Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0

By Andrea Mancini

Mail: 0hacksmart0@gmail.com

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Intro 2

Pollution 3

Filter technologies 4 HEPA filter 5 Carbon filter 6 HAVAC 8 Electrostatic high voltage filters 9 UV lamp air cleaners 10

Build our air cleaner 10 Chose the right filter 10 The right box 14 Internal frame 17 Fix the carbon hood filter 20

Conclusion 21

References 21

Authenticity 23

Disclaimer 23

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Intro Every day news talk about pollution and weird machine to solve the problem, but what’s really going on? Well, I wrote this small guide to explain in simple way what’s the problem and how to solve it in cheap way…. not really solve, but make your life better in the room where you leave. After some internet surfing and empiric experiments by the rule of the thumb I found the best way to build a small air filter. This is not a technological miracle but for sure it will make the life better. I will not dig deep in the details, I’m too lazy and I don’t have professional instruments to proof personally my experiments. So I propose you this reading as a start for further experiments. So…. have a nice reading!

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Pollution The situation about pollution is not really clear. The common point is the danger of PM 10 and PM 2.5, respectively the particles with a diameter of 10 micrometer and 2.5 micrometer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulates

To understand the toxicity level of your city there a nice web app that you can find here https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.insdio.aqicn.airwidget.Asia&hl=it or the online web version http://aqicn.org .

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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As you can see in this map the situation is not the best…. I think I took this screenshot in December. The number is the AQI aka Air Quality Index. This value is calculated by following the formula the you can find here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quality_index . Every country use his own standards, but is clear that if the value is around 60 (yellow) or over this value some sensible people should start to have some symptoms if exposed for long time. By talking from my personal experience… I live in Poland… I can say that the value raise sensibly in winter especially due to charcoal burning for home heating. The vehicle engine and industries are at fault as the same, but as you can see from the pictures before, some materials if burned produced very small particles. This is to specify that not only industry chemicals are dangerous, but every particle dust so small to bypass our natural air filter system (nose and plumbs).

Filter technologies We can find different products on the market in two subcategories:

- fan air filters - Electrostatic high voltage filters

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Usually fan air filters are made with a fan (turbine or normal fan), different filter layers, UV lamp and vapour generator (optional).

HEPA filter The HEPA filter (High Efficiency Particulate Air filter) can stop the most of the 0.5µm and bigger particles and it has a folding shape to extend the cleaning surface. They are commonly used inside vacuum cleaners as second filter or as main filter in very small vacuum.

The shape change depending by the usage. My suggestion is to use a square air filter with the diameter similar to the fan and close everything inside a square box as explained later in this tutorial. You can find on the market different kind of HEPA washable or not. Our target is to make a cheap air filter so we will search for an entry level square model (not washable).

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Carbon filter Carbon filter is usually made in two different way: as a plastic fiber squared layer, very common in the kitchen hoods or a thick frame full of small carbon chips enclosed in small pods. Carbon hood filter (very cheap about 3 euro)

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Carbon filter as a stage in a multiple layer filter (more expensive about 10 - 20 euro)

These filter are usually used in the same filter together as “gas and odour purification stage”. This stage is not enough to clean the air flow and should be used together with an HEPA. Put the HEPA after the carbon stage, will make longer the life of the filter: the net of the hood filter is made of a coarse mesh, not good for fine filtering but good to stop big particles. For this reason you should have the carbon stage separated from the HEPA to save money when parts have to be replaced. These HEPA are a good solution if you want to make a filter with a big fan.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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HAVAC HAVAC is not a super cool high level filter as I thought before, but it means “Heating, ventilation and air conditioning”. HAVAC is that group of technologies used to build high level filtering machine usually made to clean big space as office or industries. If you take a look on the top of the building of your super cool working office you will see something like this maybe.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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This is the external part of an air conditioning system. This contain some HEPA filter like the square filters shown before and fans, so you can see that the Air filter machine that I want to show you is the simplification of this: the first stage of an air conditioning system.

