Technology

 

As a wearable device, the AirWear Vayu allows you to take your clean air with you wherever you go. The comfortable, lightweight device will be there to provide localized protection from known and unknown pollutants in the air you breathe. As the Vayu draws in the polluted ambient air around you, the sealed system captures the airborne particulates, pathogens, and pollutants through its advanced filtration techniques. The replaceable filter cartridge captures 98% of particles down to PM 0.3 (the size range of most virus laden aerosols, bacteria, pollen and dust).

The Vayu delivers more clean air per minute than many room air cleaners. The AirWear Vayu cleans and projects 20 cubic feet of clean air into your breathing zone every minute.

Our Filtration Science

The combination of research and engineering in air quality and fluid mechanics has given us valuable insight in to what is flowing in, around and through our bodies each and every day. By introducing the right piece of equipment at the right time, the majority of toxic particles can be filtered out to leave you breathing clean and fresh air. Click on the links below to learn how this process works.

Indoor air quality and health, performance and productivity

Viruses, bacteria, and indoor air pollution

Breathing Zone

Filtration Theory

Nanofiber mesh and activated carbon filters

Inside your AirWear Device

Indoor air quality and health, performance and productivity

The impact of poor indoor air quality can be substantial yet imperceivable to the eye. The science shows us how detrimental poor indoor air quality can be to our health, and maintaining clean indoor air can benefit not just health, but our performance and productivity as well.

Poor indoor air quality can be due to many things, including, the infiltration of outdoor particles and pollutants related to vehicular traffic, industrial or urban activities, and wildfire smoke. The indoor environment can also be influenced by indoor sources, such as combustion products in heating, cooking, or candle and incense burning to pollutants emitted from clothing, cleaning products, or building materials. We eat, work, sleep, and spend around 90% of our time in a potentially polluted environment. Our attention to improve this condition has the benefit of providing us better long-term health, performance, and productivity.

Indoor air quality and health - ScienceDirect

Indoor air quality and health - MDPI

Volatile Organic Compounds, Indoor Air Quality and Health

The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity

The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity.

The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity.

The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity.

The effects of indoor air quality on performance and productivity.

Indoor air quality and health, performance and productivity

The impact of poor indoor air quality can be substantial yet imperceivable to the eye. Countless research has shown us how awful poor indoor air quality can be to our health, and maintaining clean indoor air can benefit not just health, but our performance and productivity as well.

Poor indoor air quality can be due to many things, including, the infiltration of outdoor particles and pollutants related to  vehicular traffic, industrial or urban activities, and wildfire smoke. The indoor environment can also be influenced by indoor sources, such as combustion products in heating, cooking, or candle and incense burning to pollutants emitted from clothing, cleaning products, or building materials. We eat, work, sleep, and spend around 90% of our time in a potentially polluted environment. Our attention to improve this condition has the benefit of providing us better long-term health, performance, and productivity. Clean air is only a click away.

Viruses, Bacteria, and Indoor Air Pollution

Viruses and bacteria are carried in aerosols that can range across different sizes but are usually < 5 𝛍m. For comparison, a single piece of hair is approximately ~70 𝛍m in width. Biotic particles such as pollen and mold, and abiotic particles such as dust and smoke, can also exist in a similar size range. Because these aerosols and particles are so small, they can hang around in the air for a very long time and travel deep into your lungs.

While biotic and abiotic aerosols and particles are important in understanding occupant exposure to local pollutants, they are only one part of the whole picture of indoor air pollution. Volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted from paint and other building materials, ozone from outdoor sources, radon and its byproducts seeping out from the soils underneath buildings and phthalates from vinyl or plastic floors all contribute to poor indoor air. A robust approach that addresses the various types and sources of pollutants is required to properly improve human health, performance, and productivity in the indoor environment.

 

References:

References:

Breathing Zone

The breathing zone is a volume of air in front of the nose and mouth region whose exact physical dimensions are still debated. Some researchers define the breathing zone as a dynamic volume of air that is dependent on respiration rate, local environmental fluid mechanics, and the position and facial structures of the person. Others have set a more rigid boundary for measurement and calculation, including Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), who defines the breathing zone as “a hemisphere forward of the shoulders within a radius of approximately nine inches.”
Although we agree that the breathing zone is dynamic, due to the complexity and the limited research on the factors that affect a dynamic view, we use the more rigid definition of the breathing zone for our product design and development.

Currently, the most common way to improve the indoor air is at the building level, with improvements to the building heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. This can be expensive and can stress the individual components of HVAC systems. Another method is to have room air cleaners (RAC) in each room/zone, but their effectiveness is dependent on the efficiency and flow rate of clean air from the RAC. The most effective and efficient way to clean an occupants air is at the breathing zone scale since only a small volume of air needs to be cleaned.

Filtration Theory

Filtration theory is the various methods that are used to remove toxins through physical filtration. Four methods are generally applied for filtration:

  • Sieving
  • Interception
  • Inertial Impaction
  • Diffusion

To properly remove all particles that may contain pathogens and pollutants, all 4 methods need to be applied.​

Filtration Mechanisms: How Particles BehaveCarbon—A Review

The principles of air filtration

A review of air filtration technologies for sustainable and healthy building ventilation

Nanofiber mesh and activated carbon filters

Nanofibers are a novel and unique solution in air filtration technology. They are materials that are an order of magnitude smaller than conventional filters. This permits the utilization of different fluid mechanics principles to improve efficiency and allow for quiet removal of pollutants and particles at the breathing zone scale.

Activated carbon filters have been around for a few decades and have been proven to remove toxic pollutants by means of adsorption. The key to proper use of the adsorption mechanism in activated carbon is contact time, the amount of time that pollutants have to adsorb into the filter. At lower flow rates, there is higher contact time leading to greater removal of pollutants.  

Removal of Indoor Air Pollutants Using Activated Carbon—A Review

Filtration properties of electrospinning nanofibers

Skin effect in nanofiber filtration of submicron aerosols

Indoor air quality and health

Activated carbon fiber: Fundamentals and applications

Inside your Airwear Vayu

From the inlet, air is drawn into the device and sent to the filtration chamber. Here, a three-part filtration system is composed of (1) a coarse particle filter, (2) a fine particle nanofiber mesh, and (3) an activated carbon filter. From the filtration chamber, clean air is delivered to the wearer’s breathing zone at such a rate to provide continuous protection from particles and pollutants.