Indian Startup Developed the World’s Cheapest Air-Purifier To Fight Against COVID-19
An air-purifier helps you and your family healthy in the event of flu viruses strike. A high performing air purifier can prevent some airborne diseases because it can trap and remove flu viruses from the air. Presently the whole world is struggling to get rid of the COVID-19 as a number of fatalities increases rapidly from the last month and it has become a serious health issue for many countries.
COVID-19 is spread primarily through droplet transmission. When a sick person coughs or sneezes, the droplets become airborne. If you breathe in that air, you can become sick as well. This is why it is important to stay more than 1 meter (3 feet) away from a person who is sick. Touching objects that have been touched by infected people and then touching your eyes, nose or mouth can also transmit the disease.
Following the outbreak of coronavirus, millions of people flocked to buy face masks to protect themselves from the virus. Data shows face masks can protect you from the coronavirus but can air purifiers also capture coronavirus particles? We’ve seen a spike in online traffic for air purifiers recently, as worried people are, understandably, looking for products to help prevent getting coronavirus.
About Scietech Airon Air-Purifier
Now, the Pune-based Indian start-up Scitech Airon has developed the world’s cheapest ‘virus-killer’ air purifier that can kill disease-causing bacteria, fungi, allergens and viruses including the coronavirus as claimed by the firm.
The machine generates negative ions that neutralize virus molecule in the air and also nullify the effect of harmful particles on surfaces, claimed by Dr. Rajendra Jagdale, Director General of Science and Technology Park (STP). Several hospitals, institutions, and the police department have shown interest in the air purifier and are eager to buy it immediately looking at the current coronavirus pandemic.
Dr. Rajendra P.Jagdale, Ph.D. is a Director-General of Science and Technology Park, a not for profit autonomous institute established by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and it is hosted by the University of Pune.
The Park acts as a bridge between industries and academia to make available resources and expertise from academia, research and development labs to industries. Due to his initiative Science and Technology Park developed and launched India’s most robust GIS-based e-transformation called GISDA (GIS for Dynamic Administration).
How does it work?
According to the startup, the patented Scitech Airon ionizer machine generates negatively charged ions at approximately a hundred million per second (100 million ions per second) of emission rate that are electrostatically attracted to positively charged airborne particles and aerosol droplets and attaches to them in large numbers.
The negative ions generated by the ionizer form clusters around microparticles such as airborne mold, corona or influenza viruses, mite allergens, bacteria, pollens, dust, etc. and render them inactive through a chemical reaction by creating highly reactive OH groups called hydroxyl radicals and H2 O2 which are highly reactive and known as atmospheric detergents.
The negative ions surround the hemagglutinin (surface proteins that form on organisms and trigger infections) and change into highly reactive OH groups which take a hydrogen molecule from the hemagglutinin and change into water (H2O). The hemagglutinin molecules are destroyed, so the virus becomes deactivated.
Besides controlling airborne diseases spread through viruses or bacteria, the machine increases the human’s resistance to infections and harmful environmental factors for up to four weeks – extremely beneficial in times of coronavirus, which has a 14-day incubation period.
The 9-kg machine is barely 1.5 feet high, 1 foot wide and 10 inches deep making it very compact and easy to use for a 100 sq meter enclosed or confined spaces, like houses, flats, hospitals, clinics, aircraft cabin, trains, buses, railway stations, airports, restaurants, malls, and cinemas to make them ‘virus-free’ zones.
As published in India Today, “The machine costs around Rs 40,000 plus 18 percent GST. Though a similar machine with the capacity to generate 100 million negatively-charged ions can cost around Rs 1 crore. Most important, it doesn’t emit any harmful ozone that can damage the atmosphere,” Jagdale said.
After learning about the product, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought a report on the machine to see how it can be deployed for combating the COVID-19 pandemic that has gripped India and most parts of the world with massive afflictions and casualties.