A Sensor-Based System for Dust Containment in the Construction Site

The problem of the containment of fine dust (especially PM 2.5 and PM 10) emitted into the atmosphere is particularly acute, especially in industrialized countries. However, there are particular areas where it is still not adequately considered. One of these is the construction site sector. The aim of this work is to design a flexible, economical, and easy-to-use system, which allows for the detection of the emissions produced in critical circumstances such as the demolition of a building. To this end, a data logger and five customized nodes were designed through a five-step method. The data logger is able to transmit data to a PC, making them available in real time. The study was conducted on a reconstruction site in L’Aquila, Italy, a city severely affected by the earthquake in 2009, for two working days and a public holiday. Even if not presenting substantial critical issues in relation to the latter, the experimental results show that the emissions of PM 2.5 and PM 10 detected during the demolition activity far exceed, in some moments, the threshold values. In fact, peaks as high as about 123 μg/m3 for PM 2.5 and over 1000 μg/m3 for PM 10 have been detected.