Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
730841 | Measurement | 2006 | 10 Pages |
Epidemiological evidence suggests that the presence of biocontaminants within buildings, such as dust mites and microfungi, can have a detrimental effect on the well-being of occupants. As a result, considerable attention has been focussed over the past few years on the measurement of the environmental conditions within biocontaminant microenvironments, which may have a spatial scale of only a few millimeters. Until recently, the major restriction in this regard was the lack of a humidity sensor with the necessary spatial resolution. The recent availability of microchip-based sensors has removed this restriction. This paper reports on the development of a humidity measurement system for microenvironment investigations. It also describes the validation of the system through a series of laboratory experiments and the novel application of a dynamic heat and mass simulation model as a suitable means of interpreting measured data.