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DIY Air Quality Balloons

Posted by timothy on from the excellent-for-weddings dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A few students at Carnegie Mellon University outfitted weather balloons with air quality sensors, resulting in huge glowing balloons that respond to surrounding air quality. Their Instructables page shows that pretty much anyone can make these using a PIC, a tri-colored LED, and some off-the-shelf air quality sensors (about $10 each): 'This Instructable will show you how to make giant, super cool, glowing balloons that react to surrounding air quality. Inside each balloon is a tri-colored LED. This LED reacts to data from an air quality sensor, turning green, yellow or red based on low, average, and high values.'"

44 comments

  1. frist psot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    cheap vaporware ain't my thing

  2. What is Air Quality? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Pollen? Cyanide content? Instant death fumes? CO? Weak article.

    1. Re:What is Air Quality? by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 1

      Air concentrations of the BLACKLIGHT virus.

      This implementation has the advantage of being minigame-resistant.

    2. Re:What is Air Quality? by Beryllium+Sphere(tm) · · Score: 1

      Your choice of testing for volatile organics or for exhaust fumes.

    3. Re:What is Air Quality? by oldspewey · · Score: 4, Funny

      Poor air quality can usually be described as "there are way too many balloons up there."

      --
      If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
    4. Re:What is Air Quality? by zhong-guo · · Score: 1, Funny

      you americans thing your so smarter with these stuffs. china is rolling you all, grow a brain. Balloons? china has superior sensors for this and you think this is for stealing this? Dust! we look behind and you fight everyone when we are winning and you do not know. so weak.

    5. Re:What is Air Quality? by jewishbaconzombies · · Score: 3, Funny

      Aren't you supposed to be making plastic crap for us?

      GET BACK TO WORK CHAIRMAN, NOW!

    6. Re:What is Air Quality? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wouldn't that be REDLIGHT? Only the "hero" is infected with actual BLACKLIGHT, but all the zombies and hunters are infected by Greene's strain. IIRC, of course!

    7. Re:What is Air Quality? by Laser+Dan · · Score: 1

      you americans thing your so smarter with these stuffs. china is rolling you all, grow a brain. Balloons? china has superior sensors for this and you think this is for stealing this? Dust! we look behind and you fight everyone when we are winning and you do not know. so weak.

      Yeah, China's superior sensors don't even need tri-coloured LEDs!
      Chinese air is so "advanced" that they only need the red one!

    8. Re:What is Air Quality? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Don't they in practice pretty much only detect the 'hero', though?

    9. Re:What is Air Quality? by zhong-guo · · Score: 0, Troll

      then the both of the air and ground of Iraq, you made these red too. such waste. look look, “”First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.“” So weak.

    10. Re:What is Air Quality? by GameboyRMH · · Score: 1

      No need to worry lieutenant, the BLACKLIGHT sensors are currently indicating no alarm. Let's have a private chat about this just out of view of the other soldiers.

      --
      "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
  3. So... by Superdarion · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... how long before we start seeing a bunch of UFO reports in the area?

    1. Re:So... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How long until Boston locks down because of a terrorist attack.

      1-31-07 Never Forget.

    2. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

      99 red balloons, floating in the summer sky.

    3. Re:So... by commodoresloat · · Score: 2, Interesting

      ...how long before we see fetish sites devoted to girls popping these huge glowing balloons?

    4. Re:So... by Trogre · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It depends, on whether some idiot decides to paint on the sides of the balloons characters no one over 30 has ever seen with their middle fingers extended.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    5. Re:So... by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

      It's obviously a cover story for the actual UFOs that are expected to land there shortly!

  4. Can anyone tell me... by hoytak · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Why the balloons in the article are all glowing different colors?

    --
    Does having a witty signature really indicate normality?
    1. Re:Can anyone tell me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Someone farted?

    2. Re:Can anyone tell me... by sumdumass · · Score: 1

      That's what happens when you want accurate results from a cheap sensor.

