ISSN 2321 3361 © 2020 IJESC

Research Article Volume 10 Issue No.2

Arduino Uno Based Air Quality Monitoring and Filtering System

Dayanand S. Tekale1, Moeen M. Sheikh2, Vivek D. Kulkarni3, Laxman V. Kharade4, V. S. Gawali5
BE Student1, 2, 3, 4, Professor5
Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering
Government College of Engineering, Chandrapur, India

Abstract:
The level of pollution has increased with times by lot of factors like the increase in population, increased vehicle use,
industrialization and urbanization which results in harmful effects on human wellbeing by directly affecting health of population
exposed to it. In order to monitor quality of air based system is purposed. Air quality plays very important role in safety, security,
and health of the mankind. While increasing large-scale industrialization and urbanization creates huge cities, these activities have
been creating various ill-effects to the environment. Likewise, one problem is deterioration of air quality in various Indian cities.
The primary contributor to air pollution is the particulate matter (PM2.5), causing human health issues, like asthma and other
respiratory illnesses. A study has found out that the persons inhaling particulate matter in air are at more risk of lung cancer and
comparable to non-smoker susceptible to secondhand smoke. The parameters of the environment to be monitored are chosen as
temperature, humidity, volume of CO, volume of CO2, detection of leakage of any gas -smoke, alcohol, LPG.

Keywords: ArduinoUno, LCD, MQ2, MQ9, MQ135, MQ5, Filter, Exhaust fan, DHT11.

I. INTRODUCTION like global warming, global dimming, over raining, drought,

storms, acid rain, foggy weather etc. The living things on earth
Air pollution is the biggest problem of every nation, whether it and under water are suffering many problems like change in
is developed or developing. Health problems have been life due to lack of proper facilities of life. Air is the most
growing at faster rate especially in urban areas of developing useful thing for each and every living thing. Researching on
countries where industrialization and growing number of this serious issue this system’s main purpose was to estimate
vehicles leads to release of lot of gaseous pollutants. Harmful the quality of air for people and any other living thing which
effects of pollution include mild allergic reactions such as exist on earth. Very important to know for our living is that
irritation of the throat, eyes and nose as well as some serious how much safe we are now and how the weather and climate
problems like bronchitis, heart diseases, pneumonia, lung and has changed for air pollution and it will sustain sound. This
aggravated asthma. According to a survey, due to air pollution system will ease to know the answers for air quality. Four
50,000 to 100,000 premature deaths per year occur in the U.S. major gas sensors which are responsible for the most air
alone whereas in EU number reaches to 300,000 and over pollution mostly are being used in the system to know the best
3,000,000 worldwide. Various kinds of anthropogenic result of the whole condition of the air. CO2, CO, LPG,
emissions named as primary pollutants are pumped into the Humidity are declared to be the most responsible for air
atmosphere that undergoes chemical reaction and further leads pollution and in the system all are used.
to the formation of new pollutants normally called as
secondary pollutants. For instance, according to the Fifth II. OBJECTIVE
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC), nearly all climate-altering pollutants either • To measure and display temperature and humidity level of
directly or indirectly (by contributing to secondary pollutants the environment.
in the atmosphere) are responsible for health problems.. • To combine advanced detection technologies to produce an
Almost every citizen spends 90% of their time in indoor air, air quality sensing system with advanced capabilities to
Outdoor air quality of the cities of developed countries provide low cost comprehensive monitoring.
improved considerably in recent decades. In contrast to this, • To display the sensed data in user friendly format in LCD
indoor air quality degraded during this same period because of display panel.
many factors like reduced ventilation, energy conservation and • facilitate background concentrations measurements;
the introduction to new sources and new materials that cause • monitor current levels as a baseline for assessment;
indoor pollution. The design of buildings for lower power • check the air quality relative to standards or limit
consumption resulted in decrease of ventilation which further • detect the importance of individual sources
decreases the quality of air inside the building. This increases • Enable comparison of air quality data from different areas
the need for indoor air quality considering the daily and countries.
newspapers and any other electronic or print media, a • Collect data for AQM, traffic and land-use Planning
devastating news which is spreading day by day is people is purposes.
becoming sick and the climate is changing such a way that it • observe trends (related to emissions);
has become miserable for living of people. From the aspect • develop abatement strategies;
from top to bottom, every people are suffering the curse of • determine exposure and assess effects of air pollution on
climate change. The main reason for the climate change and health, vegetation or building materials
people health is air pollution. It has brought changes in climate • Inform the public about air quality and raise awareness.

