AirPod: A Personal Air Purifier from Blueair
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA 
on 11.21.06
AirPod is a svelte "personal air purifier" that cleans 45 cubic air per minute, weighs less than 2 lbs. and looks great doing it. According to manufacturer Blueair, AirPod "uses approximately 60% less material to manufacture, 50% less packaging and 85% less energy than other air purifiers with comparable performance. It also runs on less than five watts of power where other units require 40 watts. No chemicals are used on the filter or elsewhere and no ozone by-products are released from the unit. In addition, all components and the packaging are 100% recyclable." It works by combining mechanical and electrostatic filter technology with a quiet fan that draws air through the "HEPASilent" filter, where negatively charged particles cling to the fibers. Air then passes through the docking station that contains an ionizer which charges particles in the air. “The AirPod concept was born from the idea that people want to breath cleaner air wherever they happen to be,” says Bengt Rittri, president and founder of Blueair. “We set out to create a portable personal air purifier that is highly effective, extremely compact, eco-friendly and good looking. We also took into consideration the fact that people want to personalize their gadgets and appliances.” Striking resemblance to a certain ubiquitous consumer electronic notwithstanding, we like the design and the statistics supporting its function; has anyone had an encounter with one? Please feel free to let us know how well they work in the comments section below. ::AirPod via ::MoCo Loco
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interesting... innovative and eco-friendly... I just doubt if it works well when you're in the open, like when you're in the street or in the park. But I guess it's worht a try.
Well besides the stupid and unoriginal name, pretty cool. Well and the fact they wanted it to look like an ipod.
The filters for it need to be replaced, though.
Couldn't they have made the filters cleanable/washable (ie. re-useable) and recyclable instead of biodegradeable ?
Failing that, could they have used something other than polypropylene fibers in the filter?
There are ways to make polypropylene (the plastic in that bright yellow twine) biodegradeable, but that's more industrialized chemistry (and more environemental costs) in the manufacturing process.
Aren't there naturally biodegradeable fibers that would work?
what if use battery if it cost not much watts,
airpod can really becoming portable..
Airpod, is pretty good idea!
hope can have more and more good ideas , and new products
Well besides the stupid and unoriginal name
"Like Howard Cosell..."
I have an AirPod and it works great!!! You should honestly try one.
I have an AirPod and it works great!!! You should honestly try one.
Consumer Reports gave it the LOWEST rating of all the air purifiers it tested in December 2007.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/home/2007/10/airpod-purifier.html
I unfortunately bought it before the report came out.
I bought one of these last year and used it in my office and then took it home and tried it in my home office.
What a waste.
@Cynthia
In fairness, Consumer Reports tested this Blueair unit in an area more than 7 times larger that it was designed for. The AirPod can be had for half of its original price these days.