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Construction and Application of an Intelligent Air Quality Monitoring System for Healthcare Environment

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Abstract

Indoor air quality monitoring in healthcare environment has become a critical part of hospital management and policy. Manual air sampling and analysis are cost-inhibitive and do not provide real-time air quality data and response measures. In this month-long study over 14 sampling locations in a public hospital in Taiwan, we observed a positive correlation between CO2 concentration and population, total bacteria, and particulate matter concentrations, thus monitoring CO2 concentration as a general indicator for air quality could be a viable option. Consequently, an intelligent environmental monitoring system consisting of a CO2/temperature/humidity sensor, a digital plug, and a ZigBee Router and Coordinator was developed and tested. The system also included a backend server that received and analyzed data, as well as activating ventilation and air purifiers when CO2 concentration exceeded a pre-set value. Alert messages can also be delivered to offsite users through mobile devices.

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Acknowledgments

The research is funded in part by the following sources: i) the collaborating research program between Tunghai University and the Taichung Veteran General Hospital (TCVGH) through project grant TCVGH-T997806, ii) Tunghai University’s The U-Care ICT Integration Platform for the Elderly, No. 101GREEnS004-2, and iii) the National Science Council under grant numbers NSC 101-2218-E-029-004 and NSC 101- 2221-E-029-014. The authors are grateful to Dr. Sung-Yuan Hu and Dr. Yu-Tse Tsan of the TCVGH for their suggestion and facilitation of the air sampling work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Engineering, Tunghai University, 1727 Taiwan Blvd., Sec. 4, Xitun Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Chao-Tung Yang, Chi-Jui Liao & Jung-Chun Liu

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tunghai University, 1727 Taiwan Blvd., Sec. 4, Xitun Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Walter Den

  3. Department of Business Administration, Tunghai University, 1727 Taiwan Blvd., Sec. 4, Xitun Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Ying-Chyi Chou

  4. Section of Allergy and Immunology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, 1650 Taiwan Blvd., Sec. 4, Xitun Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan, Republic of China

    Jaw-Ji Tsai

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  1. Chao-Tung Yang
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  2. Chi-Jui Liao
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  3. Jung-Chun Liu
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  4. Walter Den
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Correspondence to Walter Den.

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Yang, CT., Liao, CJ., Liu, JC. et al. Construction and Application of an Intelligent Air Quality Monitoring System for Healthcare Environment. J Med Syst 38, 15 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-014-0015-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-014-0015-3

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