August 29, 2007

Dynamic Air Cleaner

Still mystified as to how an air purifier works?

Most companies merely list their multi-step air cleaning process, describing how dirty air passes through “odor absorbers”, “air revitalizers” and “oxygenators”. Do any of these fancy names really tell you *how* the machine you are using works? No, not really. It’s the same as a car mechanic charging you $500.00 for “engine revitalizing” or “engine gunk absorbers”—it sounds nice, but without an explanation of what it is and how it works, you really have no idea whether it’s necessary, or just a means of ripping you off.

The truth is that the processes behind air cleaners that make them work are relatively simple. Sometimes the nitty-gritty science behind particular technology may seem complex, but in general, it’s usually very straight forward.

It is only when there is no explanation of how an air purifier works (but instead some catchy, high-tech name) that you need to be careful. The air purifier industry is a $410 million dollar business and some manufacturers rely on smoke and mirrors instead of science to get your hard-earned bucks.

The bottom line is this: there are 3 or 4 proven techniques and every air purifier manufacturing company will use one (or a couple combined) to clean the air. HEPA, Ionization, Ultra Violet Light and Activated Charcoal/Carbon are most commonly used. Each one works in a different way to achieve results.

For my own allergies I use a brand of HEPA air filters called Dynamic Air Cleaners. I endorse the products made by this company to others because they are effective at removing particles that cause allergies, cigarette smoke and odors from the air. The most important aspect to Dynamic’s filters is that the multi-step technology they use is described in detail on their website—so you *know* how your air cleaning is working.

Technologies Used:

HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) Filter
Activated Carbon
Polarization—the non-ozone producing cousin to Ionization

The blow-by-blow on how Dynamic Air Cleaners work:

Particles strike the filter, or
Particles that normally would have missed being caught by the filter alone are eletrostatically charged, so that they stick to the filter like a magnet.
Particles that normally would be too small to be collected by a filter will also be electrostatically charged so that they stick to one another and create a particle large enough to be caught in the filter.
Odors that pass through the filter are adsorbed by an activated charcoal pad in the center of the filter.

(Now, for those who really want to be technologically savvy)

How each technology works:

Impingement: Impingement is the process that all media filters (HEPA, fiberglass, etc) use to trap dust. Simply put, in order to be caught, dust particles must strike and become attached to the filter media without passing through it. This is a passive method of air cleaning, but it is very effective. Dynamic Air Cleaners have tweaked the design of their HEPA filter to avoid some of the common pitfalls and shortcomings of simply impingement.

The Problem: Often times, filter that use impingement have to be rather dense, making it difficult to get the air to pass through them—so for a large room, the usually HEPA filter will need a relatively large fan.

Dynamic’s Solution: They have made the fibers of the passive HEPA filters that use less dense and more fluffy so that air can pass their them easier, while particulate is still removed. To ensure that the amount of collected contaminants stay just as high with a less dense filter, Dynamic Air Cleaners use Polarization in conjunction to catch more particles.

Polarization: The effects of polarization are the same as ionization—this creates a charge on contaminant particles to attract them to the fibers of the filter. The only difference between ionization and polarization is that ionizing a particle will create harmful ozone as a by product. The polarization process used by Dynamic creates no ozone.

It has been known almost since the discovery of electricity that an electrical charge will have an influence on any object in the vicinity of the charge.

In the case of Dynamic Air Cleaners, a static electric charge is established on a screen. As a result, both the filter and the dust particles take on an electrostatic charge, or "polarized" charge. The particles and the filter act just like a series of tiny magnets that attract each other. The magnetic force causes the dust or pollen (or smoke, etc) particles to be draw to the cleaner and stick to it like a magnet. This polarization effect accounts for a large proportion of the dust trapping effectiveness of Dynamic Air cleaners.

Agglomeration: This is a word used to describe tiny particles that are polarized becoming stuck together—so particles that were previously too small to be captured by filter impingement will stick together so that they are large enough to be caught on their second pass through the filter.

Adsorption: This is different from absorption, because the element that is being collected (in the case of Dynamic Air cleaners, this would be odors and gases from smoke, pets, etc) actually bond with the charcoal. If you placed a sponge in a puddle of juice, the juice would be absorbed—and when you squeezed the sponge, the juice would come back out. In the case of adsorbtion, the juice sucked up by the sponge would actually bond with the sponge fibers, so that it could not escape again.

The final product is clean, fresh air that is free of pollutants, particles and odors. Dynamic Air Filters are safe for asthmatics and children (whose lungs are still in the process of developing and deserve special care).

Visit My-Air-Purifier.com for more information about Dynamic Air Cleaners.

For more information of Dynamic’s technologies, visit Dynamic Air Quality Solution’ s website.

Filed under Air Quality by Dan Buglio