Footnote
（Note）The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) is an index that focuses on the exchange of heat between the human body and the outside air (heat balance). It is an index that incorporates three factors that have a large impact on the heat balance of the human body: ①humidity, ②surrounding thermal environment such as solar and other radiation, and ③temperature.
（Ministry of the Environment website: https://www.wbgt.env.go.jp/wbgt.php）
Prevention of Heat Stroke/Infectious Diseases with Environmental Sensing Service “Around Now!”
NSW Inc.
Industry: Information and communication
| Publication date | February 22, 2022 (Posted on June 1, 2022) |
|---|---|
| Sector | Human Health |
Company Overview
NSW Inc. is a one-stop provider of: system development for industries including manufacturing and distribution, IT infrastructure design and operation, and cloud services based on its original data center. We also develop automotive, communication, and equipment embedded systems, as well as designs and development of LSIs and system boards. By focusing on IoT/AI and providing solutions and services based on our IoT platform Toami, we aim to become the leading company in the realization of DX/digital transformation.
Climate Change Impacts
The number of people transported to emergency rooms and heat-related deaths is increasing due to climate change, and 64,869 people were transported due to heat stroke from June to September in 2020.
Heat stroke can strike anyone, regardless of whether they are inside or outside the house, and countermeasures based on the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) （Note） are effective for prevention. Therefore, it is important to understand the WBGT of the everyday environment and take measures to prevent heat stroke based on the values.
Adaptation Initiatives
In February 2021, we started our service Around Now!, a heat stroke and infectious disease prevention service that visualizes monitored data by installing various sensors such as WBGT, CO2, temperature, humidity, and illumination.
The monitoring results are sent from each sensor to the IoT gateway using BLE communication, and through the gateway to the cloud system using LTE communication (Fig. 1). The monitoring screen displays the values from each sensor and the risk level of heat stroke in summer and influenza in winter (Fig. 2).
The analysis of past data (possible to export the values in CSV) or alerts/recovery notification e-mails (values can be set) also enable preventive actions that match the users’ conditions (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4).
The use of this service will enable countermeasures against heat stroke and infectious diseases in schools, playgrounds, gymnasiums, construction sites, factories, event venues, offices, and commercial facilities.
Effects / Expected Benefits
At construction sites and tunnel construction sites during the summer, it will be easier to set the break time to when WBGT rises and give instructions on how often to take a break, based on the measured WBGT values. It will also be possible to take thorough measures to prevent heat stroke by formulating work schedules that take into account the physical condition of the workers, such as moving certain tasks to cooler times of the day or at night.
At schools, the WBGT value can be used to make early decisions on whether to cancel physical education or club activities. The CO2 concentration can be used to promote ventilation inside the school to prevent infectious diseases and heat stroke, thereby enabling thorough environmental management inside the school.