      Actually, it's probably either different sensors configures in the different balloons or someone's deodorant or body spray interacting with them.

      well, that's my guess anyways.

    3. Re:Can anyone tell me... by GaryOlson · · Score: 1

      Geeks have been know to be rather noxious from time to time. Especially after spending time building a project.

      --
      Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
    4. Re:Can anyone tell me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be precise, a woman farted. Hence the rainbows.

  5. I simplified my design... by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Funny

    By skipping all that "sensor" and "tri-color-LED" crap and just putting a red LED, a battery, and some sarin in my balloon....

  6. Worst Summary Ever. by Nux'd · · Score: 1

    These values are measures for the quality of the air surrounding the huge weather balloon. The weather balloon is huge and it glows. The huge glowing weather balloon was made by students at Carnegie Mellon University...

    You're repeating yourself. You said that already. You're just saying the same thing over and over.

    1. Re:Worst Summary Ever. by jewishbaconzombies · · Score: 3, Funny

      And they use LEDs. Don't forget the tri-colored LEDs. Because it's important to mention tri-colored LEDs whenever they're used. And they're using tri-colored LEDs. Which are LEDs that come in three colors.

      I'm going to stick my head in a microwave now.

    2. Re:Worst Summary Ever. by Menkhaf · · Score: 3, Informative

      From the summary:

      and some off-the-shelf air quality sensors (about $10 each)

      From the article (sorry, Instructable):

      - Air Quality Sensor from Figaro (I recommend the VOC or the diesel/exhaust sensor, $10/$20 each)

      I guess it was just too hard to copy/paste two prices.

      The article is just as bad. I mean, this is Carnegie Mellon University. How's this for science:

      Data sheet for both sensors suggests 48 hours of preheat to make the elements most stable. I've run them for about 24 hours and it seemed to work fine.

      Oh, so your sensors "seem to work fine". Here's a quote from the datasheets:

      [solvent vapor sensor] Standard test conditions: Conditioning period before test: 7 days
      [gasoline and diesel exhaust sensor] Standard test conditions: Conditioning period before test: 2-7 days

      No calibration whatsoever. Dumbasses.

      I hope these wankers create an air pollution scare and the local population starts wearing gas masks to defend themselves from horrendous air quality because the people who'll build this kind of thing has no clue, follows the Instructable without question and makes the same mistakes as the UNI-FUCKING-VERSITY people.

      --
      A proud member of the Onion-in-Hand alliance
    3. Re:Worst Summary Ever. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Meh.

      1. They're HCI students (not specified in the article), what they're looking at is the balloon thing, not the air-thing. (Yeah, I know) If they'd had a couple of EE students helping them, they would have had better results...

      2. They're not doing high-precision air quality sensing, which is probably why they're ok with a shorter burn-in.

  7. Let's Build! by Itninja · · Score: 3, Funny

    Homer: Ready!

    Troy: First, patch the cracks in the slab using a latex patching compound and a patching trowel.

    Homer: [to Bart] Hand me my patching trowel, boy.[Bart shrugs.] Hmm.

    Troy: Now, do you have extruded poly-vinyl foam insulation?

    Homer: No.

    Troy: Good! Assemble the aluminum J-channel using self-burring screws. Install!

    Homer: What do I do for-

    Troy: After applying brushable coating to the panels...

    Homer: Wait a minute-

    Troy: You'll need some corrosion resistant metal stucco lath.

    Homer: Wait a minute!

    Troy: If you can't find metal stucco lath...

    Homer: Uh-huh?

    Troy: Use carbon-fibre stucco lath!

    Homer: Ohhhh!!

    Troy: Now parge the lath!

    --
    I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
  8. Re:So... In the Gulf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    in a couple of weeks.

  9. Instructable? by MaWeiTao · · Score: 1

    I accept that this is not directly related to the story but what the hell is an "instructable"?

