CHICAGO—Today, Dyson unveiled its latest purification technology designed to tackle indoor pollution within businesses and commercial spaces. A common concern is that conventional ventilation, air circulation and air conditioning systems in public spaces may not have adequate HEPA filtration. Dyson’s latest purifier, Dyson HEPA Cool Formaldehyde, is engineered to provide high-quality filtration and powerful projection to support existing HVAC systems and provide cleaner, purified air throughout public spaces such as offices and schools.
Dyson engineers have re-engineered the machine airflow pathways to achieve fully-sealed HEPA 13 standard filtration—not only ensuring that no air bypasses the filter but blocking any potential leak points through which dirty air might enter the airflow. A new, solid-state formaldehyde sensor works alongside Dyson’s unique algorithm to precisely monitor formaldehyde levels—intelligently ignoring other gases which are detected by a dedicated VOC sensor. Improvements of the airflow journey have also made the machine 20 percent quieter, without any compromise on purification performance to reduce unwanted disruption in professional and public spaces.
Alex Knox, Vice President of Environmental Care at Dyson said: “As we venture back to offices, classrooms, hotels, gyms and other public spaces, we all want reassurance that these spaces are clean. As consumers, we trust that our work, leisure, and education spaces are being properly maintained with technology that genuinely works. Dyson has engineered a machine to respond directly to these concerns—promising cleaner, purified air throughout offices and classrooms. The Dyson HEPA Cool Formaldehyde does exactly that and more.”
Cleaner Spaces
Every day, humans breathe up to 9,000 liters of air, and in many countries spend as much as 90 percent of their time indoors. With most of the world’s population experiencing one-third of their adult life at work, facilities managers and employers alike have a responsibility to ensure the air in these spaces is clean.
Adequate ventilation, increased airflow and avoiding touchpoints are top of mind for facilities managers and consumers. Increasing ventilation by opening windows can cause poor outdoor air to come inside and may not be an option in many buildings. In addition, some built-in ventilation systems may not have adequate filtration, so airborne pollutants are simply blown around the room. These pollutants can include particles ranging in size, VOCs like formaldehyde and gases like NO2. From particulates released by office printers to formaldehyde off-gassing from furniture, Dyson has engineered this purifier with these real-life spaces in mind.
Fully Sealed to HEPA H13 Standard6
In the Dyson HEPA Cool Formaldehyde it’s not just the filter that meets HEPA H13 standard, but the whole machine. The filter system captures 99.97 percent of particles as small as 0.3 microns. Dyson purifiers capture allergens, pollutants, bacteria, pollen, mold spores and gases. In addition, they have been scientifically tested to capture particles as small as allergens and viruses, including the H1N1 influenza virus. Dyson engineers took a forensic approach to achieving a fully sealed machine, creating high pressure seals at an additional 24 critical points to prevent dirty air from bypassing the filters and allowing pollutants back into the room.
Precise Formaldehyde Sensing & Destruction
In addition to the existing particle, NO2, VOCs, temperature and humidity sensors, the integration of an intelligent formaldehyde sensor ensures precise sensing of the pollutant for the lifetime of the machine. Formaldehyde is a colorless gas pollutant, released by furniture and wooden products which use formaldehyde-based resins and commonly associated with new or refurbished spaces. Formaldehyde is 500 times smaller than 0.1 microns, which makes it particularly difficult to capture but leads to long-term exposure if left undetected due to off-gassing.
Formaldehyde sensors can be gel-based and may deteriorate gradually as they dry out over time. Using a solid electro-chemical cell, the Dyson formaldehyde sensor does not dry out and its unique intelligent algorithm cross-checks data every second, selectively sensing to avoid confusion with other VOCs.
Dyson’s Selective Catalytic Oxidisation (SCO) filter continuously destroys formaldehyde at a molecular level. The catalytic filter has a unique coating, with the same structure as the Cryptomelane mineral. Its billions of atom-sized tunnels are the optimal size and shape to trap and destroy formaldehyde, breaking it down into tiny amounts of water and CO2 . It then regenerates from oxygen in the air to keep destroying it continuously without ever requiring replacement.
Acoustically Engineered to Be 20 Percent Quieter
Dyson engineers increased efforts to further reduce the sound output of the Dyson HEPA Cool Formaldehyde while maintaining purification performance. Through an iterative design, test, build process, the machine was re-engineered to be 20 percent quieter. To achieve this noise reduction, Dyson engineers refined the overall airflow path by widening the aperture (slot in which the air exits the machine) and its geometry was improved. This reduced the amount of friction between the air and surface of the machine, resulting in less sound.
Air Multiplier Technology
Using Dyson Air Multiplier Technology, the machine can project purified air to every corner of the room. Auto mode enables the machine to maintain a preferred room temperature and air quality levels, while the Dyson Link App and voice control activation help avoid touchpoints and possible contamination.
Engineered for Real Indoor Environments
Dyson Purifier machines are engineered for real indoor environments. The industry standard for testing air purifiers measures performance using a laboratory test conducted in a compact chamber 12m² in size, with a ceiling fan to circulate the air and one sensor inside the room measuring air quality. This test is used to determine a purifier’s clean air delivery rate (CADR). The CADR metric is a measurement of speed in an unrealistic setting. For more representative testing, Dyson’s POLAR test is based on a larger room size of 27m² with no added fan and uses eight sensors in the corners of the room and one sensor in the center to collect air quality data. This type of testing is particularly crucial to test how a purifier will perform in public spaces as they are usually more open, larger spaces. Having a product that does not rely on external factors to circulate purified air around a space is a must. To learn more about purifier testing, please visit the Dyson Newsroom.
