Air Conditioners
Air Conditioners
airmid healthgroup has a state of the art facility with large scale climate controlled chambers where we specialise in key areas of concern for indoor air quality.
In 2020, it was estimated that the world accommodated 1.9 billion air conditioners or air conditioning systems. It is predicted this number will grow to 5.5 billion between now and 2050. The major identified issue with this development is the staggering increase in energy consumption associated with this rise in system numbers. In fact, 39% of the predicted growth in energy consumption over this same time is being attributed to future use of air conditioning systems.
However, this is not the only identified problem as any product designed to move air around indoor spaces, regardless as to why, has the capacity to increase exposures to indoor particulates. Those of most relevance to human health and wellbeing are less than 2.5 microns in diameter, termed PM2.5, these are defined as respirable particles.
Some of the central systems in use are very well designed and incorporate high efficiency filtration and other particle removing technologies in their ducting or elsewhere, hence they contribute positively to air quality and reduce overall exposures to small particulate material. However, over time they are only as good as the received care and maintenance allows them to be.
Hence, they need to be monitored.
The bigger concerns are associated with the smaller units designed to cater to the needs of single room occupants. These represent the majority of the 1.9 billion and can either be through the window, split or free standing units. Wherever they source their air, unless an adequate particle removal function is incorporated, they are, at least at the higher fan speeds probably exposing room occupants to an increased level of airborne particulate material. Should there be viruses, bacteria, mould spores, allergens or toxins present in the interior space, this may equate to an increased exposure to these dust associated particles.
The ability of airmid healthgroup to measure these bioaerosols both on surfaces and in air allows us, as part of the testing program, assess any increased consumer risk associated with use of these product types. This capability can be undertaken either in our facility or in the field as would be necessary for the larger multi-space installations.
Presently, many of these small “air con” units have at best only rudimentary filtration systems in use. Increasing filtration efficiency comes with the added expense of increased energy usage as well as wear and tear on the electric motor secondary to a pressure drop across the filter. Hence, a need for the development of other effective technologies exists that can function either alone or when combined with filtration.
The Airmid testing system SOP’s allow for the testing of all of these elements.
Roger Frye
Vice President, Global Marketing,
Fellowes Work Solutions
Working with airmid healthgroup has given us access to valuable knowledge in aerobiology and indoor air quality. Their scientific expertise and rigorous testing process has supported our message that Fellowes AeraMax™ air purifiers can make a real contribution to improving the quality of air in homes and offices