Design of a solar-powered air pollution monitoring system under tropical climate environments

Abstract

Air pollution is a phenomenon that combines and rapidly spreads solid particles and gases in the air, being one of the great problems that affects the environment and health of living beings worldwide. Polluted air contains hazardous gases like carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulphur dioxide (SO2), chloro-fluro-carbons, ozone (O3), and particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5). These pollution agents must be monitored and maintained within standards. One of the solutions currently implemented is the use of fixed monitoring stations that measure the concentration of pollutants. These stations normally operate using power from the electrical distribution network, which is not feasible when measurements are taken in remote locations. Another option is to use a battery bank to power the stations, which makes the system expensive, heavy, and dependent. Therefore, the main objective in this work is to propose an air pollution monitoring system that is powered by solar energy, which is an energy source abundant in nature in most countries. This prototype is implemented in project ITE18-R2-011: Monitoring network based on the Internet of Things for the generation of air pollution indicators in Panama, which is funded by the Panamanian Government and SENACYT. This would make the system cost-effective, compact, environmental-friendly, and autonomous in terms of its source. Design process starts with literature survey on conventional designs and solar cells. Additionally, there will be study on solar radiation in Panama. After that a PCB will be designed for this which can be optimized further for better efficiency in terms of power consumption.