Electrostatic high voltage filters This kind of filters differ from the fan air filter for the cleaning method. This filters generate an high voltage magnetic field able to trap dust particles on a surface or produce voltage arcs to generate ozone (ionizer/ozone generator). In the past this kind of technology was on fashion, but now ozone generator is considered damaging for the human health. Big amount of ozone gas (1λ1,3λ1-trioxidane and catena-trioxygen, or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula O 3) is toxic. Otherwise if you use a device able to generate high voltage with terminals directly connected to a polarized surface far enough to avoid sparks, the device should be useful. This is called dust-smoke precipitator and it works by charging the dust particles negative or positive. These particles are attracted by the opposite surface

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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charged with the opposite charge. This device produce less Ozone. The precipitator is like a big capacitor powered with very high voltage so be careful if this device is not insulated properly should short circuit on your body. This is like to be electrocuted by taser gun. Is dangerous! Articles says that precipitator are better than filters, because filters act like bacteria collectors on the long time. I didn’t perform any scientific test on this technology, but I think is better using the power of an air flow, maybe by designing the box reducing as more as possible the noise of the wheel, instead of using high voltage…. More safe and faster cleaning.

UV lamp air cleaners

To sterilize the air we can use UV lights. This is an optional device included also in home cleaning solutions. If we want to include this tools in our cleaning system is better to check the quality of the light tube. Some of them generate too much ozone and should be dangerous and unuseful.

Build our air cleaner

Chose the right filter Before to check the right box, we need to find the right filter and check the size and the shape. The best solution I think is a multilayer filter. This kind of filters are a little bit expensive (from 20 euro for small size to 60 euro for big size) but have the pro of being compact and well design. The air flow need to be purified from odour and from dust particles and bacterias. For this purpose the air must cross between a charcoal filter to remove the smell and flow across an HEPA filter.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Here you can see the purification process.

This picture describe the air cleaning process of the Webber 8400, a good price air cleaner where the air blow from the left (first stage) to the right (last stage) extracted from a fan in the filter box on the right out of the picture. As you can see in the internet shop (just type “home HEPA air filter”) these filters have different cleaning stage and you can notice that if you compare them you can see that sometimes the carbon purification stage is the last, instead in the picture above is in the front.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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This not really matter I think, but personally I prefer to put all the stuff made with carbon in the first stage and the HEPA in the last to be sure the air flow out perfectly clean (last stage should loose carbon dust and black fibers). Here I show you the filter that I bought. The filter of Webber 8400, good price (20 euro) and different stages as shown in the picture before.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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As you can see, despite the super nice picture of the Webber site

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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http://webber.com.pl/produkty/oczyszczanie-powietrza/opis/WEBBER-Air-Purifier_5907265011473_tmp , this filter is pretty simple but well done: HEPA -> carbon -> carbon disposable fiber filter. The first thing that surprize me positively is the carbon stage. The middle part of the square is divided in many little pods made by a bee yard shape frame. The carbon chips are distributed equally over the surface increasing the absorbing effect. They are small sized professional chips for aquarium.

The right box Before chose the box think which kind of filtering solution do you prefer. I decided to use a 30 cm x 30 cm wood box according to the size of my Webber filter and the fan. Bigger is the fan, more air you can move and faster is the cleaning. Before following my building instruction you should take a look on this Youtube video, for a more professional, but also more expensive solution https://youtu.be/uDEHHuBgTxo . If you want save money and clean only a small room, follow my project. You can buy a wood box, nice, white varnished. Just go to IKEA or big shop, you can buy a kit for cheap. Take a box with a thin wood panel on one side. Will be easy make the circle hole for the fun. Just use a wood cutter. Take out the desk support of the fan and leave the engine, the wheel and the wheel protection. Is important that the wheel is on the same line of the wood panel. You can use the protection frame as support and stick it to the wood panel by inserting it in the circle previously cutted. You can stick the frame to the wood with a glue gun. The fan is not so heavy. Below you can see a side and front view sketch of the project.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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This configuration is made to avoid internal air turbulences. In case of a bad design you can feel the fan noise louder and a smaller air flow from the other part of the filter…. Ah I forgot, good air flow meter? … Leak your hand and keep near the filter layer… no I’m not joking. You feel the air flowing and you save money.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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If you want spend money by an anemometer. Here the solution.

