In one of our previous articles, we built a DIY air quality monitor which was based on measuring the amount of Hydrocarbon concentration in the air using the BME680 VOC Whisker. While things work quite well using that method, there are several other parameters and air constituents which also have the same devastating effect and may be present in the air, but not detected by the sensor used in our previous project. One of such easy to overlook, constituents of air is Particulate Matter, and for today’s tutorial, we will build a device to measure its concentration in air.
Particulate matter is the sum of all solid and liquid particles (many of which are hazardous) suspended in the air. It is a complex mixture of organic and inorganic particles, such as dust, pollen, soot, smoke, and liquid droplets. These particles are created mostly when fuel is burnt and when the dust is carried by the wind. They vary greatly in origin, composition, and size which is the most popular way of categorizing them with the PM10 and PM2.5 classification.
For today’s tutorial, we will build a device capable of determining the amount of particulate matter in the air around it. The device will be capable of monitoring PM10 and PM2.5 grade particles and display results on an OLED Display. The value displayed can be used in advising the users to wear a face mask or adopt other ways to protect themselves from polluted air.
While there are several projects on the internet measuring particulate matter, today’s project will be chronicling the efforts of user “plouc68000″ due to the low power features implemented which enabled the use of batteries in powering the device. The PM10 Dust Analyzer built by “plouc68000” is based on the Nova PM sensor: SDS011 combined with an I2C OLED on which the measurements are displayed in big digits so it is clear and easy to read.
At the end of this tutorial, you would know how to work with the Nova PM Sensor, the I2C OLED Display and also build your own air quality monitor.
Read more: PORTABLE FINE DUST PM10 ANALYZER WITH LARGE OLED DIGITS
