In modern air conditioners various and very advanced filters and catalysts, made on the basis of the latest technologies, including nanotechnology, are used.
Porous minerals catch all the germs
Hitachi Japan recently for the first time in the world has applied the filter technology based on Nano Titanium.
New Hitachi residential air conditioners have three such filters: one cleans the air coming from the street and the other two purify the air inside the apartment. Filters can trap pollutants up to 5 nanometers 5 millionths of a millimeter in the air!
Whereas traditional filters do not stop staphylococcus bacteria as big as 1000 nm, influenza viruses as big as 50-100 nm, micro particles of dust and smoke as small as 10-50 nm.
Daikin uses in its air conditioners the newly developed photocatalytic super-filter which also uses nanotechnology for the first time in the world. This filter provides a 99.9% multi-stage air purification efficiency. The porous mineral with an admixture of titanium dioxide has increased adsorptive properties more than twice as much compared with a traditional zeolite filter.
And the properties of this photocatalytic filter are activated in natural light. All airborne household viruses and microbes get into the pores of the superfilter and titanium dioxide helps transform them into harmless protein compounds.
Five levels of filtration – mechanical, electrostatic, adsorptive, bactericidal and photocatalytic – make the room air absolutely clear even in the city center.
Multistage filtration system is very effective in LG Electronics air conditioners. The Nanoplasma air filtration system creates a powerful ionization of the air and then a partial discharge with the help of a catalyst. Then air is passed through nanocarbon filter again nanotechnology ! .
The Nanoplasma air filtration system uses nanocarbon granules. These are carbon particles that are 200-500 nanometers in size. The coal has the ability to absorb gases and odors.
The greater the surface area of the carbon particles, the greater their capacity to absorb the dirt. The finer the particles in a given amount of carbon, the greater the total absorption surface. Such a fine granule structure is used as a deodorizing material for the first time in the world.
Clean the air with green tea
Various biotechnologies are widely used in air-conditioners for air purification. These are, for example, antibacterial coatings of indoor unit fans, heat exchangers, filters and even a control panel.
For example, Samsung company is well-known, which has offered an air conditioner, all inner parts of which are covered with special bactericide layer.
It is not the first year when we successfully use Bio Green air filter with catechin derived from green tea leaves.
The use of catechin made it possible to clean the air not only from dust particles, tobacco smoke and other pollutants, but also from bacteria and viruses which are completely deactivated in this natural bactericidal substance.
In addition, it destroys unpleasant odors. The catechin filter is very durable: thanks to a special titanium dioxide coating it will last for at least three years.
To clean the air is used ultraviolet radiation, air ionization and electrostatic fields. So, the “ultraviolet filter” effectively protects from pathogenic bacteria. There is a diode in the indoor unit that emits short wave ultraviolet radiation.
Ultraviolet light instantly destroys microorganisms trapped on the electrostatic filter. Well-cleaned and disinfected air comes out of the indoor unit.
A number of companies started to use negative ions generators. This generator produces negative ions that spread throughout the room and transfer their charge to bacteria and particles suspended in the air.
Once charged, these impurities are attracted to the counter-charged collecting filter of the air conditioner.
Sharp has developed unique air purification and disinfection technology based on Plasmacluster technology. It destroys airborne microorganisms including viruses, bacteria, pollen, allergenic dust mite emissions, mold spores, nitrogen monoxide from cigarette smoke, pet odors from the kitchen and bathroom.
This technology is based on the “Sharp Ion Generator” world patent. Between the electrodes in the split-system’s internal block high voltage is created and the water steam from the air is split into negative and positive ions.
Negative ions bind with water molecules forming so called clusters, conventionally speaking, connected groups of ions with increased negative charge.
Clusters tend to convert back to water molecules and capture hydrogen atoms from molecules of microorganism shells and other harmful organic substances in the air.
This irreversibly destroys them, leaving harmless compounds in their place.
Moreover cleaning takes place not only inside conditioner as in usual filters but all over the premise because ions of Plasmacluster evenly distribute in the premise and deactivate contaminations even in hard-to-reach places under beds, behind cupboards, along plinths .
And after air conditioner the air is pure?
