Patent Publication Number: US-2023149586-A1

Title: Air quality monitor with integrated air freshener

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/302,209 filed Jan. 24, 2022 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/264,216 filed Nov. 17, 2021, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     Air fresheners are often sporadic when it comes to the frequency and amount at which air cleaner is released from the air freshener. Air fresheners are often provided as either a stationary time release air freshener or a manual dispensing air freshener. Currently, there is no effective way of indicating that it is time to refreshen the air by dispensing air cleaner from the air freshener. Stationary time release air fresheners may release air cleaner too often or not often enough, based on a simple timer without monitoring the air in which they are dispensing. Manual dispending air fresheners are often dispensed at the whim of the operator, who lacks knowledge (at least beyond personal perceived senses) about the condition of the air they manually dispense the air cleaner in. 
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION 
     In one embodiment, an air monitoring system includes a housing having a housing inlet and a housing outlet. An airflow is configured to pass through the housing inlet into the housing. A sensor is located within the housing. The sensor is configured to monitor at least one of a frequency of dispensation of an air cleaner from an air freshener and a level of a contaminant in the airflow. The air cleaning system is configured to transmit a sensor signal to at least one of the air freshener and a user device to at least one of: recommend a frequency for air freshening, and adjust a frequency of release of the air cleaner from the air freshener. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments a fan assembly is located within the housing. The fan assembly is configured to draw an airflow into the housing via the housing inlet. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments an air filter is located within the housing, downstream of the inlet. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the air freshener is located within the housing. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the air cleaner includes air cleaner mitigation compounds. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the frequency of release of the air cleaner is automatically adjusted as a result of the sensor signal. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments a user-initiated signal is used to adjust a frequency of release of the air cleaner from the air freshener. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the contaminant is one or more of a volatile organic compound (VOC), volatile sulfur compound (VSC) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments a cleaner outlet is positioned in the housing through which the air cleaner is dispensed. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the air cleaner is one of a gas, mist or vapor. 
     In another embodiment, a method of monitoring an air condition in a space includes passing an airflow into a housing of an air monitoring system via a housing inlet, sensing one or more contaminants in the airflow via a sensor located in the housing, comparing a level of the one or more contaminants to a threshold, and transmitting a sensor signal to at least one of an air freshener and a user device to at least one of: recommend a frequency for air freshening, and adjust a frequency of release of the air cleaner from the air freshener. The one or more recommendations include a frequency of a dispensation of an air cleaner into the space. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the airflow is urged into the housing via a fan assembly located in the housing. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the airflow is flowed across an air filter located in the housing between the housing inlet and the sensor. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the air cleaner is dispensed from the housing into the room. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the frequency of release of the air cleaner is automatically adjusted as a result of the sensor signal. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the frequency of release of the air cleaner is initiated via a user-initiated signal from a user device. 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the one or more contaminants include one or more of a volatile organic compound (VOC), volatile sulfur compound (VSC) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). 
     Additionally or alternatively, in this or other embodiments the air cleaner comprises air cleaner mitigation compounds. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The subject matter, which is regarded as the disclosure, is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims at the conclusion of the specification. The following descriptions of the drawings should not be considered limiting in any way. With reference to the accompanying drawings, like elements are numbered alike: 
         FIG.  1    is a cross-sectional side view of an exemplary air monitoring system including an air freshener disposed within the housing, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
         FIG.  2    is a schematic illustration of an exemplary air cleaning system with an air freshener disposed outside of the housing, in accordance with one aspect of the disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     With reference now to the Figures, an exemplary air monitoring system  100  including a housing  110 , a fan assembly  130 , and a sensor  120  is shown in  FIGS.  1  and  2   . The air monitoring system  100  is configured to monitor air quality in a space, for example, room  190 .  FIG.  1    illustrates an embodiment where an air freshener  170  is disposed within the housing  110 , while  FIG.  2    illustrates an embodiment where the air freshener  170  is disposed outside the housing  110 . 
     Referring again to  FIG.  1   , the housing  110  includes an inlet  200  and an outlet  210 . The fan assembly  130  is disposed within the housing  110 . The fan assembly  130  (when present) is configured to draw an airflow  140  into the housing  110  via the inlet  200  and expel the airflow  140  from the housing  110  via the outlet  210 . The sensor  120  is disposed within the housing  110  between the inlet  200  and the outlet  210  and is configured to monitor a condition of the airflow  140 . In some embodiments, an air filter  230  is disposed downstream of the inlet  200 , for example, between the inlet  200  and the sensor  120 . In some embodiments, the condition of the airflow  140  may include one or more of a presence of one or more contaminants in the airflow  140 , for example, a volatile organic compound (VOC), a volatile sulfur compound (VSC) or a presence of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the airflow  140 . It is to be appreciated that VOC, VSC and CO 2  are exemplary contaminants, and that the sensor may be configured to detect other contaminants, especially odor-causing contaminants. 
