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Nebulizer-Retrofitted Drone Deployment at Residential Construction Sites
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December 2021
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By Handy, Rod
[PDF-1.93 MB]
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Description:"A water-misting drone was deployed during the summer of 2021 at two residential construction sites in Utah. Area readings for Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) and particulate matter (PM) concentrations were collected during 12 pilot test runs involving a 10-minute pre-flight stage, a 10-minute flight stage, and a 10- minute post-flight stage. The average WBGT values during the drone flight/misting stage were found to be 1.7 degrees F lower than those averages found for both the pre- and post-flight stages. This difference was statistically significant (p < 0.001, a = 0.05). The particulate matter concentrations pre-flight and post-flight were not found to be significantly different. Future research should include the deployment of additional drones with nebulizers and potentially other sensors at residential sites, with an improvement in battery technology and resulting flight times under maximum payload conditions. Key Findings: 1. During the drone flight stage of the test runs, the WBGT averaged 1.7 F degrees lower than both the pre-flight and post-flight stages of the test runs. This appears to support previous studies employing stationary nebulizers at construction sites. 2. Temperatures during the drone flight stage were significantly different (p < 0.001, a = 0.05) than both the pre-flight and the post-flight stages. 3. After the attempt at wet deposition of airborne particles during the drone flight stage of each of the test runs, the air was not statistically significantly cleaner than it was prior to the misting event. 4. The drone's battery life was a major constraint for all runs. This was due to the significant draining from a heavy water payload (22 pounds or 10 liters initially). 5. While the average WBGT values from the test runs were 1.7 degrees F lower for the drone flight stages compared to both pre-flight and post-flight sampling values, there were several times during the test runs when the WBGT values during the flight event were 3 degrees lower than that of both the preflight run values and post-flight run values. 6. While the particulate matter concentrations were not statistically significantly different between the pre-flight ("dirty" air) and the post-flight ("clean" air), at the beginning of the post-flight sampling the particulate concentrations were normally marginally lower than at the end of the pre-flight test run. Hence, some minor particulate matter cleaning appeared to result from the misting events. 7. To get significant WBGT reductions and marginal air particulate cleaning at a particular residential constructions site, it will be necessary to keep drone(s) deployed almost continuously. With current battery technology, this will be challenging but plausible." - NIOSHTIC-2
NIOSHTIC no. 20067588
CPWR is the research and training arm of NABTU. Production of this document was supported by cooperative agreement OH 009762 from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIOSH.
Report #20-1-PS
SS2021-retrofitted-drone-residential-construction.pdf
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