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It’s hard to see what’s in the air around us, unless you have a handy portable air quality monitoring device like Arnov Sharma. This manufacturer uses our favorite microcontroller, the Raspberry Pi Pico 2to operate its custom mobile device, making it possible to see exactly what you are breathing and how much of it is around you. This portable air quality meter is an open source project with full build details available at Hakster.
The meter is built around the MQ135 air quality sensor, Sharma says. This unit works with different controllers and can work efficiently with the Pico 2. The Pico is also connected to an OLED display for visual output. This screen has a custom interface that displays specific particle levels in real time.
One important thing to note about this portable air quality monitor is the limitations of the sensor. It doesn’t provide the full range of particulate matter rating that you’ll find with a full Air Quality Index (AQI). Sharma asserts that his portable device can only detect carbon dioxide, smoke particles, benzene, alcohol, ammonia and nitrogen oxide.
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The first iteration of the project was built using a Raspberry Pi Pico 2, but it was eventually replaced by a Firebeetle 2 ESP32-E. This was mainly due to the Pico’s lack of battery charging circuitry, requiring more space for a second unit. The Firebeetle has an integrated TP4056, which was more practical for the unit.
If you want to recreate this project, you can use either board as a microcontroller if you are familiar with how to plan to recharge the battery. It will need to be connected to an MQ135 air quality sensor, an SSD1306 monitor and a 14500 lithium-ion battery. The housing is also 3D printed. You can also explore the project’s source code on the project page on Hackster.
If you want to check this out Raspberry Pi project in more depthYou can view the full build guide at Hakster. You can also follow Arnov Sharma for more cool Raspberry Pi projects.
