Using Carbon For Gaseous Pollutants

Removing odors and gaseous pollutants from any environment is much difficult than removing airborne particulate. There are a number of air filter types that can easily remove airborne dust, but the removal of airborne odors and gases requires some very specific materials that can effectively adsorb these organic or inorganic molecules.

The most common material used to remove odors is activated carbon ( charcoal) which comes in a number of sizes. The most common is cocoanut shell carbon that is usually around 1/4″ in size and is often enclosed in a mesh type material or sometimes in a fine opening screen container. Carbon can be used in both air and water for the extraction of gaseous pollutants, making it one of the more popular materials on the market.

When cocoanut shells are placed in a high temperature oven under pressure it expands the surface area of the material and then makes it into a carbon material. The expansion to the shell gives the material a very high surface area and the ability to adsorb up to 100 times its own weight in gaseous pollutants. This means that a small amount of carbon material can remove a large amount of the odors and last a long period of time. 

Pure Air Systems has been manufacturing HEPA and Carbon based, fan powered, commercial grade air filter systems since 1985. The various systems available from PAS include carbon media as a standard part of the filtration unit along with a prefilter an HEPA filter. In cases where a customer only has an odor or gaseous pollutant issue, Pure Air Systems can remove the HEPA filter and replace it with an all carbon bed of material. Depending upon the odor challenge, the systems can hold from as little as 8 lbs of carbon up to 60 lbs of carbon material. And the air flow capacity of the systems range from 50 CFM to 2000 CFM.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon air filter systems please go to our website at: http://www.pureairsystems.com or call us on our toll-free number at:  8-869-8025.

Model 2000 HS with HEPA and Carbon

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3D Printing Becoming New Way To Make Everything

3D Printing or Additive Manufacturing as it is called in the commercial market, has moved into almost every facet of manufacturing from small replacement parts and dental fittings up to Aerospace and Military applications. There are very large 3D printers making boats as well as printing houses and large structures and small bridges.

3D printing has a number of advantages including the ability to try the “what if” and prototyping of new design concepts. In addition, the materials available for the metal printers has moved this process in the main stream of manufacturing. 3D Printers take up much less space than traditional CNC machines and other fabrication systems and require fewer people to complete the manufacturing process.

One of the main advantages of using 3D manufacturing is the ability to get younger people to become more involved with manufacturing. The younger generation is very familiar with and is good at using CAD type software for design and 3D printing of parts. In truth, the ability to make things using 3D printing or Additive Manufacturing is not considered manufacturing to the younger generation. This is important as they are not interested in moving into the old type of making things. 

Pure Air Systems, an air filtration company started in 1985, has bee using some 3D printing processes for prototyping new parts for their metal housed HEPA based air filtration systems. This helps them more quickly determine the correct part design and more quickly complete the final design and get into production with minimal cost.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon filters please go to our website at: http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll free number at: 800-869-8025.

Indy Air Show 09

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How Companies Stay In Business Beyond 30 Years

Starting a business today is easier than it has ever been. Running it and keeping it a float is another. Longevity in businesses today is no longer the norm. Companies are born, merge, change direction and die faster than ever before, so having a company stay in business and keeping it on a positive revenue stream for 30 plus years is no easy feat. 

Pure Air Systems was started in 1985 by Don Musilli, and was sold in 2006. The concept of manufacturing a high end, fan powered, commercial grade, HEPA air filtration system that could be used in almost any configuration was very foreign in 1985 but the concept, the quality and performance of the systems allowed us to continually increase our market share.

Over time, Pure Air Systems added more products to its catalog and eventually ended up with 7 different systems allowing for complete penetration into the commercial and residential markets requiring high end HEPA based air filtration systems. The addition of the ECM, variable speed motors in 1999 provided an entry into the over seas market allowing us to offer 120/240 volt 50/60 Hz motors for all of our systems.

Pure Air Systems learned that feedback from its customers was important and responding to the feedback in the way of modifications to the systems was essential in growing its business. Keeping the same quality even though prices increased was necessary as people are quick to switch companies when something doesn’t work like it should. Losing customers is easy….keeping customers is hard.

Pure Air Systems is now 37 years old. That puts it in rare company these days especially for a manufacturing operation. The adage of “adapt or die” is very true today and “modifying, changing and altering” your operation to meet the changing needs of the market is critical in keeping your company moving forward and growing.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based filtration systems please go to our website at: http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll-free number at:  800-869-8025.

Typical Air Flow Diagram
Partial By-Pass System

 

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Variable Speed Drive Motors Power Pure Air Systems HEPA Units

Pure Air Systems was founded in 1985 and at that time the electric motors used in their HEPA based air filtration systems were typical wound motors. These motors were only capable of running either at one speed, or 3 speeds if adjusted to the speed controller. They were also either 120 volt, 60 Hz or 240 volt, 50Hz. 

