patrick norguet: plain air

‘plain air’

‘plain air’ is an air purifier designed by french industrial designer partick norguet for TLV, a developer of medical equipment in partnership wih philips and ahlstrom. the minitiarized air purifying device is able to work in the most stringent conditions and is suited to the needs of both health care professionals and domestic households. the unit looks like a simple plug-in, wall-mounted appliance. its auto-regenerating filter has to be yearly replaced twice a year, while integrated philips lamps have an anticipated life span of 8000 hours (one year continuously). a standing version that can be moved around the house is currently being developed.

detail

‘plain air’ cleans the air by accomplishing three major tasks: first, it breaks down the main pollutants (CO2, dioxins, formaldehyde, ozone, etc) to avoid the risk of people contracting ‘sick building syndrome’, which is the cause of nausea and dizzy spells amongst people who stay too long in confined spaces. secondly, it provides efficient disinfection of air-borne bacteria, spores, moulds, yeasts and viruses, thus limiting the risk of contamination and infection even in pandemic periods. finally, its gives swift de-odorization of unpleasant biological and chemical smells by changing contaminated elements into natural molecules.

all three of these de-polluting actions are carried out using the photocatalysis oxidation miniaturized technology developed by TLV, which uses philips light sources to mineralize pollutant particles and turning them into natural molecules. the device has been tested by the institut pasteur and by university hospitals in lyons.

‘plain air’ was released on the retail market on 1st may 2010 and retails at 1500 euros (taxes included).