By Gopal Banerjee
MODERN LIVING areas of indoor and outdoor spaces include public and private areas, air-conditioned, ventilated or open air areas like: hotels, restaurants, shops, houses, vehicles; traffic roads; surface and air transportation, urban zone and more. These facilities experience environmental challenges from a variety of volatile, particulate, and microbial air contaminants arising from natural and human sources. The Air contaminants include general pollutants (smoke, dust, pollen, odors), specific chemicals (unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide), and microbial (bacteria, molds). Comfort and health aspects of indoor air environments are affected by these contaminants.
The objectives for environmental management are multiple: minimising pollutant sources; providing good air handling; and improving Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Technologies treating air contaminants involve filtration, adsorption, and electronic processes (Ionization).
Demands for more complete treatment of indoor air environments have led to the development of practical engineered systems based upon bipolar air ionization. Bipolar air ionization involves generation of negative and positive ions by applying electrical energy to air molecules. In the ionized air reactive species are created that oxidize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and agglomerate fine particulate matter (PMx).
Air ionization modules are usually fitted directly into central air handling units to treat entire airflows in order to meet challenges from external sources. Modules also can be fitted into existing ductwork, immediately downstream of central HVAC systems. Freestanding devices can also be placed in individual room spaces to meet immediate demands from internal sources.
Field applications of bipolar air ionization systems require optimization of process variables of the physical air handling system and the air quality demand. The central process control unit is programmed for fixed situation design parameters (ion level, power capacity, and airflow area), and for monitored demand parameters (airflow, humidity, outside and return air quality, and ozone). Optimal design should take these parameters into consideration during the design process.
Some Features and Benefits:
The Ions generated are the same positive and negative ions found in abundance in nature, for example, in forests. They turn into OH radicals only on the surface of harmful substances to inactivate them, so they are completely harmless to the human body. The amount of ozone generated Coil*Tech IONIZER is less than 0.003 ppm, significantly below the 0.050 ppm value set as the American standard for industry and for electrical equipment. Compared to passive air cleaning systems that trap airborne contaminants by using a fan to draw air through a filter, air purification systems based on Bipolar Ion Technology effectively eliminate harmful substances by working directly on the air contained in the entire room. Coil*Tech IONIZER emitting electrodes are outside the airflow, so only a small amount of dust settles on them.
The Author is CEO, Coil*Tech.