World's best silent air purifier — cleans the air continuously!
Sharper Image Design's™ Ionic Breeze® Quadra® Silent Air Purifier offers an array of compelling features that has made it our most popular product — silent operation; efficient air cleaning and odor reduction; no replacement filters; ultra-low energy use; and lightweight housing with an attractive, discreet profile; and continuous 24-7 cleaning.
This efficient electrostatic air cleaner traps airborne irritants, allergens and pollutants on stainless steel collection blades — so there are no filters to replace, ever! The only maintenance is to occasionally slide out the blades and wipe them clean with a damp cloth.
Simply slide out the collection blades and wipe them clean with a damp cloth.
The basic air cleaning (Electrostatic Precipitator) and germ killing (UVGI) technologies for Ionic Breeze Quadra and Ionic Breeze GP Silent Air Purifiers are well proven and long established.
Patented Zenion Effect™ electronic air propulsion is the unique technology that distinguishes Ionic Breeze from all other air cleaners.
Electrostatic Precipitator Technology
For air cleaning, both Quadra and GP models are Electrostatic Precipitator air purifiers, which consist of a charging element that creates a positive charge on airborne particles that are drawn into the device. At the same time, a permanent collector is charged oppositely — in an Ionic Breeze, negatively. Like magnets, the positively charged pollutants are strongly attracted to the oppositely (negatively) charged stainless steel collection blades. As with most other electrostatic precipitator devices, Ionic Breeze air purifiers have no disposable filters to replace. Instead, the permanent collectors are rinsed or wiped clean occasionally. Electrostatic precipitator technology is very effective with particles that are the typical size of common airborne allergens and irritants indoors.(top)
Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation
All light is measured in wavelengths — ranging from the invisible ultraviolet through the visible and up to infrared. Germ-killing UVC is at a length of 254 nanometers and its photons have just the right level of energy to physically destroy the DNA of microorganisms. Germs cannot develop immunity to this physical assault, and viruses are especially susceptible to its application. The use of UVC light for germicidal protection is called UVGI (ultraviolet germicidal irradiation) and it is a technology that has been safely used for more than 40 years throughout the healthcare and food industries to render bacteria, mold spores and viruses noninfectious. Recently, a large trial in Canada demonstrated that UVGI, installed in office building ventilation systems, significantly reduced the rate and severity of respiratory symptoms among the office workers.
The Ionic Breeze GP models feature a built-in Philips 15W UVC Germicidal Sterilamp® that resembles an ordinary fluorescent tube. The Sterilamp is manufactured in Holland by one of the world's largest makers of these kinds of germicidal protection systems.(top)
Zenion Effect™ Technology: Silent, Fan-less Air Circulation
Solid-state Zenion Effect™ technology (U.S. Patent No. 4,789,801) is exclusive to the Ionic Breeze Silent Air Purifiers. It eliminates the need for a motor or fan for air circulation and it is this invention that allows Ionic Breeze to feature totally silent operation and ultra-low energy use.
HEPA air filters (and any electrostatic precipitator air cleaners that circulate air) must use a fan to circulate air and be effective. A fan works by rotating and physically pushing air with its blades. In a typical HEPA air filter, a noisy electric motor will drive a rotating fan — and the fan itself makes noise as it spins. In contrast, the Ionic Breeze air purifiers work by using electrostatic forces to move air molecules — think of the power of same-pole magnets to push away from each other; the process is proprietary and patented (Zenion Effect Technology U.S. Patent No. 4,789,801). The solid-state electronics use an electrical charge to create air that is densely packed with positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. (An ion is an atom with a positive or negative charge.) This non-mechanical "electronic linear propulsion" or "electrokinetic" circulation, is dead silent.
In the patent, Zenion Effect is briefly abstracted as "Electrokinetic transducing methods" to be included in various inventions, including unique "electrostatic precipitators." The inventor writes, "Electrokinetic transducers and apparatus and systems comprising the same have been known for many years. The prior art teaches that such electrokinetic apparatus may be used as an electric fan…. It is an additional object of the invention to provide electrokinetic apparata which emit substantial airflows while at the same time serving as electrostatic precipitators, and thus are much more efficient and quieter than conventional electrostatic precipitators which comprise rotary electric fans." The Ionic Breeze innovation — unique and patented — was to combine this "fan-less" air circulation invention with a proven-effective electrostatic precipitator for air cleaning.
The energy demands of Zenion Effect are very low — 10 watts in the Quadra; 36 watts in the Professional Series™ GP (which includes powering the UVC light) — which furthers the objective of designing an air purifier for practical 24-7 continuous operation.(top)
The noise level of Zenion Effect is non-existent. For all practical purposes, it is absolutely silent. The paper below summarizes why silence is an essential attribute of any air purifier designed for in-home use:
Noise of HEPA Air Cleaners Likely to Cause Severe Annoyance and Physiological Changes in Referenced Studies
Harriet Burge, PhD
Associate Professor of Environmental Microbiology
Department of Environmental Health
Harvard University School of Public HealthAugust 2002
Consumer Benefit:
A typical HEPA air filter with a motor-driven fan generates low-frequency noise that can cause physical and mental stress. In contrast, Ionic Breeze air purifiers operate without making any noise at all. Owners of HEPA-type air cleaners will tend to turn them off to stop the annoying noise. Owners of Ionic Breeze Silent Air Purifiers will tend to keep them on, thereby cleaning the air continuously, as is recommended for all air purifiers.Numerous studies have found that low-level noise in an environment is often found to be extremely annoying, unbearable or intolerable; and it can cause physical and mental stress. Other studies have assessed the behavior of people toward machines in their environment that make noise that annoys them – they tend to turn them off if given the option. HEPA air cleaners make an annoying, low-frequency noise of a type shown to cause insomnia, increased use of tranquilizers, lack of concentration, tension headaches; and it may affect developing cognitive skills in children. Other than Ionic Breeze air purifiers (which operate silently) all other air cleaners that circulate air must use a fan driven by an electric motor. Even at its lowest fan setting, the tested Enviracaire air cleaner produced noise well within the decibel range shown to cause severe annoyance and physiological changes, as measured in the referenced studies. Summary of findings was sponsored by Sharper Image Corporation.
Conclusions: When the option is available, people will turn off equipment that produces noise – even when the equipment provides an important benefit. With HEPA air cleaners, owners will tend to turn them off; and, unfortunately, those who fail to turn them off may experience stress and adverse physiological changes.(top)