    I can understand that something obvious like "instructions" was taken so they had to come up with something catchy. Would it really be so brand-defeating to just type "these instructions"? Do I have to be bashed in the head, reminded about the fact that I'm visiting a site called "instructable"?

    By the way, why are the balloons in one spot different colors? Does this thing actually work properly?

    1. Re:Instructable? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Honestly: get off my lawn. Do you complain when people call a video blog a vlog as well?

      Who in the hell hasn't heard of instructables before? There's a difference between instructions and an instructable. One is more content rich and attractive.

      An instructable is superior to "instructions" in that instructions are generally boring and hard to picture text. An instructable can teach a 10 year old how to build an arc welder from car batterys in 7 pictures.

    2. Re:Instructable? by petes_PoV · · Score: 3, Funny

      get off my lawn

      don't you just hate the school holidays.

      Instructables is a classic Web 2.0 invention where the responses and comments are far more important than the content of the article. They are meant to be a "look at me, see how clever I am" showcase of stuff that 1 person made, but no-one else is ever expected to be able (or want) to replicate. While they could be helpful articles presented in a way that explains the principles, provides clear information about how to make things and is actually useful, in practice it's all about the flashy and colourful presentation.

      I fully expect that one of these days there will be an instructable article called "How we made a matchstick". First start off with a tree-trunk, then plane it down into 2 tons of sawdust and a piece of wood 2 inches long. Complete with videos of felling the tree, people playing in the pile of shavings and finally some spotty yoof holding a small sliver of wood. The article itself would then have hundreds of comments along the lines of "Dude, thatz sooooo coooool" and "Awesum"

      --
      politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
    3. Re:Instructable? by dangitman · · Score: 2, Funny

      Do you complain when people call a video blog a vlog as well?

      Yes I do, because "vlog" sounds stupid, and "blog" is already one of the stupidest words ever created. It takes real effort to come up with a word that sounds even worse than "blog."

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    4. Re:Instructable? by noidentity · · Score: 1

      I accept that this is not directly related to the story but what the hell is an "instructable"?

      instructable (n.) - person who can be instructed. See uninstructable.

  10. Confusing sentence by dangitman · · Score: 0, Troll

    It depends, on whether some idiot decides to paint on the sides of the balloons characters no one over 30 has ever seen with their middle fingers extended.

    So, who has their middle finger(s) extended? The idiot painting the balloon, the characters painted on the balloon, or nobody over 30?

    --
    ... and then they built the supercollider.
  11. 1 sensor per balloon - 3 colors per sensor by denzacar · · Score: 1

    By the way, why are the balloons in one spot different colors? Does this thing actually work properly?

    Each balloon is attached to a sensor for a single pollutant, which then lights up in different colors depending on the concentration of the pollutant which is being measured.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
    1. Re:1 sensor per balloon - 3 colors per sensor by noidentity · · Score: 1

      Any reason they need tri-color LEDs, rather than just bi-color ones? That would still allow a smooth gradient between red and green. I guess it lacks the cool-factor of a blue LED. Everything has to have a blue LED these days.

    2. Re:1 sensor per balloon - 3 colors per sensor by denzacar · · Score: 1

      3 colors == greater precision than 2. You know, like traffic lights.
      And you can't really create gradients from single LED light sources situated at the same spot.
      You might do that by putting the LEDs on opposite sides of the balloon, adding voltage control, wiring...

      I.e. making it unnecessarily more complicated, with the additional "bonus" of making the reading of the pollution levels unreadable.
      Ever notice how most human-readable non-alphanumeric indicators don't come graded in gradients ranging from -256 to +256?

      --
      Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  12. 99 Luftballoons lyrics? by Type44Q · · Score: 1

    The war machine springs to life.

    Opens up one eager eye.

    Called to D.C and fired by Obama.

  13. Not terribly useful? by SteeldrivingJon · · Score: 1

    You'll only be able to see these at night, but I should think the main times when air quality is a problem is during the day, especially morning and evening rush hours (and afterward).

    --
    September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA