PM2.5 Air Quality Monitor: Taming Construction Site Dust Pollution

In the process of urban construction, the problem of PM2.5 pollution caused by construction site dust cannot be ignored. PM2.5 refers to suspended particulate matter with an aerodynamic equivalent diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less. Its sources are extensive. In the context of construction sites, it mainly comes from activities such as earthwork excavation, material transportation and stacking, and mechanical operations.

These tiny particles are extremely harmful. They can lead to a decrease in artificial visibility in cities, cause hazy weather, and deteriorate air quality. PM2.5 is likely to stay in the terminal bronchioles and alveoli. Some of its components can even penetrate the alveoli and enter the bloodstream. Moreover, it is more likely to adsorb toxic organic substances and heavy metal elements, triggering diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, and cardiovascular diseases.

To effectively monitor the PM2.5 dust pollution on construction sites, the PM2.5 Air Quality Monitor has emerged. This detector is an online monitoring system based on the light scattering method. It is mainly composed of units such as dust monitoring, noise monitoring, meteorological monitoring, data collection and processing, data transmission, LED screen display, and video character overlay. Through high-precision sensors, it can monitor the concentrations of particulate matters such as PM2.5 and PM10 in real time and accurately.

On the one hand, it can continuously monitor the environmental parameters of the construction site 24 hours a day and transmit the data to the cloud service platform and the central monitoring room in real time. Managers can use terminals such as computers and mobile phones to browse and access the data on the cloud platform at any time, conduct management and analysis of the monitoring data, and keep track of the dust conditions in various urban areas in real time. On the other hand, when an alarm for excessive dust occurs, the detector can promptly cooperate with on-site dust suppression equipment such as fog cannons to achieve the purpose of controlling construction site pollution and realize effective monitoring and timely early warning of construction site pollution sources.

There is an example to prove this. By installing an online dust monitor on the construction site, when the PM value reaches the set upper limit, the sprinkler system will automatically start to remove dust; when the PM value drops to the set lower limit, the sprinkler system will automatically turn off. The application of such technological means has greatly improved the efficiency and effectiveness of dust control on construction sites.