In 1998, PAS along with General Electric, started to play with the new ECM, variable speed drive motors that were magnet driven and not the typical induction motors used in the past. These new motors could run forwards, backwards and could controlled to run at 1% of power up to 100% of power in 1 percent increments. And, they were rated from 1/3rd HP up to 1 HP using the same base unit but by changing the drive add-on could be changed from 1/3rd HP or 1/2 HP to 3/4 or 1 HP simply by changing the controller section. 

In addition, by using digital controllers, the customers had the ability to change the speed of the motors and the level of filtration from any location in the room or proximate to the filter systems. These units could also be programmed to operate on a pressure differential basis so as to speed up the fan motor when the HEPA filters started to load up and create more static load. This allowed for continuous speeds throughout the life cycle of the HEPA filter.

The newer versions of these motors now allow for complete programing functions either from the factory or by the end user with some minor education by the factory. These newer motors, like the original variable speed drive motors, are now 120/240 50/60Hz so they can easily be adapted to working anywhere in the world. These new motors are used on the complete line of HEPA based air filtration systems offered by PAS. Models, 600HS, 1200HS, 2000HS, and the HPS Portable HEPA filter systems. 

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems please go to our website at  http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll-free number at 800-869-8025.

2000HS Plus S Model - Doors Removed
Inside the 2000HS Plus S Model

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How To Do Factual Research

In a time when social media dominates the world of news, content and data, it is more important than ever to use other sources of information as well. Often, individuals will look to a certain media type, group or organization to obtain information on a product, process, person or location. For the most part, this information source is typically skewed toward feeding incorrect information or biased information for self-serving issues.

It is amazing how few people actually go directly to the companies website or information pages to gather data. While companies do tend to hype their own products or processes, for the most part the information is usually very accurate. 

Pure Air Systems manufactures a complete line of fan-powered, commercial grade, HEPA based air filtration systems for both the commercial and residential markets. PAS is now 37 years old and is one of only three companies in the world that makes this type of high end filtration system. And, almost all of the components are made right here in the US. 

In order to provide factual information about their systems, PAS inserted a large number of pages dedicated to providing information on the operational capabilities and effectiveness of all types of air filtration and purification systems currently available on the market. This is called. Pure Air University, and it is a really good primer on explaining in plain English, how mechanical and non-mechanical air filtration and gaseous pollutants are effectively removed or reduced.

It is interesting how many people will rely on alternate sources of information that are completely counter to the factual data provided by the information on Pure Air University. This is one of many reasons why companies struggle against the social media tide that washes over their factual data.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems, please go to our website at:   http://www.pureairsystems.com or call us on our toll-free number at:  800-869-8025. 

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Comparing UV to HEPA Filters

While this subject has been addressed once before, it is important that people understand the stark differences between the two types of air purification/filtration systems. 

First, UV ( A,B or C ) is purely a type of wave length of light that has certain affects on a variety of materials, both organic and inorganic. The UV rays from the sun, for example, have a significant affect on carbon, plastics, and the human body. While the UV rays can destroy some airborne contaminants, the amount of time ( in minutes ) the contaminants are exposed to the UV rays determines the efficacy of the process. In essence, UV only works if the UV rays are in contact with the air stream for an extended period of time. 

HEPA filters are a mechanical device that captures airborne particulate ( down to under 0.3 microns and smaller) at an efficiency of 99.99% and greater. This is important as even organic particulates that are destroyed can create issues once inhaled into the lungs. 

One reason UV is often used in-lieu of HEPA filters is the overall cost of UV versus HEPA filters. Also, the use of HEPA filters requires an auxiliary fan source as HEPA filters have a very high resistance to air flow and in order to pull enough air through the filter media requires a motor/blower assembly in addition to the blower assembly that comes with all HVAC systems.

Pure Air Systems offers a complete line of fan powered air filtration systems to meet the needs and demands of any residential or commercial application requiring the reduction and/or removal of airborne contaminants and also odors and gaseous pollutants.

For more information please go to our website at:  http://www.pureairsystems.com  or call us on our toll-free number at 800-869-8025.

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Carbon For Odor Control

For many years carbon media or expanded carbon, has been used for the reduction and removal of organic and inorganic gaseous pollutants. Expanded carbon or charcoal is produced using heat under high pressure that creates a surface area that has thousands of tiny openings that are capable of adsorbing gaseous molecules much higher in weight than the carbon itself. 

