Dublin-based air purification firm to fore in fight against Covid-19

In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, Dublin-based air purification systems company Novaerus donated 22 of its air disinfection units to hospitals in Wuhan. That was February.

Within a month the efficacy of one of its portable devices, the Defend 1050, was tested and qualified by the Guangzhou Institute of Microbiology and is now registered on China's national online record information service platform for disinfection products.

The Novaerus purification system makes indoor locations safer by continuously removing airborne pollutants and pathogens such as viruses, bacteria, allergens, spores, fungi and mould. It also protects patients against a range of illnesses including MRSA, clostridium difficile, norovirus and influenza.

Novaerus chief executive Dr Kevin Devlin describes what it does as "closing the infection control loop" by supplementing the sanitisation of hands and surfaces by cleaning the air.

Work first began on the device in 2006 when it was realised that many clean air products, including standalone filtration, are unable to trap viral particles. An intensive research and development effort resulted in a patented plasma technology that offers a unique and safe way to kill airborne viruses. Clinical trials began in Europe in 2008 and a radical upgrade of the technology was completed in 2011.

The technology has proved successful in a variety of settings including care homes and hospitals, especially in intensive care units, operating theatres, and geriatric and oncology wards. The technology applies anywhere that needs cleaner air, such as schools, childcare facilities, the hospitality sector or in workplaces where air purity is a challenge.

Internet of Things

The company has been working with Three Ireland on the application of Internet of Things (IoT) technology to the device. "We first started working with Novaerus in 2015," says Three IoT sales manager Myles Gardiner.

“The company had developed its technology which uses a plasma field to destroy pathogens in the air and were already selling it into the market. They had proof points in hospitals and other healthcare settings where they had seen absenteeism rates dropping off and fewer nurses and doctors getting sick.”

While pretty strong in itself, that sort of incidental evidence is not enough to convince everyone. “One of the challenges when selling something like that is to prove that it does what you say it does,” Gardiner points out. “But how can you measure the impact?” You can’t see clean air after all.

The answer is an air-quality sensor linked to the internet via a SIM card. “You can put an IoT sensor close to the unit or in the unit to measure air quality,” Gardiner explains. “You can measure the level of pathogens in the air before it was switched on and then see a drop off after it begins operation. That gives you a proof point and you are able to demonstrate its effects.”

The IoT aspect is important. Rather than having standalone sensors which have to be monitored at the point of use by people who may not have the required training, the data is relayed through the GSM network back to the Novaerus platform. Not only will that help prove the efficacy of the device, it can also lead to enhanced performance.

‘Valuable data’

“The technology can be used in a number of different ways,” Gardiner notes. “It can validate that the air quality in a room is at a required level. You can also monitor the performance of the device and if it is not disinfecting the air in a room the company can contact the customer. The device can also alert the company if it has been switched off inadvertently. It has already been used in a group of schools in the US and to provide valuable air-quality data.”

While the sensors are not currently in use on the medical grade devices, they will be deployed on a new generation of consumer-level devices which will be available after the Covid-19 crisis has abated.

Gardiner sees a growing use for IoT technology in the Covid-19 response as well as in healthcare generally. “We are seeing growing demand for IoT applications in different areas such as footfall monitoring,” he notes. “There is increased interest now in collecting data on where people are congregating in supermarkets and so on.”

The other area where IoT is coming into its own is the mobilisation of health services. “IoT is typically about sensors collecting data and this can be used for remote monitoring of patients either in home or hospital settings. We are seeing this not only in Ireland but across the globe. The use of IoT in healthcare is going to continue to grow in the years ahead.”