Description:FIELD OF THE INVENTION:

The present invention relates to a device for air purification, more particularly, to a device for air filtration based on a combination of a plurality of filters while sequestering carbon-di-oxide and generating oxygen to improve the overall air quality and a method therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

Using a HEPA filter is one of the most popular ways of air purification (high-efficiency particulate air). They are capable of capturing 99.97% of all airborne particles, including pet dander, dust mites, and pollen. Another option to purify the air is with an activated carbon filter system. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), smoke, and odours are few of the impurities that activated carbon filters can get rid of. The third option for cleaning the air is ultraviolet light filtering. Bacteria, viruses, and mould spores are all killed by UV radiation. Through the employment of UV lamps inside the filter, UV filters use ultraviolet light to sterilise the air. Another approach to clean the air is with a negative ion generator. Dust, pollen, and smoke are examples of positively charged airborne particles that attract negative ions. They become heavier as a result, and they fall to the surface below. Ozone generators are used as air purifiers because of their capacity to get rid of odours and microorganisms. By using ozone oxidation technology, the ozone generator air purifier totally destroys smell and removes other dangerous and irritating airborne contaminants/pollutants in indoor areas. Ozone (O3) produced by an ozone generator is extremely reactive and begins oxidising anything that comes in contact with air right away. Most of the pre-existing air purifiers either work with a HEPA based air purification method or a combination of HEPA and activated carbon or HEPA, activated carbon plus UV/Ion generators/Ozone generators.

Humans are at risk from UV-C because it can lead to severe skin burns and eye impairment if exposed directly. Second, the creation of ozone, which is detrimental to human health, is a by-product of UV-C. The microorganisms must be exposed to the UV for an extended amount of time, not for just a brief moment while the air is passing through an air purifier, in order for UV-C to actually kill or damage bacteria and viruses. The exposure period is too brief to effectively destroy bacteria.

Further, electricity is used by air ionisers or electrostatic air cleaners to electrically charge air molecules. These ions, which are charged particles, gather airborne particles before settling on a surface in the room to adhere to. Ionisers essentially transfer airborne toxins to your walls and furniture. Pollutants are returned to the atmosphere when the charge cancels.

With respect to ozone air purifiers, little chemical pollution is really removed by the ozone produced by these air purifiers. It does not successfully eliminate biological pollutants. It may take months or years for the ozone to completely neutralise the effects of several chemicals that are frequently encountered in indoor environments. The lining of respiratory system can become irritated and inflamed when exposed to the ozone which these air purifiers release. Coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, and breathing difficulties are some of the symptoms brought on by air purification using ozone.

Notwithstanding the above, most of the HEPA and activated carbon air purifiers only remove the particulate matter and volatile organic compounds from the air but none of these air filtration methods remove the carbon-di-oxide (CO2) that accumulates in a closed room over a period of time. In a recent study, it is found that CO2, inside many homes in India, to be as high as 3,900 parts per million (ppm) in a recent study. Health problems can be caused by exposure to CO2 levels as low as 1,000 parts per million (ppm) even for an hour or two. This can lead to a variety of health effects like headaches, dizziness, restlessness, increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure and respiratory illness. Moreover, modern buildings trap invisible pollutants and can accumulate CO2 and VOCs over a short period of time. This is known as sick building syndrome and can induce brain fog and reduced mental clarity. The CO2 that gets accumulated in a room can cause a dip in cognitive ability and reduce mental clarity for the people present in the room. High CO2 levels may cause burning eyes, tiredness, dizziness and headaches.

Accordingly, the need of the hour is for a clean air purification device that removes CO2 from the environment as well as remove all particulate matter, dust, etc. thereby improving overall indoor air quality without causing any harm to the living subjects therein.

OBJECTIVES OF THE INVENTION:

The primary objective of the present invention is to develop a device to purify air which removes accumulated CO2 worth and produces oxygen in a room.

Another objective of the present invention is to develop a device to purify air by way of removing all the particulate matter, dust, pet dander, VOCs, other gaseous pollutants and CO2 from the air as well as produce oxygen thereby improving the overall indoor air quality.