Internal frame To keep the Webber filter in position I build a net frame using a metal net bought in Castorama/Leroy Merlin. I cut it in metal stripes, I stick them together and I fix the for side of the square on the border of the box.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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I build a second net as the same but I didn't glue it to the box to be able to change the filter. As you can see I waste a lot of glue to try to cover the sharp borders of the net. After cut myself many times I can suggest you to use another solution. The net that I used is very solid, but a little bit expensive. The filter is very light, you should use a plastic net. Now you can think: ”f*ck the webber filter has a side smaller”.... Well don’t worry drive an air flow is not like to pump water in a tube. We can use some cardboard from the package of the Webber filter to close the holes like in the picture.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Fix the carbon hood filter To easily take off the carbon hood from the box without damage it every time do not glue it to the border of the box. Go to the nearest shop, buy black velcro stripes and stick them to the box. If you don’t know what is velcro…. Also cuz I’m not so sure is the name in English, give a look here.

The stripes are sold like in the picture: one roll, two stripes stick together. You need only the stripe with the small plastic hooks (the hard one). The hood filter is similar to the soft stripe so is able to stick to the hard stripe.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Conclusion “Simple guide” doesn’t mean short ehheh, but I hope to solved all the doubt of the average DIY man. I tried to not be too technical and dig deep inside the topic because I think is not needed. In a normal situation (healthy people with not important allergic reaction) the important is just filter the air, sterilization is not needed. The fact that affirm my theory is the presence on the market of entry level air cleaners very easy to reproduce (filter, humidifier, UV filter, fan). I like to study how to make my life better with a low budget. Living in Krakow Poland I face off very bad situation up to 400 Real-time Air Quality Index (AQI). In this case the air is hard to breath and dangerous (full of carbon dust). In this environment the danger is made by very low carbon particles and not dangerous gas or bacterias so I need only an HEPA filter. In other environment the situation should change. In that kind of environment where the biggest problem is a toxic chemical gas (for example industry chemical processes), maybe you should design a more sophisticated carbon stage or study how are made the industry masks (dangerous chemical treatment, car painting, and other…). I hope you like my suggestions to start your studies about this topic and if you have new ideas please write me at 0hacksmart0@gmail.com

References 1. Train

https://www.pexels.com/photo/train-on-railroad-tracks-against-sky-258455/ 2. Particules pollution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particulates 3. Global pollution map

http://aqicn.org/map/poland/malopolska/krakow/aleja-krasinskiego/#@g/4.6547/42.3633/2z

4. Air Quality Index AQI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_quality_index 5. HEPA High Efficiency Particulate Air filter https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HEPA 6. HEPA efficienty tests https://www.quora.com/Do-air-purifiers-remove-PM2-5 7. Filter comparison

https://www.angieslist.com/articles/whats-best-air-filter-indoor-air-quality.htm 8. HEPA filter pictures

http://theairlab.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Hepa-FilterDetail.png

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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9. Charcoal hood filter https://2ecffd01e1ab3e9383f0-07db7b9624bbdf022e3b5395236d5cf8.ssl.cf4.rackcdn.com/Product-800x800/0f7cce1a-b132-4925-be4b-d445bfeff01b.jpg

10.Carbon filter http://smartairfilters.com/in/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/02/Carbon-filter-new.jpg

11.HVAC Heating, ventilation and air conditioning https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HVAC

12.High voltage air filter comparison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_ioniser 13.Ozone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozone 14.Ozone generator machines

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWpdO55uFFA 15.Electrostatic precipitator https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5YFK8mmeRQ 16.UV lights produce ozone

http://www.toptenreviews.com/health/articles/ionizers-and-uv-lights-potentially-dangerous-tech-in-your-air-purifier

17.Webber 8400 technical description http://webber.com.pl/produkty/oczyszczanie-powietrza/opis/WEBBER-Air-Purifier_5907265011473_tmp

18.Anemometer https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1EELsKVXXXXchXXXXq6xXFXXXi/Hyelec-font-b-Digital-b-font-font-b-Anemometer-b-font-Air-Wind-Speed-Velocity-Meter.jpg

19.DIY air cleaner filter https://youtu.be/uDEHHuBgTxo 20.Velcro 21.https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61F%2BG6jFIGL._SL150

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Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Authenticity I’m real or I’m a fake? Check and compare the SHA-256 code with the code found on my site :)

SHA-256 calculator link http://onlinemd5.com/

Disclaimer Everything written in this guide is to read “as is”. I’M NOT RESPONSIBLE for the consequences of reading this guide. What you read should have mistakes. Everything you try to do by reading this guide is AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Simple guide for an Air Cleaner v 1.0 by Andrea Mancini is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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