Experienced installer and CI operator, Paul Kasler is also Director of Aura Air Limited, a company which is offering abilities in the area of clean air products, highlighted as a big growth area for the future.
Paul points out that according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the levels of indoor air pollutants can be two to five times higher than outdoors – and lockdowns exacerbated that even further. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 3.8 million people a year die from the exposure to household air pollution.
Paul argues that one of the big next areas for focus on the automated home and building will be smart air monitoring, purifying and disinfecting in the home and office. These systems will be designed not just to improve air quality and remove viruses, bacteria and irritants from the air, but will deliver continuous monitoring of this air and finally, most importantly, make smart decisions based on this information. Paul says Aura Air is the first all-in-one smart filtration, disinfection and monitoring system in the world.
“It has a front-end that allows home users to enter their family’s allergies and medical conditions, so that the filter system can respond and advise accordingly.” Comments Paul, “For instance, if it is heavily polluted that evening, or the pollen count is high, it will advise that maybe that run is not a good idea and it’s actually healthier to stay indoors and watch a movie! This capability is possible because Aura Air integrates with the third party Tomorrow.io App which provides up to date, local outdoor air quality data from your post code entry when you first sign-in to the free B2C App.”
Aura Air filed an International Patent for its system in October 2019. The patent, “utilises the progress in the IOT and Al fields for an advanced prediction capability … to provide highly reliable monitoring and control of air pollution and hazardous substances”. The current Aura Air firmware release allows totally unattended operation of the filter system. The system automatically detects and responds to poor air quality and hazardous substances. It also has an API for interfacing with existing HVAC systems as well as IFTTT integration to allow further AI customisation.
At the core of the technology are seven sensors, accurately measuring key air quality parameters every 10 seconds. Paul argues, “Unlike other Filter systems which typically just display a red, amber and green light on the top of the unit, Aura Air allows you to see that it actually does what it says on the tin! The included SmartPhone and Tablet B2C App provides a friendly graphical interface to view this information, as well as controls to easily switch to a ‘low’ mode for Movie viewing or to pre-programme ‘night mode’ settings when the unit is deployed in a bedroom.”
Paul continues, “In a B2B environment the optional Dashboard App stores this vast amount of collected data in the Cloud for 12 months. Your client can rewind back in time on their computer, exactly like a CCTV recorder, should the business need to provide supporting evidence, if they are involved in an air quality or COVID-19 litigation case. This data can also be used for risk assessment analysis.”
Every room deploying Aura Air can also be provided with a QR code posted on the wall, which contains a room-specific URL, to allow staff to quickly view the air quality in that particular room on their smart phone or tablet.
“Finally, I don’t think I mentioned that Aura Air was the first filtration/disinfection system in the world that successfully completed clinical trials back in July last year on successfully destroying the Coronavirus. Also, in February this year, Aura Air was one of 10 companies selected by the Google Startup Growth Lab, companies that Google believes will fast track to become one billion-dollar companies. In December last year, Aura Air signed a $30 million deal with Japanese distributor J-TEC. One of their target markets is Karaoke. The Karaoke Association says that there are 100,000 karaoke rooms all over Japan. Currently, most of them are closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Paul also has a special offer for Essential Install readers, “Until the end of June, we are offering a 35% discount off the £550 RRP, to Essential Install readers, to allow them to try a unit out for themselves. This price also includes use of the B2B Dashboard App until the end of 2021 normally costing an additional £5.00 per month.”