Yet another objective of the present invention is to develop a device to purify air that does not produce ozone, UV-C radiations or other dangerous radiations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

One of the embodiments of the present invention discloses a device for purifying air with the help of a combination of a plurality of filters including biodegradable biofilter, HEPA, activated carbon and a combination thereof.

Another embodiment of the present invention discloses a device for purifying air with help of a combination of plurality of filters including a biodegradable microalgal filter, HEPA, active carbon and a combination thereof.

According to the disclosed embodiment, the device uses microalgae as a biofilter to capture the accumulated CO2 in any closed environment and convert it into oxygen (O2) over a short period of time. Microalgae can capture and convert CO2 to O2 10 to 15 times faster than any terrestrial plants. The filter being biodegradable can be easily discarded or even used as a natural fertiliser thereby being completely eco-friendly.

According to another embodiment, the device uses inorganic filters including HEPA and activated carbon filters to remove the particulate matter including PM0.3, PM2.5, PM5, VOCs, pollens, allergens and other gaseous pollutants while the microalgal filter and captures CO2 worth of 6 trees and produces O2 worth of 22 trees thereby not just filtering air but also ameliorating the overall indoor air quality.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the device for air purification includes a system that keeps track of the pollution level throughout the day and provides users with a pollution forecast.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the built-in system also keeps a track on the filter lifetime by calculating the pollution level from the data obtained through the AQI sensors and the run time of the air purifier thereby notifying the user for a filter change and ensuring optimal efficiency of the device.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the device for air purification further includes customizable add-ons like bug zapper, WiFi extender, charging dock and built-in aromatic dispenser.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

The invention is further described in the detailed description that follows, by reference to the noted drawings by way of illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which like reference numerals represent similar parts throughout the drawings. The invention is not limited to the precise arrangements and illustrative examples shown in the drawings:

Figure 1A shows front view of the interior of the air purifier (100);

Figure 1B shows sectional analysis of the air purifier (200) including its crucial components;

Figure 2A shows a perspective view of the photobioreactor (300);

Figure 2B shows front view of the photobioreactor (400);

Figure 2C shows sectional analysis of the photobioreactor (500) with its crucial components; and

Figure 3 shows a graphical illustration of change in oxygen percentage against the change of carbon-di-oxide using the air purifier as disclosed in the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS:

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiment(s) of the present invention. Before describing in detail, embodiments that are in accordance with the present disclosure, it should be observed that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of different components of the composition.

In this document, the terms "comprises," "comprising," or “including” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a composition, system, method, article, device or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such compositions, system, method, article, device, or apparatus. An element proceeded by "comprises ...a" does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, product, method, article, device or apparatus that comprises the element.

Any embodiment described herein is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. All of the embodiments described in this detailed description are illustrative, and provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the disclosure and not to limit the scope of the disclosure, which is defined by the claims.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

In the following description, for the purpose of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention can be practiced without these specific details.

One of the embodiments of the present invention discloses a device for purifying air with the help of a combination of a plurality of filters including biodegradable biofilter, HEPA, activated carbon and a combination thereof.

Another embodiment of the present invention discloses a device for purifying air with help of a combination of plurality of filters including a biodegradable microalgal filter, HEPA, active carbon and a combination thereof.

Figure 1A shows a front view of the interiors of the air purifier (100) as disclosed per one of the embodiments of the present invention. According to one of the embodiments of the present invention, the air purifier (200) as illustrated in Figure 1B includes a base exterior (210), radial and axial fans (208 and 201), a photobioreactor (202) configured with a biofilter chamber, and inorganic filters (209), wherein ambient air is pulled in from the base exterior (210) through the inorganic filters (209) by the radial fan (208) to filter out particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, pollen, allergens, and other gaseous pollutants and channelled upwards to the photobioreactor (202) and the filtered air is pumped into the biofilter chamber of the photobioreactor (202) through a sparger by an aerator simultaneously, the said filter chamber houses biofilter sol with a waterproof lid to convert carbon dioxide present in the filtered air into oxygen and the same is pushed out of the device by an axial fan (201).

