The healthy building experts over at Honeywell have recently launched a first-of-its-kind solution combining early warning smoke detection alongside advanced indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring. Known as VESDA Air, the solution if built on the flagship VESDA-E line of smoke detectors and, according to Honeywell, utilizes a unique five-in-one IAQ sensor within a single box to help proactively isolate and identify IAQ issues before they become dangerous health risks.
The VESDA Air solution acts as a compliment to Honeywell’s pre-existing Healthy Buildings solutions.
“The emphasis on indoor air quality isn’t going away – and that’s a good thing as more organizations work to create safer, healthier environments that help boost occupant well-being and productivity,” said Udaya Shrivastava, vice president and chief technology officer, Honeywell Building Technologies.
“We challenged our engineering teams to find a way to complement the capabilities of our aspirating smoke detection systems with highly sensitive IAQ monitoring. The system identifies not only the minute presence of smoke, but also the presence of air quality contaminants of concern – allowing building operators to react and respond to out-of-bounds parameters quickly, before they escalate into unsafe situations.”
VESDA-E Takes a Proactive Stance to Health and Fire Safety
Rather than waiting for smoke to reach traditional spot sensors, VESDA actively samples the air to identify trace amounts of smoke and enable early intervention. For VESDA Air, Honeywell engineers have embedded that same system into a highly sensitive IAQ sensor that measures critical IAQ parameters, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter up to 1.0 microns (PM1.0), CO and CO2 concentrations, temperature and humidity.
The plug-and-play cartridge-based IAQ sensor works much the same as replacing a printer’s ink-jet cartridge, thus avoiding costly calibration and other maintenance. This convenience helps to reduce total cost, minimize waste and provide accurate IAQ data.
The company notes that the scalable solution can also be used in both new construction and existing buildings. Honeywell state that commercial buildings, healthcare facilities, hospitality, manufacturing and schools stand to benefit the most from having the device installed on site.
In new construction, the company notes that the installation of an integrated VESDA Air solution can reduce the total cost of installation (TCI) and total cost of maintenance (TCM) as compared to installing and maintaining standalone smoke detection and IAQ monitoring systems.
In buildings with a fully functional smoke detection system, a ‘smokeless’ IAQ-only system can be installed to provide accurate, actionable data to adjust ventilation parameters.
