Towards a Smart Extractor Hood to Improve Indoor Air Quality in Home Living Environments

Indoor air quality is a key determinant of a healthy life and personal well-being. Indeed, unlike outdoor atmospheric air, quality and pollution of indoor air are not subject to specific regulations in various countries, while it is of paramount importance to get consciousness about sources and type of pollutants that have direct effects on human health. As reported in the literature, the contribution of emitted pollutants from cooking is estimated to be between 12% and 20% of the total pollutants found in indoor air composition. At the same time, kitchens or living rooms are among the spaces where people spend most of their time at home. In this paper, the possibility to turn an extractor hood into a smart autonomous system to improve indoor air quality in home living environments is explored. The study focuses on the evaluation of two different multi-sensor units, equipped with the capability to monitor temperature, relative humidity, volatile organic compounds, and particulate matter, in sensing pollutants generated by food overcooking. The experimental tests carried out in a realistic condition, by repeated overcooking of five different types of food, show a good correlation among the signals collected from the two sensing units, expressed by the coefficient of determination which is found to be typically greater than 0.8 (compared to a maximum value of 1), and repeatability of the sensor measurements provided by the two systems. This confirms the possibility to use the acquired values to control the activation of the extractor hood, when the level of detected pollutants is too high.