Description of the Test
Determining Filtration Efficiency of a Vacuum Cleaner System for ultrafine particles and airborne pathogens.
Products that can be Tested
Household and commercial canister (tank-type), stick, hand-held, upright, and utility vacuum cleaner systems.
Scope
The emission of ultrafine particles from certain vacuum cleaners, even with HEPA based filtration, can result in consumer exposure to bacterial fragments and other noxious particulate materials.
Most microorganisms are of sub-micron particulate size. When dust in a room is disturbed, these particles remain airborne for days at a time and recirculation of the contaminated air serves to augment exposure and hence potential infectivity.
airmid healthgroup is a uniquely integrated testing facility which combines molecular biology with state of the art air sampling and particle counting in a highly sophisticated environmental test chamber.
Availing of such facilities, we can follow nominated airborne infectious agents and other toxic biological particles, including ultrafine particles, while the vacuum cleaner is undergoing testing.
Aerobiological data generated in this manner will have a vastly greater degree of sensitivity and specificity than any that relies on conventional particle counting techniques. Molecular technology allows for quantification of residual contamination within the vacuum cleaner and its ability to capture any infective biological particulate material.
airmid healthgroup‘s applied research in microbiology, molecular biology, and aerobiology means we are uniquely positioned to provide the solutions on this issue.