Design and Power Consumption Analysis of a Smart Hood to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution

While some examples of sensor systems to monitor indoor air quality may be found in the literature, the possibility to integrate such sensing systems into domestic kitchen hoods has not been much investigated. This paper proposes two different configurations of a sensing unit equipped with sensors to detect temperature, relative humidity, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds concentration, useful to turn a common appliance, such as an extractor hood, into a smart object able to help reducing pollutants spread in the air. A relevant aspect to consider is the impact of the sensing unit on the global power consumption of the hood, which cannot exceed the limit of 0.50 W stated by European regulations for eco-friendly appliances, about the total power absorbed in standby mode. The experimental measurements presented in the paper show that it is possible to equip the kitchen appliance with effective sensing technology without increasing the total power consumption too much with respect to stated limitations: values such as (0.50 ± 0.01) W and (0.51±0.03) W are in fact obtained, despite the technology design is still in a prototype stage and has not yet been optimized. Room for improvements exists, especially regarding the conditioning of particulate matter and volatile organic compounds sensors chosen in the two configurations of the sensing unit.