Purify the Air Supply

Has your time spent indoors increased during the COVID-19 pandemic as a result of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place policies worldwide? Your challenge is to use the International Space Station (ISS) as inspiration and develop a system to monitor and/or purify indoor air. It is entirely up to you whether the system you design is able to be used on Earth (for example in homes, businesses, transportation, etc.) and/or in space.

EMUV - eLeaf

Summary

We are EMUV, a company that develops innovative products that make the world cleaner and safer. There are an estimated 3 million deaths annually related to health problems caused by the poor quality of the gaseous atmosphere. In this context,we have developed an accessible and low-cost system powered by solar energy, responsible for increasing the level of oxygen, filtering and eliminating pathogenic microorganisms from internal environments using filters , UV-C LEDs, two fans and the electrolysis process. The project will improve indoor air quality, reducing the incidence of health problems. The use of solar panels allows the use by people without access to electricity.

How We Addressed This Challenge

The project addresses the challenge of purifying indoor air supply in a complete and efficient manner. The system in addition filters the air,driven by two fans, efficiently, eliminates microorganisms that cause disease from the proven action of radiation from the LED lights of the UV-C type. Using water and carbon dioxide in the environment as raw materials, the system increases oxygen levels using the electrolysis process. All of this with a DC current powered by solar panels, aiming to reach the target audience of people without access to electricity.

How We Developed This Project

According to the World Bank, 840 million people worldwide do not have access to electricity. In addition, in 2030, around 674 million people in the world will remain without access to electricity, with the maintenance of the population growth rate and policies to expand access to energy. Our main goal is to reach a significant percentage of this population group, searching for the improvement of well-being and quality of life, in addition to reducing the incidence of health problems. With that in mind, we have developed an innovative, affordable and low-cost solution through a combination of existing technologies. We developed the project with a multidisciplinary team, focused on engineering. We use engineering tools like Siemens NX 12, Siemens Star CCM+ 15,Altium Designer PCB, and Matlab 2017 B. We use design tools like Golden Circle, Business Model Canvas, FMEA and DFMEA and Boundary Diagram. The pitch design was made using Adobe Premiere CC Pro.

Throughout the entire project, we used NASA linked studies in an objective way, seeking to validate the key points of our project.To identify and develop the product's gaseous volume, fluid dynamic analyzes were performed using the Star CCM 15 software, with a rotation of 2500 rotations per minute in the fans. The filter was characterized as a porous region, allowing restricted air flow. The resulting parameters were obtained 8.47 cubic meters per hour of filtered and purified air.

Project Demo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BxyBblHrUI&feature=youtu.be

Data & Resources

1) Paticulate Matter: https://worldview.earthdata.nasa.gov/?t=2003-02-18-T05%3A47%3A44Z&z=1&i=1&as=1980-02-03-T22%3A30%3A00Z&ae=2009-11-04-T01%3A20%3A19Z&l=Particulate_Matter_Below_2.5micrometers_2001-2010,VIIRS_SNPP_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor,MODIS_Aqua_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden),MODIS_Terra_CorrectedReflectance_TrueColor(hidden)&av=10&ab=on

2) Plants Clean Air and Water for Indoor Environments: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20080003913.pdf

3) Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077.pdf

4) A Study of Interior Landscape Plants for Indoor Air Pollution Abatement: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073077.pdf

5) Foliage Plants for Improving Indoor Air Quality: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073015.pdf

6) Houseplants, Indoor Air Pollutants, and Allergic Reactions: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930072972.pdf

7) Foliage Plants for Removing Indoor Air Pollutants from Energy-efficient Homes: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19860066312.pdf

8)Indoor test for thermal performance evaluation on life sciences engineering (air) solar collector: https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19780017604.pdf

9)Access to electricity (% of population): https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EG.ELC.ACCS.ZS?end=2018&start=2018&view=bar

10) The Global Impact Of Respiratory Disease: https://www.who.int/gard/publications/The_Global_Impact_of_Respiratory_Disease.pdf

11) UV-C Studies: http://www.iuva.org/IUVA-Fact-Sheet-on-UV-Disinfection-for-COVID-19

Tags
#airquality #engineering #sustainability #cleanenergy
Global Judging
This project was submitted for consideration during the Space Apps Global Judging process.