A simple method for measuring the potential resuspension of dust from carpets in the indoor environment

Carpets have an important influence on the comfort of room occupants in the indoor environment, but dust accumulating in carpets due to insufficient cleaning may have an adverse effect on indoor air quality. An easy-to-use method for evaluating the cleaning quality of carpets has been developed in this study, based on the resuspension of dust from a carpet by a falling weight. The resuspended dust is drawn with the airflow through a sampling pipe, where part of the dust is deposited on a sticking foil due to turbulence in the pipe. The amount of dust on this foil is quantified by a laser-based instrument. The new method is tested in the laboratory and in the field on three different carpet types with different dust loadings. It proves to be highly feasible for quantifying the potential resuspension of dust from different carpet types.