STTR Phase I: Low-Cost, High-Accuracy, Whole-Building Carbon Dioxide Monitoring for Demand Control Ventilation
- Florida Atlantic Univ., Boca Raton, FL (United States)
This STTR Phase I project assessed the feasibility of a new CO2 sensing system optimized for low-cost, high-accuracy, whole-building monitoring for use in demand control ventilation. The focus was on the development of a wireless networking platform and associated firmware to provide signal conditioning and conversion, fault- and disruptiontolerant networking, and multi-hop routing at building scales to avoid wiring costs. Early exploration of a bridge (or “gateway”) to direct digital control services was also explored. Results of the project contributed to an improved understanding of a new electrochemical sensor for monitoring indoor CO2 concentrations, as well as the electronics and networking infrastructure required to deploy those sensors at building scales. New knowledge was acquired concerning the sensor’s accuracy, environmental response, and failure modes, and the acquisition electronics required to achieve accuracy over a wide range of CO2 concentrations. The project demonstrated that the new sensor offers repeatable correspondence with commercial optical sensors, with supporting electronics that offer gain accuracy within 0.5%, and acquisition accuracy within 1.5% across three orders of magnitude variation in generated current. Considering production, installation, and maintenance costs, the technology presents a foundation for achieving whole-building CO2 sensing at a price point below $0.066 / sq-ft – meeting economic feasibility criteria established by the Department of Energy. The technology developed under this award addresses obstacles on the critical path to enabling whole-building CO2 sensing and demand control ventilation in commercial retrofits, small commercial buildings, residential complexes, and other highpotential structures that have been slow to adopt these technologies. It presents an opportunity to significantly reduce energy use throughout the United States.
- Research Organization:
- Dioxide Materials, Inc., Boca Raton, FL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0016003
- OSTI ID:
- 1437170
- Report Number(s):
- SC0016003 final
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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