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Air
Filters
For a
wide variety of purposes, applications and environments,
clean, filtered air is a must. In this vein, we use air
filtration systems everyday in many different aspects of our
lives to purify and filter the atmosphere. There are many
different kinds of filters as well as uses for them. Air
filters keep apartments, homes and offices allergen and
pollutant free. They also keep automobile engines running
efficiently and smoothly. While there are countless areas
where air filtration is useful, the methods used in doing this
fall into a few general categories.
By far the most common method of air purification is the use
of a solid, semi-permeable physical membrane of some kind that
selectively strains particulates and large fragments and
pollutants out of the air stream. The level of filtration
which occurs depends on the application it's used for, as well
as the filter material involved. For example, air filters for
the standard passenger car are constructed of pleated paper,
giving the ability to strain any dust or grime out without
excessively impeding airflow. Home air purifiers may use a
combination of silk, activated charcoal, paper, or any of a
number of other materials.
Try here for
holiday home insurance or
monthly car insurance Outside of traditional physical barrier filters, there are a
few other novel ways of filtering air for particulates as well
as pathogens, germs, and irritants. These are cyclonic
separation, oil filtration and irradiation. Cyclonic
separation uses a vortex of air in a separation container to
separate particulates from the air using centrifugal force and
the inertia of larger particles to separate them from the
stream. Oil filters, while not as common nowadays, were once
used heavily in industrial and commercial vehicles. They
essentially employ a maze like path of sharp turns and tunnels
through which air is forced, causing heavy particles to fall
at the corners into an oil bath. Today, this method is used
mostly in off road vehicles such as dirt bikes and ATV's.
Irradiation hits the air stream with concentrated ultraviolet
light to kill off both pathogens, allergens, and microbes,
rendering them inactive.
The methods described above are often used in tandem in a
variety of configurations to improve air quality and remove
harmful junk. As technology improves the level of filtration
continues to become more specific and precise. Materials
science and innovation will make physical barrier filtration
even better with each passing year. In addition, new, as yet
unimagined methods of even more refined filtration will come
to the fore and make incredibly effective systems of
filtration possible.
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