Using Office Air Purifiers to Improve Indoor Air Quality

Modern office designs focus on productivity, but many of these offices still ignore the indoor air quality. Except for the occasional air freshener, maintaining indoor air quality is often a neglected maintenance task, leading to the building occupants’ poor health and motivation.

Many factors contribute to air hygiene apart from odor. Components such as pollen are present in the air can cause allergic reactions. Similarly, airborne bacteria and viruses can lead to deadly diseases. In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, taking action against poor air quality is more important than ever. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the COVID-19 virus can stay airborne for hours and can travel over 6 to 15 feet from the source on air currents through respiratory droplets.

Many measures such as alternating shifts and rearranging the furniture to minimize spread are helping offices deal with the situation. However, with the gradual re-opening of offices and workplaces, there is a need to take immediate steps to ensure good air quality for workers with any available solution. The best and most basic solution is to install office air purifiers.

Office Air Purifiers

Installing air purifiers in an office poses several challenges since the space is often large and compartmentalized. Office air purifiers have specific requirements as the ventilation is mostly through HVACs. The air is cold and damp, making it perfect for microbial growth. While a simple filter would work for homes, office air needs more treatment.

The primary component of these air purifiers is UV treatment against bacterias and viruses. The air purifiers address the need of the hour and help in the removal of other contaminants. You should install an air purifier in every office space, even without the context of a pandemic, to ensure a better environment for the employees.

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UV Air Purifiers

UV based air-purifiers are the best solution available for controlling the spread of microbes. These purifiers rely on the ability of ultra-violet rays from UV lamps to alter the DNA of microorganisms, destroying them or rendering them inactivate.

Most UV based commercial air purifiers use mercury lamps emitting UV-C light at 254 nm. The UV-C frequency has germicidal properties and has been in commercial use since the 1930s. It is alternatively known as UVGI for “Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation.”

These UV-C lamps work by exciting low-pressure Argon and mercury through an electric charge. They are silent, odorless, and typically invisible to the human eye, although some may appear bluish. A UV based air purification system forces the air to flow through an array of UV-C lamps, removing the disease-causing microorganisms and keeping the air clean. Some air purifiers also have additional filters to remove other contaminants from the air.

Impurities of Air

There are many other substances suspended in the air in a closed space. Dirt and pollen are common, but harmful gases such as formaldehyde, benzene, or ammonia gas could be in the air too.

Formaldehyde occurs in building materials and many household products. It occurs naturally in the body, but it can be carcinogenic in high concentrations, i.e., it may cause cancer.

Benzene affects the bone marrow and reduces the number of red blood cells, leading to anemia. It can also lower the person’s immunity, making the person prone to disease-causing microbes. These and other gases also lead to many allergies and foul smells.

Besides, the suspended bacteria and viruses can lead to the spreading of many infectious diseases. As these substances accumulate, the workspace soon becomes dull, lowering employee performance.

To get fresh air back, you need a multifold solution that deals with all of these problems separately.

The SMS-149 Series Office Air Purifier

The SMS-149 Series is a series of freestanding and desk air purifiers. Apart from being an air purifier for viruses, the purifier eliminates impurities by passing the air through 6 layers of filtration.

It is available in hanging brackets or attachable desk panel partitions. The freestanding air purifier is sufficient enough to stop cough particles from spreading between opposing cubicles.

The desk panel partitions are useful in both keeping the air clean and containing the spread of microbes and other contaminants. In comparison, the desk purifier is an elegant solution for individual desks or cabins.

How Does It Work?

The SMS-149s are UV air purifiers with additional filters to give a complete treatment to the office air. It takes care of solid, vapor, or gaseous forms of substances and removes even the slightest impurities. To take a closer look at how these air purifiers work, we need to understand the six layers independently.

The first layer consists of a primary anti-microbial filter. This filter is fine enough to filter out particles such as hair or pollen and other PM10 particles. PM10 refers to particles that have a diameter of 10 micrometers, called fine particles.

The second layer is a HEPA filter that filters PM2.5 particles with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers, including powder, some bacteria, and viruses, further reducing the risk of allergies. HEPA, short for high-efficiency particulate air, filters the air by mechanically forcing it through a fine mesh.

The third layer eliminates odor by absorbing harmful gases through its honeycomb filter with activated carbon, a highly absorbent material. Activated carbon is a form of processed carbon with small, low-volume pores that provide a larger surface area for adsorption. The honeycomb design reduces the density, further increasing absorption. The filter helps remove gas, dirt, and oil particles suspended in the air that cause foul odors.

The fourth layer consists of a cold catalyst filter that removes hazardous gases such as formaldehyde, benzene, ammonia gas, and sulfuretted hydrogen. It also reduces the TVOC or total volatile organic compounds. VOCs are gaseous emissions from solids and liquids that may cause adverse short and long-term effects on human health. They are present in higher concentrations indoors than outdoors.

A cold catalyst filter provides a catalytic surface for the absorption of substances. It is commonly used to remove household aldehyde and is efficient in absorbing formaldehyde. The name cold catalyst comes from its ability to work as a catalyst without any need for light or any other form of energy to activate.

The fifth layer is the air purifier’s core functionality that uses UVC sterilization to kill bacteria and inactivate viruses. Virus inactivation is a process that renders viruses non-infectious. The same procedure helps assure the safety of human blood plasma products from viruses.

The sixth layer is the negative ION filter that eliminates dust, freshens the air, and removes indoor static electricity for sterilization. Contaminants are usually positively charged. Dispersing negative ions into the atmosphere causes them to spread and attract the contaminants together. The joined particle is heavier and falls to the floor, thus cleaning the air.

Technical Specifications

The SMS-149s comes in two options – one for desk panels and one hanging-bracket, which works well with existing partitions. These units have the following configuration and features:

Air Filtration Unit Includes:

• The soft-touch control panel and easy to clean faceplate make it easy to operate.
• The HEPA filter is the most commonly used filter that is effective and lasts about one-year without needing replacement.
• The UV-C LED bulb is placed inside the unit and has no direct line of sight access outside the unit, so there is no unwanted exposure to UV rays.
• Wired power cord

Fan & Noise:

• The dual fan system is best described as “whisper quiet” to let the team maintain focus on their tasks.

Air Flow:

• Cubic Feet Per Minute (CFM): 65
• Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR): 64.98
• Application Area: 100sf

Power:

• Power supply: 110 VAC
• Rated Power: 8.5W
• Rated Frequency: 50Hz

Partition (On Designated Products):

• Panel partitions use three layers of thermoformed Polyester Fiber Acoustic Panel (PET) molded around an air filtration system.
• Steel plates line the interior of the panel, providing rigidity and stability.
• Partitions with rubber padded clamps are mountable on any desk with a surface up to 2″ thick.
• It is easy to install and would generally take an average person 15 minutes to set up.

Side Partitions:

• Optional 18″ side panels are available for the sides of the desk.

Warranty:

• 1-year manufacturer’s limited warranty on electronics; 3-year manufacturer’s limited warranty.

Improve the Air Quality of Your Office Space

Office air purifiers are an effective solution to improve indoor air quality. It is a straightforward machine that can go a long way in maintaining the office environment’s health and hygiene. Clean air also boosts employee productivity and shows that you care for your staff. Take the extra step and invest in office air purifiers to restore employee motivation in post-pandemic operations.

Owned by Southwest Solutions Group® offers the best commercial air purifiers and other unique products to organize your business for space efficiency and productivity. Let our experts help you set up the right air purifier systems specific to your requirements. Call us at 1-800-1083 or reach out to our sales team today.