Agentis Air - Pure Air by Design
Patented Technology for Better Indoor Air Purification
“As a small startup, we were fortunate to work with Product Creation Studio. Their portfolio of design work seemed a good fit, and their team had the depth and expertise we needed to embed our complex technology in a successful consumer product.”
Awards
About Agentis Air
Purifying the air in homes, offices, and institutions is essential for health, longevity, and productivity. Agentis Air wants to make it more effective with its innovative indoor air technology. Agentis Air’s patented Advanced Particle Removal Technology (APART) can remove airborne pollution — including viruses — while using half the energy and with lower maintenance costs than other systems.
With decades of university research and development experience, the company is focused on using their transformational technologies as the foundation for more effective filtration products for both residential and commercial use. Agentis Air technology has broad applications for institutional, commercial, and consumer markets.
Agentis Air, based in Columbia, MD, is a spinoff of the University of Washington’s CoMotion innovation hub.
Product Challenge
Poor indoor air quality has long been linked to a growing number of life-shortening diseases—including respiratory ailments, heart disease, and dementia.
Agentis Air’s APART technology has several advantages over existing filter-media technologies (such as HEPA filtration), notably the ability to substantially reduce back pressure and energy use. Unlike mechanical HEPA-style filtration, there is no pass-through filter to clog, so airflow is improved for lower energy use, lower cost, and quieter operation.
While applications for the APART are broad across all industries, Agentis Air chose consumer air filtration – specifically a filtration product for the residential market – as the target for their first product. Based upon electrostatic technology, APART provides more effective and efficient filtration of air particulates. There were a myriad of challenges with this productization effort. The science had been done to prove the efficacy, but the technology had never been packaged into a consumer product.
The precise placement of the electrodes was critical for proper performance and safety but also needed to allow for easy filter replacement by the end user. The high voltages in the system required careful consideration to meet both the end user needs and safety regulations.
Noise is a near universal complaint with filtration. Agentis Air had aggressive fan noise goals that required collaboration with the manufacturers in order to reduce noise output while improving airflow.
In addition, the air filtration market is competitive and design has become a key differentiator; it was important for this design to disrupt and stand out from other comparable air filtration competitors.
Why Agentis Air Chose Product Creation Studio
“We have a unique technology. Using it as the foundation for a portable air purifier means we can offer consumers significant advantages— quiet effectiveness, energy efficiency, and a low cost to own—in improving indoor air quality.”
Product Creation Studio has blended design and engineering expertise to create products from core technologies for over two decades. On behalf of our clients, we have realized product lines in audiology, skin care, water filtration, ultrasound and biomechanics sensors. We provided a collaborative and adaptable solution to the engineering, design, and manufacturing challenges that face customers like Agentis Air.
PCS brought a framework of innovation and creativity to solve the implementation challenges with Agentis Air’s APART technology. Coupled with disruptive product design and extensive Design For Manufacturing (DFM) experience, we were the clear partner for success in the evolution of their technology into a disruptive air filtration product.
Product Creation Studio’s Role
The Agentis Air technology requires unique, high-voltage elements to create strong ionizing and collecting fields. Despite the challenges of accommodating the high voltages, the team was able to work across domains to provide the necessary physical barriers in limited space to prevent shorting, arcing, and injury (per US standards). The team also worked extensively to help in characterizing and selecting a fan motor that properly managed the limited power requirements while providing the necessary flow characteristics to successfully draw enough air through the product.
Working closely with the other disciplines, the firmware team was able to provide a robust software control that ensured the proper operation through multiple modes as well as the necessary error detection and mitigations to ensure user safety when operating and/or cleaning the device.
Agentis Air demanded the highest performance in the industry, but their technology also demanded attention to safety. The electrical and firmware teams at PCS were called upon to code these competing aspects into the product. The resulting interface is simple, accessible and safe to use.
The design team focused on user experience. Competitor products proved to be bulky, unattractive and noisy, all while being less efficient. Their goal was to create an air purifier that not only improved the air you breath but considered the users as well, pleasantly fitting into the home without intruding on their style or well being.
Project Results
Product Creation Studio delivered a first prototype of the filtration product created for the residential market that achieved key performance marks while exuding the confident brand design that Agentis Air wanted to achieve. Testing of the device by Agentis Air and their manufacturing partners showed great promise and the product provided better performance in filtration, reduced noise output, and offered a more fresh, simple design aesthetic than products using traditional HEPA technology.
Agentis Air and their partners communicated their excitement to take the air filtration design to manufacturing optimization and subsequent market release later this year; the first application of their revolutionary Advanced Particle Removal Technology (APART).
See how Agentis Air is currently working with third-party pathogen testing facilities to quantify the ability to remove indoor, airborne viruses – like the novel coronavirus – and bacteria with its devices in this recent Geekwire article!
