• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.184-191
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• 2014

Air quality in a subway tunnel has been crucial in most of the subway environments where IAQ could be affected by many factors such as the number of passengers, the amount and types of ventilation, train operation factors and other facilities. A modeling approach has been introduced to manage the general IAQ in a subway station. Field surveys and $CO_2$ measurements were initially conducted to analyze and understand the relationship between indoor and outdoor air quality while considering internal pollution sources, such as passengers and subway trains, etc. The measurement data were then employed for the model development with other statistical information. For the model development, the algorithm of simple continuity was set up and applied to model the subway IAQ concerned, while considering the major air transport through staircases and tunnels. Monitored $CO_2$ concentration on the concourse and platform were correlated with modeling results where the correlation values for the concourse and platform were $R^2=0.96$ and $R^2=0.75$, respectively. It implies that the box modeling approach introduced in this study would be beneficial to predict and control the indoor air quality in subway environments.

• Journal of Korean Society for Atmospheric Environment
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.175-187
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• 2014

The subways play an important part in serious traffic problems. Almost seven million citizens a day are using subways as a means of traffic communication in the Seoul metropolitan city in 2012. However, the subway system is a semi-closed environment, so many serious problems occurred in subway stations and injured passengers' health. Platform screen doors (PSD) are expected to prevent negligent accident such as injury or death from falling and improve the air quality of the subway station. Installation of PSD at stations in Seoul metropolitan subway had been completed in December 2009. Consequently, the underground transportation system became a closed environment, so the air quality has improved the platforms, but it has deteriorated in the tunnels. Especially, the subway cabin has many doors, and the doors are frequently opened and closed. For this reason, the effect of door opening on subway cabin, dust flow inside the subway cabin. In this process, the maintenance work may influence the health of people who work underground, as well as that of subway users (passengers). In this study, we measured air quality inside and outside of the subway cabin line 2 in Seoul, Korea. This study focused on the investigation of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and measurement target pollutants are PM10, CO, $CO_2$, $NO_2$, $O_3$. It was found that levels of PM10, $CO_2$, and $NO_2$ inside subway cabin line 2 exceeded the Korea IAQ standard. Concentrations of PM10, $CO_2$, and $NO_2$ inside of the cabin are higher than outside of the cabin (Indoor Outdoor ratio is higher than 1.). Concentrations of CO, $O_3$ inside of the cabin are lower than outside of the cabin (Indoor Outdoor ratio is lower than 1.). There is a high correlation between $CO_2$ and passengers inside of the cabin and PM10 is only the weakest correlation with passengers. Therefore, it is important to find out the emission source of $NO_2$. The results of this study will be useful as fundamental data to study indoor air quality of a subway cabin.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2011.10a
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• pp.1303-1308
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• 2011

In the modern society various types of transportation mode are utilized, among them the subway system is the one of the main transportation mode which more than 7.21 million people ride a day. Because of interests on the indoor air quality (IAQ) of underground public facilities, concerns on IAQ of subway system by many people are increasing. There are several approach to improve IAQ of subway station, such as installing platform screen door (PSD), frequent tunnel washing-out, and etc, however there has not been any attempt to improve IAQ of subway cabin inside. Most technologies for removing airborne particulate matters are known to be difficult to adopt on the subway cabin since the problem of maintenance cost. Therefore, the ultimate object of this study is a practical development of cabin air cleaning system which can reduce the concentration of airborne particles and harmful gases at the same time. The subway cabin air purifier (SCAP) was developed for removing particulate matters and gases pollutants inside a cabin. The whole system was designed and the roll-filter device was manufactured based on numerical prediction results. It is expected that SCAP could reduce indoor air pollutants in the subway cabin practically and it can be applied to other part of transportation vehicles.

• Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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• 2010.06a
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• pp.157-160
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• 2010

Management of indoor air quality of underground subway station is an important issue since the limited natural ventilation, limited sunshine incoming, and highly moistured atmosphere. The improvement in IAQ of platform is expected because most stations were installed with platform screen door currently, however, the poor air quality in tunnel might be affecting subway cabin indoor. In this study, we developed the air quality assessment model based on computational fluid dynamics. The geometry of air ventilation unit, seat, LCD monitors, and passengers were modeled using commercial software (Design Modeler) and fluid pattern and pollutants trajectories were analyzed by using CFX. We predicted the thermal comfort by predicted mean vote (PMV), distribution of CO2 and PM10 concentration. It is expected that this model can be used for the performance test of air cleaners which are under development.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.47 no.5
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• pp.410-424
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• 2021

Background: Subway stations have the characteristics of being located underground and are a representative public-use facility used by an unspecified number of people. As concerns about indoor air quality (IAQ) increase, various management measures are being implemented. However, there are few systematic studies and cases of long-term continuous measurement of underground station air quality. Objectives: The purpose of this study is to analyze changes and factors influencing IAQ in subway stations through real-time continuous long-term measurement using IoT-based IAQ sensing equipment, and to evaluate the IAQ improvement effect of a bio-filter system. Methods: The IAQ of a subway station in Seoul was measured using IoT-based sensing equipment. A bio-filter system was installed after collecting the background concentrations for about five months. Based on the data collected over about 21 months, changes in indoor air quality and influencing factors were analyzed and the reduction effect of the bio-filter system was evaluated. Results: As a result of the analysis, PM₁₀, PM_2.5, and CO₂ increased during rush hour according to the change in the number of passengers, and PM₁₀ and PM_2.5 concentrations were high when a PM warning/watch was issued. There was an effect of improving IAQ with the installation of the bio-filter system. The reduction rate of a new-bio-filter system with improved efficiency was higher than that of the existing bio-filter system. Factors affecting PM_2.5 in the subway station were the outdoor PM_2.5, platform PM_2.5, and the number of passengers. Conclusions: The IAQ in a subway station is affected by passengers, ventilation through the air supply and exhaust, and the spread of particulate matter generated by train operation. Based on these results, it is expected that IAQ can be efficiently improved if a bio-filter system with improved efficiency is developed in consideration of the factors affecting IAQ and proper placement.

• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.54-59
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• 2008

The most pivotal approach to improve subway indoor air quality (IAQ) is to examine the emission sources and particulate behavior. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to investigate the particulate behavior in the subway. In order to examine IAQ in the subway, a sampling and measurement campaign was carried out for 35 sites during the summer and winter seasons from May, 2005 to February, 2006. In case of 24 hour measurement, the mean concentrations ($PM_{10}$-24 hr) of platform and waiting room were $156.18{\pm}53.79{\mu}g/m^3$ and $111.00{\pm}53.31{\mu}g/ m^3$. Besides, as a result of 20 hour measurement, the mean concentrations ($PM_{10}$-20 hr) of platform and waiting room were $146.09{\pm}53.71{\mu}g/m^3$ and $99.08{\pm}42.77{\mu}g/m^3$, respectively. In general, $PM_{10}$-24 hr was higher than $PM_{10}$-20 hr, and both PM concentrations showed a high correlation coefficient (r=0.803). It was found that the $PM_{2.5}$ concentration ($l09.56{\pm}28.24{\mu}g/m^3$) in winter was higher than that ($83.66{\pm}57.82{\mu}g/m^3$) in summer.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.313-319
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• 2011

In a modern society, various type of transportation modes are utilized, among them the subway system is the one of the main transportation mode which more than 7.21 million people ride a day in Seoul. Due to the increased interests on the indoor air quality (IAQ) of underground facilities, public concerns on IAQ of subway system are increasing also. Platform screen door (PSD) recently installed at the whole stations of Seoul subway and tunnel washing-out appeared to be effective in reducing particulate matters in the platform and tunnel. However there has not been any attempt to improve IAQ of subway cabin inside. Most technologies for removing airborne particulate matters are known to be difficult to adopt on the subway cabin due to the problem of maintenance cost. Therefore, the object of this study is a practical development of cabin air cleaning system which can reduce the concentration of airborne particles and harmful gases at the same time. In this paper, we focused on the development of particle removing system utilizing a roll-filter for increasing operating time of air filter. The prototype of system was designed and manufactured based on the numerical prediction results. For rollfilter device, 5 candidate filter materials were tested in point of particle collection efficiency and pressure drop. It was found that the electrically charged filter material showed the highest performance among them.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.60-68
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• 2009

The most principal approach to improve indoor air quality(IAQ) of subway was to examine the fine particulate(PM-10) from the emission sources. Therefore, this study was carried on the investigation the fine particulate for comparison with the removal efficiency of PM-10 in divided the PSD(Platform Screen Door) and Non-PSD subway station from July, 2007 to May 2008. In the monitoring results, the range of PM-10 concentration of Non-PSD station was $44.6{\sim}116.5{\mu}g/m^3$ and the range of PM-10 concentration of PSD station was $23.9{\sim}81.1{\mu}g/m^3$. And then the range of PM-2.5 concentration of Non-PSD station was $17.4-56.6{\mu}g/m^3$, and then the range of PM-2.5 concentration of PSD station was $17.9{\sim}34.4{\mu}g/m^3$. In comparison with the results of the PSD and Non-PSD subway station, we found that the PM-10 removal efficiency of PSD was 30-40%. In conclusion, the PSD will be applied the effective facilities of decreasing PM-10 in subway station in Korea.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.71-76
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• 2017

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the environmental factors that affect particulate matters (PM10) and to compare with outdoor PM10 concentrations in an underground subway stations. Methods: The PM10 level was determined from May 2013 to September 2013 in the Seoul subway stations in four lines. PM mini-vol portable sampler sampler was used to collect PM10 for 6 hrs. Arithmetic means of PM10 concentrations with standard deviation (SD) were calculated. Paired t-test was used to compare the differences between indoor PM10 and outdoor PM10 concentrations with correlation analysis which was used to identify the association between indoor PM10 concentrations and environmental factors. Results: There were no different PM10 concentrations significantly between line 1, 2, 3 and 4 in an underground subway stations. Passenger number was positively associated with PM10 concentration while construction year was negatively associated with PM10 concentrations. Indoor PM10 concentrations were significantly higher than those in outdoor PM10 concentrations. PM10 concentrations were higher in the stations which were constructed before 1990s rather than the stations constructed after 1990s. Conclusion: PM10 levels in the underground subway stations varied greatly depending on the construction year. Therefore, it might need to be more careful management to the stations which constructed in before 1990s.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.28-38
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• 2009

In this study, a remote air quality monitoring system for underground spaces was developed by using NDIR-based CO$_2$ sensor. And the remote monitoring system based on wireless sensor networks was installed practically on the subway station platform. More than 6.5 million citizens commutate everyday by the Seoul subway transportation that is the most typical public transportation. They concern about air quality with increasing interest on public health or many workers in subway stations or underground shopping centers. Recently, the Korean Ministry of Environment has operated the air quality monitoring system in some subway stations for testing phase. However, it showed many defects which are large-scale, high-cost and maintenance of precision sensors imported from abroad. Therefore this research includes the reliability test and a theoretical study about the inexpensive commercialized CO$_2$ sensor for reliable measurement of air quality which changes rapidly by the surrounding environments. And then we develop the wireless sensor nodes and the gateway applied for remote air quality monitoring. In addition, web server program was realized to manage air quality in the subway platform. This result will be valuable for a basic research for air quality management in underground spaces for future study.