AtmosAir Solutions
Smart Air Defense has partnered up with AtmosAir Solutions to bring schools the best option to mitigating the risk of the coronavirus (Sars-Cov2), the Delta Variant, any other virus, bacteria, and mold. In addition, AtmosAir’s technology also breaks down harmful VOCs and reduces particulates that cause asthma and allergies.
Ventilation Blueprint of Most Schools
Most schools have a mix of classrooms that are ducted where air handlers are bringing in supplied air, some classrooms don’t have any duct work but do have unit ventilators, and then there are classrooms that have no supplied air at all. AtmosAir has a variety of models that continuously disinfect air in any classroom. In addition, they have models that can continuously disinfect large spaces like cafeterias, auditoriums, and gyms.
The Science behind AtmosAir Solutions
It’s important to understand ions and what they do naturally to truly appreciate AtmosAir Solutions. When we are on a mountain top breathing in the fresh air, we are breathing in the fresh air because nature produces millions of positive and negative healthy ions- oxygen molecules that natures’ energy has charged, whether through lightening, waterfalls, or other natural energy sources causing an oxygen molecule to have one less electron (a negative electron = negative ion) or adding an electron (a positive electron = positive ion). Because there is a positive or negative charge on these oxygen molecules, they naturally do three things that are critically important to understand:
- Agglomeration utilizes an ion’s charge to bind together fine particulate matter (e.g. PM2.5) until they precipitate out of the air.
- Sterilization occurs when ions bombard the surface of microorganisms (e.g. Sars-Cov2, bacteria, mold), which rob the cell wall of hydrogen atoms, thus hindering its ability to reproduce and interact with other organisms.
- Oxidation changes the chemical composition of noxious gasses, (e.g. VOCs), neutralizing the pollutant and making it water soluble to be washed away with rain.
Unfortunately, when we move to denser populated environments, pollution decreases the number of ions because ions are kept busy breaking down the pollution (aka VOCs). When we are indoors in these same environments, there is an even lower level of ions in the air– which allows viruses, bacteria, and mold to go airborne freely.
How it works
AtmosAir’s technology replenishes the indoor air with millions of healthy ions using a schools’ air handling units’ duct work, unit ventilators or AtmosAir’s own portable units (for classrooms with no supplied air), to distribute the ions it creates using its dielectric barrier discharge ionization technology designed in the form of patented tubes. The patented tubes do what nature does. They charge the air creating ions that last over 300 seconds- no other ionization technology comes close to this kind of effectiveness in producing ions. The ability to produce ions that last over 300 seconds allows ions to flow throughout every classroom, auditorium, cafeteria, or gym. It doesn’t matter how long the duct work is or how large the space a school needs air disinfected in. These ions continuously disinfect air and surfaces of classrooms before students walk into a classroom, while students are walking into a classroom, and as students are sitting in a classroom.
AtmosAir has been around since 2004. They started out as an IAQ testing company, patented their first device in 2007, and now have over 120 million square feet of space and 8,000 system installed worldwide.
Installing AtmosAir Solutions
This is a very easy process.
Duct Mounted: Units that are designed to produce ions in air ducts are installed on the supply side of the air handling units easily. Our HVAC techs simply cut out a portion of your duct and install the units. There are no changes necessary for your existing HVAC system. No changes or upgrades your school needs to make.
Low Maintenance: Change the tubes once every two years. Tubes cost a fraction of the unit cost.
Unit Ventilators Units (aka Fan Coil Units): Units are installed inside the unit ventilators. No changes needed to your systems here either.
Low Maintenance: Change the tubes once every two years. Tubes cost a fraction of the unit cost.
Portable Units: Our portable units come with a 5’ cord (plug and play), that can be put up on a shelf easily.
Low Maintenance: Change tube once every two years. Change Merv13 filter every 3 months (easy access allows for maintenance staff to pop in/out filters.)
Click here to see all AtmosAir’s commercial systems
Does AtmosAir have the proper testing required for schools?
YES. AtmosAir has more lab testing, 3rd party testing, real-world testing than any other ionization technology on the market. It’s UL2998 Certified – Ozone Free. For more test data, click here.
How do we know it’s working?
ALL our school projects, starting with the City School District of New Rochelle, include a 3rd party HVAC Engineer firm that commissions our installations making sure that the units are performing as stated. Our payments are tied to the test results that come from the HVAC Engineer firm. In addition, AtmosAir has IAQ sensors that monitor your schools IAQ 24/7. All the data can be put on a dashboard for easy access and historical data.
We offer two IAQ sensor options:
- AtmosAware Sensedge units are wall mounted units that can be plugged into an outlet or work off ethernet cable power. These units collect real-time, accurate IAQ data of PM2.5, CO2, TVOC, temperature, and humidity that can be displayed on the unit and also be sent to a central dashboard. The unit can also come with a cover in case you’d prefer not to put in on display publicly. Click here for more information on AtmosAware Sensedge
- AtmosSmart units are mounted inside the return duct of an HVAC system. These units capture all of the data the AtmosAware units capture plus additional data including: Temperature, Relative Humidity, Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Particles (PM2.5), Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC), Carbon Monoxide, Formaldehyde, and Ozone (O3). The AtmosSmart is the only in-duct IAQ sensor that measures and controls AtmosAir BPI systems. Click here for more information on AtmosSmart
Who is using AtmosAir?
Clients include Universities and hundreds of K12 schools including the City School District of New Rochelle (NY)! You may recall New Rochelle was the first epicenter of the pandemic.
Other markets include hospitals, sports arenas, hotels, restaurants and more. For more information on select clients and case studies click here.
Don’t forget the basics
- HVAC Systems should be maintained properly
- HVAC Duct work needs to be kept clean
- Recommended air change rates to mitigate aerosols
- Optimal temperature and humidity settings to destabilize pathogen transmission