While carbon granules are often used in liquid filtration, the most common use is in air filtration whether in a stand alone filter or fan powered air filtration system. Carbon media filters have a fair amount of resistance and are therefore more often used in conjunction with a fan powered unit. 

Even though the expanded carbon has a high adsorption rate to weight of the carbon media, it will, over time, load up and stop adsorbing the odors or gases. Replacement cycles can be as long as once every 6 months to once every 6 weeks depending upon the severity of the gaseous pollutant.

For more information on carbon media filters and the complete line of air filtration systems, please go to our website at http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll free number at  800 869 8025.

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Air Filtration 101

The use of air filters for removing airborne particulates has been around for over 100 years. Today’s filtration technology is eons ahead of just using cheese cloth to filter our particles for fan powered device. The newer, blended filtration medias are much better at capturing small, sub-micron particles with higher capture rates and lower pressure drops over time.

Air filters range in efficiency from general duty, like furnace filters, to high capacity, high efficiency, like HEPA filters. For most home applications the general duty filters are used as they both help keep the cooling coils in the HVAC system clean as well as minimize the dust in your home. 

The higher efficiency filters, like HEPA, are used mostly in commercial applications like hospitals, clinics, surgery suites, chip manufacturing, clean rooms, laboratories and more. There are also HEPA based systems available for the residential market that utilize their own fan/motor system to augment the blower/motor assembly in the HVAC unit. HEPA filters have a much higher resistance to air flow but can capture particles as small as a virus. 

It should be noted, that the use of non-mechanical filtration devices such as ozone generators or electronic air cleaners are not really that effective at removing particles from the air. Ozone generators are really more effective on the reduction of airborne gaseous contaminants and electronic air cleaners need constant cleaning to make them work.

For more information on the complete line of air filtration systems available through Pure Air Systems, please go to our website at:  http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll-free number at: 800-868-8025

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Pure Air Systems. Making A Name For Itself

Innovation is a word that is often over used in today’s market place. Some new ideas or concepts are just an alteration to an already existing product that is being labeled “innovation.” 

In I985, Pure Air Systems was formed and it introduced some new concepts in fan powered, HEPA air filtration systems for both the residential and commercial markets. With an All-American made system, Pure Air Systems ventured into the air filtration market with a commercial grade, high performance, true HEPA filtration system that could be used in a wide number of applications, both residential and commercial. Initially, the PAS line of filtration units was limited to one model, and it incorporated the standard GE Induction motors and no bells and whistles.

By the 1990’s PAS had developed 5 additional models varying from the new HPS Portable line to the very large 2000 CFM 2000HS Plus unit. These new units were now using the new variable speed drive, ECM type motors that were rated, 120/240 Volt, 50/60Hz. This provided systems that could be used anywhere in the world. In addition, the new motors could be used with digital variable speed controllers offering customers the ability to adjust air flow and power performance to meet any performance specifications.

Today, Pure Air Systems is one of only 3 companies in the world that produce this type of commercial grade, high performance HEPA based air filtration system. 

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration from PAS please go to our website at:   http:/www.pureairsystems.com  or call us on our toll free number at: 800-869-8025.  

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Indoor Air Quality

Indoor Air Quality has been an issue for enclosed spaces, homes, office buildings, medical facilities and industrial buildings since the early 70’s. The issues of people suffering from a wide range of health issues, mostly respiratory in nature, became more acute once the building industry started to build tighter buildings that offered little or no outside air intrusion. This process reduced the energy costs, but increased the amount of stale air and concentrations of gaseous pollutants and airborne particulate that are generated from most materials, chemicals, plants, animals and manufacturing processes.

Using only recirculating air through the air handlers and HVAC units and not allowing any outside, fresh air increased the IAQ issues. Adding outside air only added to the amount of particulate already present in the occupied space.

Pure Air Systems, based in Indiana, had developed a variety of commercial grade, fan powered, HEPA filter systems that could be used to both filter the air in the space as well as add small amounts of filtered outside air. By only adding 50 CMF to 100 CFM of outside air through the PAS units, one air handler could introduce up to 6,000 CFM of fresh, filtered outside air every hour and adding that to the recirculated air also being filtered, created a much healthier environment and reduced the amount of headaches, and respiratory issues in most residential and commercial operations.

Adding the small amounts of outside air, even on hot and very cold days, had a minimal affect on the amount of energy required to heat and cool the indoor environment. By adding an actuator to the inlet damper, it is possible to modulate the amount of outside air so that more or less air could be introduced depending upon weather or the conditions in the occupied space.

For more information on the complete line of HEPA and Carbon based air filtration systems, please go to our website at:   http://www.pureairsystems.com   or call us on our toll-free number at: 800-869-8025.

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