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• Develop warning systems for prediction of air pollution and comparing temperature changes from historical to present
episodes. time especially since the industrial revolution using climate
• Facilitate source apportionment and identification. data. Humidity is a type of gas that protects us from UV rays
from the sun and helps trap heat on Earth, thereby making the
III. PROBLEM STATEMENT climate on Earth, a pleasant one for living. But as humidity
increases, the warmth on Earth also increases which makes our
During past decades, as result of civilization and urbanization life uncomfortable. Humidity is essential for various storage
there is a huge growth in Polluting industries, open burning of and food processing facilities.
refuse and leaves, massive quantities of construction waste,
substantial loss of forests and vehicles (particularly diesel- V. AIR QUALITY MONITORING EQUIPMENT
driven cars) on roads that give rise to health endangering
pollution. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly monitor and The different components of the equipment along with their
report the hazardous impacts from air pollution. To monitor intended purpose are discussed below:
the quality of air, a new framework is proposed that monitors
the parameters of the environment around us such as CO2,
CO, presence of smoke, alcohol, LPG, temperature and
humidity with the help of Arduino Uno Controller.

IV. AIR QUALITY PARAMETERS

The important parameters that are considered in the proposed

framework include:
Figure.2. Block Diagram of Proposed System
1] Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) - Sulphur Dioxide is a colorless
gas, detectable by the distinct odour and taste. Like CO2, it is The model is for monitoring smoke levels in the atmosphere to
mainly due to fossil fuels burning and to industrial processes. make the environment intelligent. The proposed prototype
In high concentrations may cause respiratory problems, model is shown in above fig2, which is more adaptable and
especially in sensitive groups, like asthmatics. It contributes to flexible to monitor the environmental parameters. The goal of
acid rains. developing pollution observing is to augment quality of life by
mistreatment technology to augment the potency of services
2] Carbon dioxide gas -CO2 is colorless, odorless gas and and meet resident’s desires. Consider an area that is being
non-combustible gas. Moreover, it is considered under the surveyed for estimating how much the area is affected by
category of asphyxiate gases that have capability of interfering pollution. The constituents of air along with its proportion are
the availability of oxygen for tissues. It is certified study that calculated and if it above traditional then the officers intimated
if the oxygen is unavailable for 3 to 5 minutes, it can cause and desire air filter and exhaust fan start according to the
brain damage or death. Many times, occupant generated CO2 threshold which are predefined in the controller. In the
act as a Substitute for measurement of IAQ. The requirement proposed Arduino Uno based Air Quality Monitoring and
of outdoor air can be easily predicted by the content of CO2 Filtering System consist of different types of sensors which
and according to the guidelines of ASHRAE CO2 levels must are used for measuring the different gases and Temperature
be less than 1000ppm.Generally CO2 levels of outdoor air are and Humidity of the surrounding environment. In proposed
under 350ppm. system the different sensors used for MQ2, MQ9, MQ135,
MQ6 which are used for measuring different gases present in
3] Smoke-About 1 million people are in habit of tobacco the environment and and supplies solar electricity in
smoking globally of which majority population is from commercial and residential applications. Photovoltaic modules
developing countries. Every year nearly 4.9 million people use light energy (photons) from the Sun to generate electricity
died due to smoking according to 2007 report. In addition, through the photovoltaic effect. Most modules use wafer-
second hand smoke is serious threat to the health of people of based crystalline silicon cells or thin-film cells. The structural
all age’s causes 41000 deaths each year. (load carrying) member of a module can be either the top layer
or the back layer. Cells must be protected from mechanical
4] LPG-Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - is an odorless and damage and moisture. Most modules are rigid, but semi-
colorless liquid which evaporates readily into a gas. Leakage flexible ones based on thin-film cells are also available. The
is normally detected by adding an odorant into it. It is cells are connected electrically in series, one to another to a
considered under the category of highly flammable gases and desired voltage, and then in parallel to increase amperage. The
it can be classified as a carcinogen and mutagen if Butadiene wattage of the module is the mathematical product of the
content is more than 0.1%. LPG may leak in the form of a gas voltage and the amperage of the module. DHT11 sensor is
or a liquid. If it leaks in the form of a liquid it evaporates used for measuring Temperature and Humidity of the
quickly and will eventually form large cloud of gas in air environment.
which is relatively heavier than air thus drops to the ground.
Whereas, LPG vapors travel along the ground for a long 1) Arduino Uno
distance and gets collected in drains or basements. Gas leads Arduino is an open source electronics platform or board which
to burn or explode after getting in touch with a source of can be easily programmed, erased and reprogrammed at any
ignition. instant of time. Introduced in 2005 the Arduino platform was
designed to provide an inexpensive and easy way for hobbyists,
5] Temperature and humidity- Measurement of temperature students and professionals to create devices that interact with
is important for safety of people and affects our life skills. their environment using sensors and actuators. The Arduino
Greenhouse effect can be monitored by measuring temperature IDE provides a simplified integrated platform which can run on

