Some air purifiers try to clean the air by irradiating and killing micro-organisms that float around in it. Others try to create an electric charge in the floating particles and attract them to a magnetized plate, removing them that way.
But others use the relatively simpler method of just filtering them out, by creating a screen with small enough holes that they can’t go through.
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Of course, when you’re talking dust, viruses, and bacteria, that means some pretty tiny holes. But that’s exactly how filter-based air purif they force air through a filter, and particles are literally captured, physically, and not allowed through. The size of the particles is measured in micrometers, with one micrometer being a millionth of a meter. (A human hair is 100 micrometers in width.)
Air purifiers were created decades ago and have gone through a lot of refinements already. The HVAC or “heating, ventilating and air conditioning” system is one of the many longstanding types of air purifiers. At its best rate, it can remove particles that are 0.3 micrometers or larger, and 75% of particles that range between 1 and 0.3 micrometers. So you could really say it could clean the air very well.
The 0.3 micrometer size particles are supposedly the hardest to deal with, so how a filter handles them is often what’s used to judge its efficiency. HEPA or high efficiency particulate air filter could remove 99.97% of dirt with a size of 0.3 micrometers. But it has an even higher rate of removal for particles both larger and smaller than that, so it’s often regarded as the most efficient filter-style air purifier.
The HEPA type of filter was originally designed to try to stop the spread of radioactive particles in the air, so clearly it was meant to be extremely efficient. It uses a thick mat full of fibers that are arranged randomly. Dirt either move around from fiber to fiber until they get stopped, bump into a fiber and get stopped or stick to a fiber.
HEPA filters are used a lot in quite sensitive environments, like nuclear settings or biomedical establishments. In the biomedical world, they are often used together with ultraviolet light, to completely kill off any stray viruses or bacteria. You’ll even find HEPA filters in some vacuum cleaners, to help protect people with severe allergies.
There are pros and cons for each of these kinds of filters. HEPA filters can remove a higher percentage of particles compared to HVAC although HVAC can move more air at a single time. They are also less expensive than HEPA systems, and cost less to use. HVAC systems are commonly found in huge buildings due to these reasons.
HEPA filters, though, are excellent for smaller locations like a home. And they can be combined with more run-of-the-mill filters, so that the largest particles get caught first, and then the HEPA systems can deal with the finer ones. This would help filters last longer.
Air purifiers that use either HVAC or HEPA filters may not have the same pizazz as those that zap micro-organisms with radiation or ionize them. But given their efficiency rates, filtered purifiers stand right up at the same level as their more flashy comrades.
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Tags: Filter based purifiers, air problems, air impurities