AirManager cleans cabin air
The global spread of viruses such as swine flu could be slowed by new air-sanitation technology on aircraft, claimed its UK developers.
The AirManager technology from Cheshire-based Quest International UK has completed trials with five European airlines. The units are now being prepared for installation across one European airline's entire fleet of Avro RJ aircraft. AirManager, which is being distributed internationally by BAE Systems, works using a patented non-thermal plasma technique known as CCFT (Close-Coupled Field Technology).
Inventor David Hallam, director of Quest International, explained a high-voltage coil in a dielectric arrangement generates the contained electrical field. This field destabilises compounds and materials in the air passing through it. A combination of high-voltage forces and oxidative stress within the field attacks inorganic and organic compounds at the molecular level and effectively strips them down to their component elements. Any inert particulate materials are then passed through a 3M-manufactured High Air Flow (HAF) filter, which has an electrostatic surface area designed to attract, capture and retain particles down to 0.1 micron in size. The air is cycled 30 times before it is released into the cabin area.
Hallam said AirManager can remove up to 99.999 per cent of all pathogens in a single pass and an even greater amount of airborne viruses can be destroyed in the same amount of time. A unit is also claimed to be able to eliminate volatile organic compounds and offensive cabin smells from the air. He added: 'It is important to show you are doing everything in your power to stop transmission on board. Swine flu is one pandemic; there will be others, and with international travel these things spread a lot faster than they would have historically. So anything that can cut down on that has got to be a good thing.'
Read the full article at: http://www.theengineer.co.uk/Articles/Article.aspx?liArticleID=313201
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