     The sensor  120  is operably connected to a controller  150 , which in some embodiments is located in the housing  110 . The controller  150  compares a level of contaminants in the airflow  140  to one or more predetermined thresholds. In some embodiments, the predetermined thresholds may differ for each contaminant. For example, a level of VOC in the airflow  140  may be compared to a VOC threshold, and a level of CO 2  in the airflow may be compared to a CO 2  threshold different from the VOC threshold. The controller  150  may categorize levels of contaminants relative to their respective thresholds into one or more contaminant events. The controller  150 , in some embodiments, makes one or more recommendations to a user based on one or more of an occurrence, a frequency, or a severity of the contaminant events. The recommendations may include, for example, dispensing of air cleaner  160 , in the form of a gas, liquid, mist or vapor, from the air freshener  170 , as shown in  FIG.  2   . The air cleaner  160  may include air cleaner mitigation compounds. In some embodiments, the controller  150  performs the comparison via an algorithm, which may be a machine learning, expert system, or other algorithm. 
     In some embodiments, the controller  150  communicates the recommendation to a user by a wireless signal to a user device  180 , such as a mobile phone, tablet, or other device. The user device  180  may display a detected condition and also one or more recommendations from the controller  150 . The user device  180  may prompt the user to act on one or more of the recommendations, such as release of the air cleaner  160  through a cleaner outlet  220  in the housing  110  and into the room  190 . Alternatively, the controller  150  may transmit a signal to automatically dispense air cleaner  160  from the air freshener  170 , and/or set a time frequency for future dispensing of the air cleaner  160  into the room  190 . The controller  150  further monitors the dispensing of the air cleaner  160  via the sensor  120 . A time frequency algorithm may be incorporated that utilizes a Fourier transform of the time series data over 1 week, 1 month or 3 months to determine an interval for dispensing or recommendation. The length or time used in the Fourier transform increasing with the period of continuous measurement. In addition, a person can provide an input into the algorithm through interaction with the air monitor or user device to indicate use of an air freshener, called data tags. In a further extension to improve the algorithm, 2 or more data tags identify higher priority Fourier components used in the time frequency algorithm. 
     In certain instances, the air monitoring system  100  is provided as a way to integrate air fresheners with air monitors (which may have functionality to purify air, and be referred as an ‘air purifier’). For example, sensor data may be used to estimate the mitigation amount/frequency of the air cleaner released from the air freshener. This sensor data may take into consideration air quality classifications (e.g., type of particle, etc.). In certain instances, the classification may include whether the compound being detected by the sensor  120  is a hazardous air pollutant (HAP) (e.g., ammonia, carbon monoxide, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, etc.), a low-risk volatile organic compound (e.g. cooking oil, hand-sanitizer, etc.), or a low-risk mitigation compound (e.g., cyclodextrins, polyamine polymers, perfumes etc.). This classification may enable the ‘self-training’ upon release of the mitigation compounds (i.e., the perfumes) to learn that these mitigation compounds are low-risk VOCs that should not raise alert levels of the sensor  120  (which may be a VOC sensor). This instruction to not raise alerts may be due, at least in part, on the fact that the mitigation compounds are often VOCs themselves, and are not hazardous air pollutants (HAPs). In the case of an aerosolized mitigation delivery (that generate a particulate matter (PM) signal), the onboard particulate monitor can temporarily suppress any alarms caused by particulate droplets originating from the activation of the mitigation aerosol and potentially learn the composition of the aerosol as a low-risk PM fingerprint. 
     The use of the terms “a” and “and” and “the” and similar referents, in the context of describing the invention, are to be construed to cover both the singular and the plural, unless otherwise indicated herein or cleared contradicted by context. The use of any and all example, or exemplary language (e.g., “such as”, “e.g.”, “for example”, etc.) provided herein is intended merely to better illuminate the invention and does not pose a limitation on the scope of the invention unless otherwise claimed. No language in the specification should be construed as indicating any non-claimed elements as essential to the practice of the invention. 
     While the present disclosure has been described with reference to an exemplary embodiment or embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situation or material to the teachings of the present disclosure without departing from the essential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the present disclosure not be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out this present disclosure, but that the present disclosure will include all embodiments falling within the scope of the claims.