Design and development of a nearable wireless system to control Indoor Air Quality and Indoor Lighting Quality

The article describes the result of the open source Smart lamp project. The first version of this “smart” object, built following a DIY approach using a microcontroller, an integrated temperature and relative humidity sensor and techniques of Additive Manufacturing, allowed to adjust the Indoor Climate Quality (ICQ), by interacting directly with the air conditioner. The Smart Lamp, placed in an office, showed how this approach effectively reduced the energy consumption, optimizing the thermal comfort of the workers. The holistic concept  of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), in addition to providing thermal comfort, includes the Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and the Indoor Lighting Quality (ILQ). The upgrade of the Smart Lamp bridges this gap regarding the possibility to interact with the air exchange unit and lighting system, in order to get an overview of the potential of a nearable device in the management of the IEQ. The upgraded version was tested in an office equipped with a mechanical ventilation and air conditioning system and occupied by 4 workers. The experiment was compared with a baseline scenario and the results showed how the application of the nearable effectively optimizes both the IAQ and ILQ.