Abstract - Corona Discharge Device

Abstract of U.C.L.A. Lab Study

Excerpted from: The Air Supply Personal Air Purifier & its Effect on Airborne Bacteria

Imke Schoeder Ph.D., Alan M. Spira M.D., Richard Eric Madrid, B.S. UCLA Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Los Angeles, CA

Abstract

"Respiratory illnesses from airborne contaminants are a common problem in daily living; much effort and energy have been applied to devising systems, such as air filters, to limit infections and allergens. There is a new device, the Air Supply, which is a portable air purification system that has had much subjective success with improving breathing and limiting pulmonary infections. To scientifically evaluate whether this device truly has any measurable effect we have devised a laboratory system to aerosolize bacteria and tested the Air Supply against the airborne microorganisms. We found a significant reduction (>95%) in bacterial growth with the device aimed at the bacterial-laden air stream as compared to controls. This provides objective evidence that Air Supply indeed offers some protection from airborne bacteria: determining the extent of protection and the method of microbial neutralization in conjunction with evaluating other pathogens are considerations for further evaluation and future experiments.

"The Air Supply Personal Air Purifier aims to effectively eliminate particle such as bacteria, viruses and allergens from the air. The air purifier, which is compact and lightweight, is worn around the neck by individuals to reduce or even prevent the inhalation of such potentially harmful particles. The goal of this study is to test the effect of the air purifier on bacterial survival and thus provide a scientific basis for its potential beneficial application. In this study the non-pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli and Paracoccus denitrificans are used as the model organisms, as they resemble certain airborne pathogens.

"First, a testing system was devised whereby bacteria were blown towards growth media-filled petri plates and shown to consistently grown on the plates when aerosolized by our system. The system is meant to serve as a model of a human inhaling bacteria: the plates serve in place of nose and mouth. Second, the Air Supply Personal Air Purifier was then placed under the bacteria-laden airstream, and a greater than 95% reduction in bacterial colony counts was observed. Controls included using a disabled Air Supply Personal Air Purifier whose corona discharge was inactivated, yet had a fan installed to reproduce the flow rate of an intact Air Supply, and the results proved that the bacteria-laden air was not simply blown away as the reason for lowered colony counts. Another control included using petri plates spread over the whole chamber, to see if scatter or deflection of the airstream might be another reason for colony count reduction, but this was shown to also not be the case.

"These experiments substantiate that the Air Supply Personal Air Purifier does indeed reduce bacterial growth..."

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