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regular personal computers and allows users to write programs
for Arduino using embedded C The Arduino Uno is a
microcontroller board based on the ATmega328. It has 14
digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM
outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a USB
connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button.

Figure.3. MQ-2 Smoke/ LPG/ CO Gas sensor

4) MQ9
This MQ-9 sensor module has a protection resistor and an
adjustable resistor on-board. The MQ-9 gas sensor is highly
sensitive hydrogen and less sensitive to alcohol, and cooking
fume. It could be used in gas leakage detection appliance in
family and industry. The resistance of the sensor component
changes as the concentration of the target gas changes.

Figure.2. Arduino Uno

2) LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)

LCD stands for liquid crystal display, is an electronic device
which is used for data display. LCDs are preferable over seven
segments and LEDs as they can easily represent data in form of
alphabets, characters, numbers or animations. LCDs are very
easy to program and make your work quite attractive and
simple. Numerous types of LCDs are available in market such Figure.4. MQ9 Carbon Monoxide
as 16x2, 16x4, 20x2, 20x4, graphical LCDs (128x64) etc.. In
this paper, 20*4 LCD display is used to display the values of 5) MQ135
the measured parameters. The Sensitive material used in MQ135 gas sensor is SnO2. The
conductivity of this material is lower in clean air. The sensor
conductivity increases with the increasing concentration of
target pollution gas. MQ135 can monitor different kinds of
toxic gases such as supplied, ammonia gas, benzene series
steam and CO2. The detection range is 10- 10,000 ppm with
the voltage rate of about 5.0V±0.1V AC or DC.

Figure.3. 20*4 LCD

Figure.5. MQ135 Air quality sensor module
3) MQ2
MQ2 gas sensor is used to detect the presence of LPG, Propane 6) MQ6
and Hydrogen. It is also used to detect Methane and other The MQ-6 Gas sensor can detect or measure gases like LPG
combustible steam. It is low cost and suitable for different and butane. The MQ-6 sensor module comes with a Digital Pin
application. This sensor is sensitive to flammable gas and which makes this sensor to operate even without a
smoke. Smoke sensor is given 5 volts to power it. Smoke microcontroller and that comes in handy when you are only
sensor indicates smoke by the voltage that it outputs, more trying to detect one particular gas. When it comes to measuring
smoke more output. A potentiometer is provided to adjust the the gas in ppm the analog pin has to be used
sensitivity. SnO2 is the sensor used which is of low
conductivity when the air is clean. But when smoke exist
sensor provides an analog resistive output based on
concentration of smoke. The circuit has a heater. Power is
given to heater by VCC and GND from power supply. The
circuit has a variable resistor. The resistance across the pin
depends on the smoke in air in the sensor. The resistance will
be lowered if the content is more and voltage is increased
between the sensor and load resistor. Figure.6. MQ6 LPG and Butane

