Postgraduate student Kevin Chiam, from the UK’s Royal College of Art, has designed a wearable device, dubbed Airtomo, that cleans the air.
When Chiam found out that air pollution on the London Underground is the highest in the city, he decided to search for a solution. “Our battle with air pollution is not just above the ground; it is also under. In fact, pollution on underground transportation can be 20 times higher than roadside air,” Airtomo explains.
Chiam turned to nature for answers. Inspired by how rain cleans the air, Artimo wearables release atomized water vapor to remove particulate matter (PM) via a natural process called aggregation. “I realized that actually, nature uses rain to clean the air. As simple as that,” he said.
These water droplets “bind themselves to microparticles that we have in the air,” Chiam explained. The particles then fall to the ground and stay there even after the water has evaporated, thus removing PM so we can breathe cleaner air. Additionally, the floor can be mopped to ensure the particles are removed permanently.
While this project is still in the prototype stage, Chiam has designed an entire variety of devices, including an industrial version that could clean the tube stations and cities like Singapore.
The design was chosen as one of the entries to the Global Grad Show 2020, which features 100 next-generation projects by graduate inventors who offer solutions for environmental and social challenges. This year’s categories included ‘Cleaning a Waste Filled Planet’.