According to another embodiment, the inorganic filters of the air purifier are selected from a group consisting of HEPA, activated carbon and a combination thereof.

According to yet another embodiment, the biofilter chamber housed inside the photobioreactor (201) is made of transparent acrylic pipes (205) surrounded by LED strips (204), preferably white LED strips, running from top to bottom of the acrylic pipes (205).

According to another embodiment of the present invention, the biofilter chamber includes liquid algal biofilters.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the radial fan (208) is connected to a 5,000 RPM DC motor, and a duct system is configured to direct the clean air from the filters upwards into the algal photobioreactor.

According to yet another embodiment, spiral (203) is referred to a helical structure present inside the acrylic pipes (205) constituting the photobioreactor. The air bubbles that start from the PBR base (210) travels all the way up in a helical fashion along the spiral (203) thereby increasing the time for algae to be in contact with the air bubble. The PBR base (210) acts as the base structure that supports the acrylic pipe (205) and houses the aerator, PCB and other electronic components that go into the algal PBR system. Top exterior (207) is the outer covering seen at the upper half of the air purifier (200) acting as an enclosure covering the interior components.

A perspective view of the photobioreactor chamber of the air purifier (300) is shown in Figure 2A; and front view of the interior of the photobioreactor chamber (400) is shown in Figure 2B.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, the photobioreactor (500) includes a biofilter chamber.

According to still another embodiment, the biofilter chamber comprises biodegradable filters that can be easily discarded or used as a natural fertilizer.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the biofilter chamber includes an algal biofilter.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the biofilter chamber houses microalgal sols. The photobioreactor (500) as shown in Figure 2C houses an algal biofilter chamber for the purpose of carbon sequestration. The said chamber is 10 cm in diameter, 30 cm in height and holds a volume of 1.5L of microalgae. At the base (508) is where the aerator and electronic circuitry for the PBR is placed. The aerator pumps in the ambient air at a rate of 4L/ min through a sparger (506) into the algal chamber or acrylic pipes (505). The chamber that houses the algal sol in the photobioreactor is made of transparent acrylic pipes (505) surrounded by white LED strips (504) that run from top to bottom of the acrylic pipe (505). The lid (502) consists of a PTFE sheet to make it waterproof but still allow transfer of gaseous molecules in and out of the air purifier. PTFE sheet is a selectively permeable membrane that allows the passage of air molecules but prevents the passage of water molecules thereby ensuring the exchange of gases from the PBR but at the same time making the algal chamber (505) leak proof.

According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, PBR cap (501) is a screwable structure that can be opened/ closed to add or remove the biofilters in the algal photobioreactor consisting of a layer of PTFE sheet.
According to yet another embodiment of the present invention, the PBR lid (502) is an enclosure at the top part of the acrylic pipes (505) which includes the PBR cap (501). The lid (502) along with the cap (501) ensures that the liquid biofilter remains leak proof in case of the photobioreactor is displaced from its upright position. The PBR lid (502) also supports the light strips (504) that run parallel to the acrylic pipe (505) from the PBR base.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the ambient air is pulled in from the base of the air purifier (508) through the HEPA filter by the radial fan and channelled upward. The photobioreactor takes up the filtered air and pumps it into the algal chamber simultaneously. An axial fan is placed on the top to improve the push of the filtered out of the air purifier (500) and improve the clean air delivery rate (CADR). The base of the air purifier houses the HEPA and activated carbon filters and the radial fan enclosed by the base exterior.
According to yet another embodiment, the air purifier further includes a built-in system to predict and alert users of the pollution forecast.

According to still another embodiment of the present invention, the built-in system also keeps a track on the filter lifetime by calculating the pollution level from the data obtained through the AQI sensors and the run time of the air purifier thereby notifying the user for a filter change and ensuring optimal efficiency of the device.

According to yet another embodiment, the air purifier further includes customisable add-ons such as a bug zapper, WiFi extender, charging dock, and a built-in aromatic dispenser.

Yet another embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for purifying air indoors using a device comprising a base exterior, radial and axial fans, a photobioreactor configured with a biofilter chamber, and inorganic filters, comprising the steps of:
a. drawing the surrounding air from base exterior through the inorganic filters by radial fan;
b. filtering out particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, pollen, allergens, and other gaseous pollutants using the inorganic filters;
c. directing the filtered air upwards into the biofilter chamber of the photobioreactor and allowing the microalgae housed in the biofilter chamber to consume the carbon dioxide in the filtered air and produce oxygen simultaneously; and
d. pushing the produced oxygen from the device through the axial fan.
Data recorded from the algal photobioreactor:

The data over a period of 24 hours with an interval of 2 hours are logged and noticed the change of oxygen percentage with change in carbon-di-oxide as shown in the table below.

Table – I

The readings of Table-I are illustrated in a graphical format as shown in Figure 3 wherein primary y-axis includes oxygen (in percentage), and secondary y-axis includes carbon-di-oxide (in ppm). The charted graph shows the change in oxygen percentage against the change of carbon-di-oxide (in ppm) using the prototype. It is noted that a rise in percentage of oxygen from 17.5% to 23.6%, and a drop in carbon-di-oxide from 4666ppm to 839 ppm.

It is noted that the efficiency of the air purifier as disclosed in the present invention is at least 82.01%.

The air purifier captures CO2 worth of 6 trees and releases oxygen worth of 22 trees in the ambient environment.

Further, the clean air delivery rate (CADR) of the air purifier as disclosed in the embodiments of the present invention is 390 m3/ hr, and caters to a maximum of 480 sq. ft of area filtration.

, Claims:
1. A device for purification of air indoors comprising a base exterior, radial and axial fans, a photobioreactor configured with a biofilter chamber, and inorganic filters, wherein ambient air is pulled in from the base exterior through the inorganic filters by the radial fan to filter out particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, pollen, allergens, and other gaseous pollutants and channelled upwards to photobioreactor and the filtered air is pumped into the biofilter chamber through a sparger by an aerator simultaneously, the said filter chamber houses biofilter sol with a waterproof lid to convert carbon dioxide present in the filtered air into oxygen and the same is pushed out of the device by an axial fan.

2. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the biofilter chamber houses microalgal sols.

3. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the biofilter chamber holds a volume of at least 1.5L of microalgae.

4. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the inorganic filters are selected from a group consisting of HEPA, activated carbon and a combination thereof.

5. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the aerator pumps in air at a rate of 4L/ min through the sparger.

6. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the biofilter chamber is made of transparent acrylic pipes surrounded by LED strips running from top to bottom of the acrylic pipes.

7. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the radial fan is connected to a 5,000 RPM DC motor, and a duct system is configured to direct the clean air from the filters upwards into the algal photobioreactor.

8. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the biofilter chamber comprises biodegradable filters that can be easily discarded or used as a natural fertiliser.

9. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein it further includes a built-in system to predict and alert users of the pollution forecast and lifetime of the filters being used based on the pollution level and run time of the air purifier.

10. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein it further includes customisable add-ons such as a bug zapper, WiFi extender, charging dock, and a built-in aromatic dispenser.

11. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein it captures CO2 worth of 6 trees and releases oxygen worth of 22 trees in the ambient environment.

12. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein its efficiency is at least 82.01%.

13. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein its use in a closed environment increases the percentage of oxygen from 17.5% to 23.6%, and reduces carbon-di-oxide from 4666 ppm to 839 ppm.

14. The device for purification of air as claimed in Claim 1, wherein its clean air delivery rate (CADR) is 390 m3/ hr catering to a maximum of 480 sq ft of area filtration.

15. A method for purifying air indoors using a device comprising a base exterior, radial and axial fans, a photobioreactor configured with a biofilter chamber, and inorganic filters, comprising the steps of:
a. drawing the surrounding air from base exterior through the inorganic filters by radial fan;
b. filtering out particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, pollen, allergens, and other gaseous pollutants using the inorganic filters;
c. directing the filtered air upwards into the biofilter chamber of the photobioreactor and allowing the microalgae housed in the biofilter chamber to consume the carbon dioxide in the filtered air and produce oxygen simultaneously; and
d. pushing the produced oxygen from the device through the axial fan.