This is a "rework" of a topic that we posted on this forum; we made a lot of effort to optimize the hard- and software.
We built a CO2-meter / air control indicator that works well ! As you know, within these Covid-days, accurate CO2 measurements are very important as they give an idea about the need of ventilation. When do we need to open windows and when can they be closed? And is the ventilation system working well?
The meter is "dummy" proof: on the LCD it indicates "air = OK", "air not that good" or "bad air". And the ppm value is also indicated.
We made measurements on 5 different types of CO2-sensors (gas- and NDIR) that are used a lot in combination with Arduino. We compared the results with a CO2-meter (AirCO2ntrol 5000). As a result we concluded that only one sensor passed our tests. Based on this sensor, we succeeded to build a prototype of a CO2 meter / indicator. The price of the sensor is approx. 40€ and we built the meter with an Uno and LCD display.
At the end we built 9 units and in the document (see attachment) you can see the whole description and information about calibration and efficiency.
We are three students at the Energy Technology University college Odisee in Belgium (Ghent). If there are any questions or improvements, please feel free to post them in the comments. Have fun discovering our project!
Hardware:
- Arduino UNO
- Velleman LCD keyshield
- DS-CO2-20 (CO2 sensor)
CO2 meter Arduino.pdf (1.42 MB)
DS-CO2-20-VER2.2.ino (3.15 KB)