Air filters are getting smarter and better in the digital age. One of the latest is Matr, a portable air purifier for personal spaces that is launching a Kickstarter campaign today.
The Matr air purifier comes with a portable air quality tracker and a free smartphone app. The purifier itself is small and lightweight, designed for personal spaces like studios, bedrooms, or offices.
The company said its filter can eliminate harmful pollutants instead of catching them. The patent pending nano-technology purifier gets rid of particles up to 300 times smaller than current high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters.
“Due to rapid urbanization, a growing number of us are living in smaller spaces. Air pollution, and in particular, the invisible pollutants that build up in our personal living spaces are becoming an increasing health risk” said Matthew Rowe, cofounder and CEO of Matr, in a statement. “I designed Matr to be compact and simple whilst ensuring it remained powerful and sustainable to use.”
Matr is targeted at everyone, but it’s potentially most useful to those with allergies and respiratory issues.
The Matr Tracker docks and wirelessly charges on top of the purifier. It senses and displays air quality, learning about the environment and making informed decisions to help improve health. The tracker can be removed and used while walking, running or cycling. The air quality trackers work together, crowdsourcing hyper-accurate, real-time air quality insights. The tracker and app help users understand air quality so they can plan journeys to avoid pollution hotspots.
The smartphone app allows users to control the device and monitor the air quality data recorded by the air purifier and tracker. It shows live and historical data alongside location, recording levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), temperature, pressure and humidity. Sensing an increase in pollutants, the app will suggest methods to improve the surrounding air quality. For simplicity, the app also notifies
users when the purifier’s filter requires cleaning.
Matr has a removable filter that can quickly and simply be cleaned with water.
“We do not want to add to the problem so we’re looking at ways not only to be more sustainable in our design but to also be forward-looking as a company” says Xavier Craine, chief operating officer at Matr, in a statement.
Matr is available for preorder on Kickstarter at the special price of $195. The retail price will be $315.
Rowe started Matr in 2017 with a mission to help tackle the impact of rising air pollution in homes and personal spaces.
Matr’s purifier uses two filters to maximise its efficiency: a pre-filter and a photocatalytic oxidization (PCO) filter. The PCO filter uses patent pending technology to eliminate pollutants as small as 0.003 microns. That means MATR’s purifier eliminates particles up to 300 times smaller than traditional purifiers.
Photocatalysis is an efficient process in which light strikes a Titanium Dioxide (TiO2 – a common mineral) which acts a catalyst. This process activated a chemical process that decomposes and oxidises organic matter at a molecular level. All that’s left is harmless water vapour and small parts of carbon dioxide. Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s), bacteria, mould and fungus are completely eliminated through this process.
Matr said the independent lab tests carried out by the Center of Industrial Microbiology in Guangzhou, China.
Source: VentureBeat
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