Daly, J.E.M.; Saroj, D.P.; Chenoweth, J.L.; Parrott, T. A Case Study of Delayed Action PIR Urinal-Controls in a University Setting and Their Impact before, during and after COVID-19. Sustainability2022, 14, 15506.
Daly, J.E.M.; Saroj, D.P.; Chenoweth, J.L.; Parrott, T. A Case Study of Delayed Action PIR Urinal-Controls in a University Setting and Their Impact before, during and after COVID-19. Sustainability 2022, 14, 15506.
Daly, J.E.M.; Saroj, D.P.; Chenoweth, J.L.; Parrott, T. A Case Study of Delayed Action PIR Urinal-Controls in a University Setting and Their Impact before, during and after COVID-19. Sustainability2022, 14, 15506.
Daly, J.E.M.; Saroj, D.P.; Chenoweth, J.L.; Parrott, T. A Case Study of Delayed Action PIR Urinal-Controls in a University Setting and Their Impact before, during and after COVID-19. Sustainability 2022, 14, 15506.
Abstract
This study looks at the application of delayed action Passive InfraRed (PIR) sensors in the control of water use for urinal flushing. In this we briefly review the literature on urinal controls before reviewing four different approaches to PIR urinal controls. Existing literature discusses some of the pros and cons of different types of urinal control. However, the literature doesn’t consider the marked differences that can occur within individual approaches, based on the way controls operate. This study was initiated at the University of Surrey during 2019 following a water saving audit, in an attempt to bring down what had been identified as one of the largest users of water. This paper therefore aims to identify the most effective way to reduce water consumption of urinal systems, through retro-fitting PIR control systems within the variety of settings found across university campuses. This paper also reviews the different reductions achieved over periods of different levels of use, linked to term time, holidays, Covid-19 related lockdowns, and the ‘new normal’. It found that grouped delayed action flushing was the most effective form of urinal control for reducing water use. The delayed action, grouped PIR sensors, achieved between, a 59-64% adjusted reduction against the control group during non-Covid19 periods, and a 35% reduction against the control group during lockdowns.
Keywords
Urinal; Passive Infrared (PIR); Water Conservation; Water efficiency; Campus; building management
Subject
Engineering, Control and Systems Engineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
