SURVEYOR: Examination of ventilation systems in foundries with robots and stationary sensors

Purpose and goal
Ventilation systems are very important in foundries, mines and other working environments. Despite this, no surveillance techniques that capture the complexity of indoor ventilation have yet been developed. SURVEYOR evaluates whether it is possible to design a system for characterising ventilation, which, using a mobile robot, static sensors and advanced statistical modeling, builds “ventilation maps”. Such maps model airflows indoors with a level of detail that is not possible with current technologies.

Structure and implementation
The project will be developed in three phases. First, hardware for measurement will be prepared and an initial test will be performed. The second phase contains data analysis and algorithm development, such as a comparison between conventional flow statistics and ventilation maps. In the third phase, the system will be improved based on end-user feedback and analysis from a second installation.

Expected results
SURVEYOR will develop a prototype of this hybrid ventilation characterisation system (with static and mobile sensors). The prototype will provide an accurate model of indoor airflows (i.e. a ventilation map) where variables such as air velocity and air direction can be estimated at different locations.