Design at the Public University of Navarra a system for calculating the renewal of air in confined spaces

2021/01/28 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Ingeniaritza
• Elektronika
• Osasuna

Ana Ruiz Ilundain, a student of Industrial Engineering at the Public University of Navarra, has designed a system that calculates when and how much air should be renewed in confined spaces.

We spend between 80 and 90% of the time in closed places, and the pollution of the interior spaces is between 2 and 5 times higher than that of the exterior. “In the project I wanted to improve the control of the air renovation systems, specifically the heat recovery system, a team that renews the interior air of the buildings with the exterior air,” explains Ruiz.

The use of air renewal systems is usually chosen by the user without reliable information about the air of the place. Ilundi has designed an automatic control for it. He has worked with a device of the company Inbiot. “The device measures the air quality data and sends them to a module directly connected to the heat recovery unit. This module manages the data and calculates the amount of air that needs to be renewed in that place from an algorithm,” explains Ruiz.

“Comparing this device developed by me for the heat recovery device with the manual controllers,” says Ruiz- two things: on the one hand, reducing energy consumption, since at all times we will renew the necessary air, and on the other, improve health and well-being, because we will always have the best quality of air in closed spaces.”

For this reason, she has been awarded a special prize to initiatives for the fight against covid-19 in the fourth edition of the Kutxa Rural Labour Prize.