Events like CES are a great way to see new concepts and prototypes in the tech industry, and this year was no different. We’ve seen stuff like a gaming tablet, a mouse with 1TB of storage and even a 16:18 monitor from LG pop up. The Air-Clenz monitor though is certainly one of the more eccentric products out there that’s certainly unique. Essentially, it’s a monitor that sucks up the breath you exhale and filters out the potentially harmful particles from it, and then releases the clean, filtered air out back into your office.
Okay, maybe we lied a little. Air-Clenz’s demo units at CES 2022 were actually just monitors from other companies like LG and Acer. However, Air-Clenz Systems, a company based in Atlanta, Georgia in the US, has modified them to include its filtration system. They don’t actually want to look into manufacturing monitors though, as they instead hope to license its filtration technology to other hardware manufacturers for them to incorporate into their monitors.
“Traditional heating, air conditioning and ventilation (HVAC) systems were never designed to prevent the spread of viruses. With vents located on a room’s exterior walls, they pull air across a room, past people, and can in many cases increase transmission rates. While conventional air purifiers are somewhat better, only Air-Clenz can quickly capture and clean exhaled air before it disperses within a room’s indoor environment,” – Dr. Anita Broach, Air-Clenz Chief Scientist
It’s actually pretty simple in how it works. Air-Clenz’s filtration system consists of two parts, which is the exhaled air collector that gathers up the computer user’s exhaled breath, and an air purifier with medical-grade filters that they claim can filter out harmful germs including the COVID-19 virus. There’s even an Air-Clenz Laptop System which is a laptop docking station with a large box over it to suck up the user’s exhaled air to again filter out the harmful particles. Air-Clenz also says that their technology works better than that of a regular HVAC system because it catches and filters out exhaled air before it disperses out into the rest of the room. They claim it’ll clean the exhaled air until it’s 99.97% free of viruses, contaminants and pollutants too.
The idea behind it is certainly pretty cool, but even if Air-Clenz’s technology does successfully capture the 95% of exhaled air that it claims it does, it’s likely not as good as simply getting everyone to wear a mask while working in the office. I mean, you won’t be looking directly at your monitor or your laptop 100% of the time while you’re working right? Air-Clenz’s filter does seem like a great addition as an extra level of protection though and any amount of active air filtration is arguably better than having none at all.
Air-Clenz though seems to have bigger and grander plans for their air filtration system. They are looking at installing it into large but enclosed spaces, like school classrooms, cinemas and airplanes on top of just your everyday office. It remains to be seen if any major hardware manufacturer actually has picked up the technology, but as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreck havoc, we can certainly see why people might be interested in such a device.
