Breathe Easy cleans the air of toxins or volatile organic chemicals
(VOC's) which are caused by synthetic materials used in the construction of buildings such as chipboard, paint and MDF as well as chemically formulated personal care products, carpeting and fabrics. All of these factors teamed together create a chemical pea soup and resultant complaints of poor indoor air quality or sick building syndrome as it is now commonly called which has increased since the introduction of double glazing which in effect seals a building.
Breathe Easy achieves this by using toxin absorbing plants which have been discovered and researched by NASA for their Skylab missions. They found that their astronauts were becoming ill when enclosed in the space capsules due to the off-gassing toxins, they discovered that certain plants such as orchids, Boston ferns and snake plants where very good at removing these toxins.
Breathe Easy uses these plants and an innovative aeroponic watering and extractor fan system to suck the toxins in from the room and mix them with a water vapour. This vapour is then blown over the plant's root system where microbes turn them into food for the plant, thus cleaning the air and feeding the plants.
The design won the Helen Hamlyn and Help the Aged Design for our future selves competition, as well as a Spark Design Award, Imperial College business competition and a Dyson Scholarship.
Breathe Easy is a working prototype and is currently being developed for production.
All rights reserved © 2010 PDHive Website design by yusufm.com