The question of air quality for an air conditioner is not an idle question: during its operation the unit actively mixes the air mass. And it is not surprising that designers of air conditioners wondered for a long time: if the device “chases the dust” anyway why it does not clean the air from this very dust?
Vitamin C split-system
Nowadays it is very difficult to find a split-system, devoid of filters at all. At least, there will be a simple filter of mechanical purifying, detaining the particles of some definite size, installed in it.
A recent trend is the introduction of combo filters that include several stages of cleaning. Such unit also solves several problems at once – for example, one filter performs mechanical cleaning from dust, pet hair and pollen, the other one neutralizes pathogenic organisms, and the third one can remove odors.
Most companies do not stop at “mesh” and develop filters with various additional features. Each company develops its own set of filters, sometimes offering different options.
For increasing efficiency of dust trapping electrostatic filters are built in. antibacterial filters containing silver dusting, plant extracts, vitamin C, as well as charcoal filters that adsorb odors and chemicals, or photocatalytic filters with regeneration capable of restoring their properties simply by lying under UV rays e.g. sunlight have long been used.
Plasma filter does not slow down the air
More and more companies adopt so called plasma filters “cold plasma” . They are based on the law of attraction of particles with different charges. The plasma generator creates a high-voltage discharge that charges the dust particles in the air.
Further in the direction of air flow there is a plate having an opposite charge. Dust particles are attracted to it and stick.
The plasma filter has several advantages.
Firstly, it is effective no matter how fine particles are contained in the air – unlike mesh filters, whose effectiveness is limited by the size of the cell.
Secondly, it has a bactericidal action – the microorganisms caught by a high-voltage discharge die.
Third, maintenance of such a filter is not difficult, you just need to periodically take out the plate and wash off accumulated dirt from it.
Finally, plasma filter does not interfere with the air flow, unlike mechanical filters, which means that it can cover more space inside the unit.
Models of this type are present in the lines of Ballu, Electrolux, Dantex, General, Gree, Mitsubishi Electric and a number of other manufacturers.
Ions not only charge but also clean
Among the new features is also the ionization of the air. Conditioner is equipped with the generator of negatively charged ions, which, according to some scientists, positively influence on a human organism and improve the mood and the general state of health.
To put it simply, conditioner, beside keeping up the temperature, becomes analog of “Chizhevsky’s chandelier”. Many companies have such models, such as Dantex E2 classic series , Electrolux Air Gate , Timberk.
More recently, models that use ions to purify the air have also appeared. The internal block releases the active charged particles that transfer a charge to the dust in the air. As a result, dust can easily be removed from the air – according to the law of physics, it is attracted to positively charged objects. That is why electrostatic filter is placed in the air conditioner internal unit.
What to do if the indoor unit “cries”?
Not ignored the manufacturers’ attention and the problem to maintain hygiene of the indoor unit. The matter is that in the process of air cooling in air conditioner the condensate is formed. And the humid environment is known to be very favorable for the growth of all kinds of bacteria and mold fungi.
To prevent them from settling in the indoor unit, manufacturers come up with various ways to protect. One of the common solutions now is to dry the surfaces of the indoor unit. Thanks to this function, such a humidity mode is maintained in the unit where the risk of pathogenic microorganisms development is much lower than in a usual air conditioner.
Many manufacturers coat parts of the unit with special antibacterial coating, which also inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungi. Some companies e.g., Dantex use run-off condensate moisture to clean the evaporator from dust that settles on it.
This is fascinating! I wonder how effective nanofilters are at improving air quality in air conditioners. Are there any specific pollutants or allergens that they target? And how do they compare to traditional filters in terms of maintenance and overall cost?
This is interesting! I wonder how effective nanofilters are in air conditioners compared to traditional filters. Do they filter out smaller particles and pollutants? Are they more durable or cost-effective in the long run? I’m curious to know if the use of nanofilters in air conditioners improves indoor air quality significantly.
That’s interesting! I wonder how effective nanofilters are in air conditioners compared to traditional filters? Do they provide better air quality and remove more pollutants? Are they more durable and cost-effective in the long run? I’m curious to know more about the benefits and drawbacks of using nanofilters in air conditioners.