Thesis
Performance of a low-cost particulate matter sensor in a swine barn
University of Iowa
Master of Science (MS), University of Iowa
Spring 2024
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007386
Abstract
Low-cost particulate matter (PM) sensors have gained popularity due to their ability to measure PM concentrations. PM concentrations measured with one affordable PM sensor, the Sensirion SPS30, compare favorably to reference instruments over short deployments in urban, environmental, and laboratory settings. PM in swine barns is dominated by large particles, including particles termed inhalable by OSHA and PM smaller than 10 µm (PM10) by EPA. This study evaluated the precision, accuracy, and bias of the SPS30 sensor in an active swine barn over one month. Four SPS30 sensors were collocated to assess their precision. Reference instruments were placed at this same location once a week for two hours to assess accuracy and bias. The precision of the SPS30 sensors across the study period was widely dispersed from week to week with coefficient of variations ranging from 5-33%. The sensors were not highly correlated with the reference instrument for the entirety of the study; r values ranged from 0.32-0.93 among each SPS30 sensor over each reference sampling event. The concentrations measured with the SPS30s were consistently 5-10 times lower than the reference instrument over the entire sampling period. The poor performance here may be attributed to the large size of the particulate matter in the swine barn compared to other environments where they have been tested. Overall, the sensors provided heavily biased but reasonably precise measurements throughout sampling, suggesting that they may be an inexpensive way to indicate when conditions are extremely dirty or clean in a swine barn. Future work should investigate their long-term performance in occupational environments that have PM of different compositions and smaller sizes than in the swine barn.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Performance of a low-cost particulate matter sensor in a swine barn
- Creators
- Holly Rowland
- Contributors
- Thomas Peters (Advisor)T. Renee Anthony (Committee Member)Patrick O'Shaughnessy (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Thesis
- Degree Awarded
- Master of Science (MS), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Occupational and Environmental Health
- Date degree season
- Spring 2024
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007386
- Number of pages
- viii, 53 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2024 Holly Rowland
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 04/23/2024
- Description illustrations
- illustrations, tables, graphs
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 31-38).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
- This study explored the reliability of an affordable particulate matter (PM) sensor, SPS30, in an active swine barn for one month. While these economical sensors are known for accurately and precisely measuring PM concentrations in various environments, their performance in highly contaminated agricultural settings, with large particle sizes, has not been thoroughly investigated. Four sensors were collocated in a swine barn for a month. Reference instruments were periodically introduced to evaluate bias and accuracy in the sensor readings. The sensors provided consistently biased but reasonably precise measurements over the course of the study. On each sampling day with the reference instrument, the sensors underestimated reference concentrations by 5-10 times compared to the reference instrument. These findings suggest that the SPS30 sensor may not provide reliable estimates of PM concentrations in environments with a high concentration of coarse particles. Future work should consider testing these sensors in more occupational environments that have PM of different compositions and sizes than in the swine barn.
- Academic Unit
- Occupational and Environmental Health
- Record Identifier
- 9984647254702771
Metrics
18 File views/ downloads
33 Record Views