wet bulb.

Relative humidity is computed from the ambient temperature as shown by the dry bulb thermometer and the difference in temperatures as shown by the wet bulb and dry bulb thermometers.

FEATURES OF HYGROMETER USED BY US

Range of RH:
10% to 99%
Temperature range: -500C to +700C

Accuracy:
Temperature: +-10C
Humidity: +-5%RH

Did you ever think of all the air quality science fair projects that you can do in buildings that do not have windows that open?