Air-Clenz Demonstrates 3-Second Solution For COVID To Improve Indoor Air Quality For Schools And Offices

ATLANTA, Aug. 17, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Air-Clenz Systems™, LLC (Air-Clenz) today announced technology specifically designed to capture and clean exhaled air quickly and close to the face of those in schools, offices, and other workplaces. Videos demonstrating Air-Clenz proof of capturing and cleaning exhaled air in approximately three seconds can be viewed here for schools and here for offices. This announcement builds on its recently announced breakthrough approach for multi-seated theaters and vehicles of all types.

The patent-pending Air-Clenz technology captures and cleans exhaled air, removing pathogens such as COVID-19 and its delta variant within seconds, lowering the risk of contagion in enclosed spaces. The new Air-Clenz proprietary approach, developed for desktop installation, provides for safer enclosed multi-seated environments without face masks, regardless of a building's existing ventilation system. The Air-Clenz technology represents a first-of-its-kind approach that solves the challenge of clean indoor air at the source of pathogen spread: an individual's exhaled air. All other known ventilation systems try to address the problem by cleaning indoor air after pathogens are already dispersed and airborne within the venue. 

Air-Clenz answers the urgent call by scientists and doctors for safer indoor air as infections among the young have increased, and with higher transmission rates of the COVID-19 delta variant. Improving indoor air quality via improved ventilation is now recognized as one of the keys to stopping the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne pathogens, especially among those too young to be vaccinated, according to a May 2021 Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security report, School Ventilation: A Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Spread. Science Galley also recently reported that improved indoor ventilation is key to combat indoor respiratory infection. Additionally, the CDC now recommends improved ventilation and air filtration for safer school environments, while emphasizing the importance of relying only on proven technology.

Air-Clenz' latest technology will be reduced in size for installing on the desktops of students and teachers in school settings, at employee desks and conference room tables in offices, and in cafeterias and other multi-seated common areas in both schools and offices. The technology captures and cleans exhaled air in a constant cycle, allowing for the earlier removal of masks.

Many viruses -- including COVID-19 -- are not captured quickly by HVAC systems and air purifiers. These airborne viruses are primarily spread in aerosol form through the air and are pulled across a room -- and past other individuals -- to a distant air return, which increases the risk of disease transmission even in ventilation systems with advanced filtration and other treatment methods. Unfortunately, these systems are designed to move air from one side of a room to another before it is returned for conditioning and cleaning, and thus infecting others prior to the air being filtered and/or treated.

"There is a great deal of debate surrounding the return to schools and offices," said Stuart Sheldon, CEO and President of Air-Clenz. "One thing is for sure: There is a tremendous need to improve indoor air quality and ventilation in schools and workplaces. Existing ventilation systems aren't built for the removal of pathogens quickly. In fact, most of the time, ventilation systems pull unhealthy air across a room, past other people, and create additional infectious transmission opportunities, rather than eliminating them." 

"The U.S. Department of Education recently released a resource to help schools, colleges, and universities that outlines how American Rescue Plan (ARP) funds can be used to improve indoor air quality," explained Sheldon. "Getting students back to school safely is linked directly to getting workers back into offices. Many parents can't return to offices if their children are learning from home. So eradicating the spread of pathogens in the schools and workplace makes economic sense on a number of levels."

Pathogens captured and cleaned in 3 seconds

Research demonstrates that Air-Clenz' technology typically captures and cleans an estimated 85+% of a seated person's exhaled breath in three seconds.

The Air-Clenz technology works faster and more effectively than ventilation systems (such as HVAC systems and air purifiers) because Air-Clenz's proprietary exhaled air collector is positioned typically within two feet or less of a seated individual's face. Each Air-Clenz exhaled air collector captures and isolates most of a seated individual's exhaled breath. The captured air is then cleaned to a 99.9+% level within an air purification chamber before being recirculated back into the venue.

"At Air-Clenz, we've learned a great deal about how exhaled air leaves a person's mouth and nose to travel throughout an enclosed space, and about what HVAC systems and air purifiers can and can't do," said Dr. Ron Blum, Air-Clenz Systems Chairman and inventor. "That's why we're working to make this technology available for students and teachers on their desktop and for their parents as they return to work. We believe the Air-Clenz technology provides the safest indoor air for combating not only COVID-19, but all airborne viruses, in multi-seated venues. The best way to reduce the spread of airborne pathogens is to quickly capture, isolate, and clean exhaled air before it becomes so dispersed that it is impossible to prevent pathogen spread."

"Even as COVID issues dissipate, threats are posed by variants such as delta, and many physicians and researchers believe respiratory illnesses -- including colds and flu -- are likely to come back aggressively this fall and winter," said Sheldon. "The more confined the indoor space, the greater the health risk to students and teachers and to those returning to their offices. Schools and businesses that prioritize indoor air quality are providing a safer path to returning to indoor learning and office work. Air-Clenz will be working with a large global partner in an effort to scale and market this opportunity globally. We feel a moral obligation to make this needed technology available as quickly as possible." 

About Air-Clenz Systems and its Scientific Advisory Board  

Air-Clenz Systems (www.air-clenz.com), based in Atlanta, Ga., was launched by success-proven inventors, scientists, and collaboration partners attempting to solve major global challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with an eye to benefiting the global population at large. The management team at Air-Clenz has a substantial track record of identifying global needs, inventing solutions to satisfy such needs, protecting intellectual property, developing technology, and selling or licensing the inventions to Fortune 500 companies.

Air-Clenz Systems developed its proprietary technology for the collection, isolation, and removal of pathogens from exhaled air before they have a chance to disperse and be transmitted to others. The technology can be adapted to fit most any environment where individuals are seated, including schools, offices, houses of worship, offices, learning institutions, theaters, and vehicles. In addition, Air-Clenz has adapted its technology to work in elevators. 

Air-Clenz' Scientific Advisory Board includes Rama Rao Amara, PhD and professor, Emory Vaccine Center, Professor Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Emory University School of Medicine; Kevin Karem, PhD, Director of one of FDAs laboratories and former Global Health Associate Director for Laboratory Science at the CDC; Victoria Cerami, Chief Executive Officer, Cerami & Associates an acoustic engineering firm of 80+ engineers; Chengzhi Shi, PhD, Assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech specializing in acoustics; Lawrence J. Schoen, P.E., Fellow ASHRAE, Principal Engineer for Schoen Engineering Inc.; Ernest Conrad, P.E., BOMA Fellow, principal in charge of Conrad Engineers, a professional engineering consulting firm; and Anita T. Broach, PhD, Material Scientist, Chemical Engineer and Air-Clenz Chief Scientist.

Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security report: School Ventilation: a Vital Tool to Reduce COVID-19 Spread

Science journal article: A paradigm shift to combat indoor respiratory infection

CDC recommendations on ventilation and air purification in schools: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/ventilation.html

SOURCE Air-Clenz

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