Air Cleaning Drone Feasibility: Designing a Mobile Filtration Unit to Reduce Indoor Particulate Matter

Normally, air is filtered using stationary filters. The feasibility of attaching a small air filtering unit to a drone was tested to see if air quality could be improved by reducing the amount of particulate matter in the air. A filtration device was constructed and attached to a drone. To create a more contained environment the drone cage used for testing was covered with plastic. Four tests were run in the drone cage: a test without the filter device or drone to see how the room air quality varied on its own, a test with the filter device on the ground running without the drone to see how the filter worked without the drone, a test with the filter device on the ground running while the drone was flying, and a test with the filter device on the drone while it was flying to see whether the filter worked better attached to the drone or unattached with the drone flying. The results indicated that the most particulate matter was removed from the air when the filter device was on the ground and the drone was flying in the cage. The second most effective test was when the filter was attached to the flying drone. From this it can be concluded that stationary filters can be efficient with strong airflow; however, if a drone were equipped with a proficient filter it may also be effective. This research shows that airflow is the key to decreasing indoor particulate matter.