In the past few months, we’ve all grown used to wearing a mask – sometimes happily, other times grudgingly – to help protect us all against the nasties potentially lingering in every breath.
But for many people around the world, wearing a mask when out and about is part of the every-day experience – not just for protecting others from what they’re breathing out, but for protecting themselves from the terrible pollution they’re being forced to breathe in.
Masks however, offer an imperfect solution. They generate significant amounts of waste, require an ongoing cost, hamper social interaction and often don’t protect the user as much as the manufacturers may claim they do.
“Air pollution kills 13 people every minute, which is unheard of,” said Niamh Rock, a recent graduate from Brunel University London’s Industrial Design and Technology course, who believes she may have a solution.
“It accounts for more than three times the amount of people who die from malaria, tuberculosis and aids combined each year because it leads to so many other illnesses like heart disease and lung cancer.”
Urban Air is a concept personal air purifier which creates a curtain of clean air in front of its user’s face. Worn round the neck, the lightweight device sucks in surrounding air, cleans it using a HEPA filter, then blows it in front of the user’s nose and mouth, creating a haven of clean air across their face.
The intuitive, battery powered device has 10 speeds, adjusted by quickly twisting the filter, an OLED display, and could last up to 8 hours between charges – long enough to last even the most gruelling commute.
“The average commute is between 30 minutes and an hour, so it would easily last the daily commute,” said Rock, who since graduation has landed herself a role with renowned technology firm Dyson. “It would become like your phone, you’d wake up in the morning, pick it up, and put it on as you go out of the door.”
The designer, who launched the concept online as part of Brunel’s annual showcase, Made in Brunel, says that beyond the health benefits of Urban Air, the main advantage the device has over wearing masks is that it doesn’t cover the face, meaning social interaction isn’t hampered by others not being able to see the user’s mouth.
Whilst Rock was able to build a working prototype, COVID restrictions and the closing of the university’s labs and workshops meant she was unable to fully test the device, and whilst she’s unlikely to continue working on it due to her commitments to Dyson, she can still see a place for it around the necks of the commuters of the future.
“The pollution we’ve already released could be there for the next hundred years – it won’t just disappear. Even if we stopped polluting the world tomorrow, with could still be dealing with the effects for the next hundred years,” she said.
Reported by:
Tim Pilgrim,
Media Relations
+44 (0)1895 268965
tim.pilgrim@brunel.ac.uk