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7) DHT11 (Temperature and Humidity Sensor) air MQ5, MQ9 all these sensors are analogy type we have to
The DHT11 is a commonly used Temperature and humidity convert it in digital data using ADC. We are using
sensor. The sensor comes with a dedicated NTC to measure ArduinoUno controller board having 6 ADC channels. It will
temperature and an 8-bit microcontroller to output the values of read the analog voltage 0 to 5 Volts from the sensor and
temperature and humidity as serial data. convert it into digital value. 8 bit ADC is available in Arduino
Uno Board. We get digital values 0 to 1024 for 0 to 5 volt.
According to this value we will calibrate our digital value with
the actual percentage of gas available i.e. 0 to 100%. On
calibrating sensors value we will show it on LCD connected
with Arduino. It has 20 character spaces in each line. There
are 4 lines in LCD. We will show actual reading of sensors on
LCD. Setting threshold values of sensors we will control filter
fan to filter out air. Threshold value will be in percentage ex.
40%. Filter will get controlled using controlling fan of filter
with the help of relay. Relay will be switched by controller via
Figure.7. DHT11 transistor. NPN transistor will be used to switch the really by
controlling base voltage of transistor. There is one more
8) AIR FILTER sensor DHT11 which will give temperature and humidity of
A particulate air filter is a device composed of fibrous or room environment. DHT11 works on one wire protocol. 1-
porous materials which removes solid particulates such as dust, Wire is a device communications bus system designed
pollen, mold, and bacteria from the air. Filters containing an by Dallas Semiconductor Corp. that provides low-speed
adsorbent or catalyst such as charcoal(carbon) may also (16.3kbps)data, signalling,and power over a single conductor.
remove odors and gaseous pollutants such as volatile 1-Wire is similar in concept to I²C, but with lower data rates
organic compounds or ozone. Air filters are used in and longer range. These two values will be shown on LCD.
applications where air quality is important, notably in building
ventilation systems and in engines. VI. ADVANTAGES

• Sensors are easily available.

• Simple, compact, easy to handle.
• Sensors have long life and less cost.
• Quality of air can be checked indoor as well as outdoor.
• Detecting a wide range of physical parameters including
temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide.

VII. APPLICATIONS

• Indoor air quality monitoring.

• Industrial perimeter monitoring.
• Roadside pollution monitoring.
• To make this data available to common man.

VIII. FUTURE SCOPE

Figure.8. Air Filter
• Interface more number of sensors to know detail content of
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM AND WORKING all gases present in air.
• Design Webpage and upload data on webpage with the data
and time.
• Interface SD Card to store data.
• Interface GPS module to monitor the pollution at exact
location and upload on the webpage for the citizens.

IX. CONCLUSION

This research proposed a smart air pollution monitoring

system that constantly keeps track of air quality in an area and
displays the air quality measured on an LCD screen the system
helps to create awareness of the Quality of air that one
breathes daily. This monitoring device can deliver real-time
Measurements of air quality. The system to monitor the air of
environment using Arduino microcontroller proposed to
improve quality of air.. Here the using of MQ135 gas sensor
Figure.9. Circuit Diagram of Proposed System
gives the sense of different type of dangerous gas and Arduino
is the heart of this project which controls the entire process
The Proposed system represents air quality monitoring and
and LCD is used for the visual Output. The Automatic Air
controlling system. In this system we are using different
management system is a step forward to contribute a solution
sensors to get quality parameter of air quality, like MQ135 for
to the biggest threat. The air & sound monitoring system
air quality, MQ6 for contamination of other gases present in
overcomes the problem of the highly-polluted areas which is a

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major issue. It supports the new technology and effectively
supports the healthy life concept.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We would like to express our deep gratitude to our Teachers
and colleges from department of Electronic and
Telecommunication, Government collage of Engineering,
Chandrapur which they provide to complete this study. We
would like to thank my parents, for their endless love, kindness
and supports they provided for us.

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