Dyson, a UK-based home appliance manufacturer, announced Tuesday that it has begun selling air purifiers in South Korea that are equipped with technologies that detect and destroy indoor air pollutants such as formaldehyde.
Its new fanless air purifiers have solid-state formaldehyde sensors driven by algorithms that identify the colorless gas pollutant from other volatile organic compounds. Dyson claims that the solid-state sensor, which employs electrochemical cell technology, outperforms gel-based sensors in that the latter can deteriorate over time and confuse volatile organic compounds with formaldehyde.
Furthermore, the new products employ Dyson's cryptomelane mineral-coated selective catalytic oxidation filter to assure the destruction of formaldehyde at the molecular level, which is reported to be 500 times smaller than particles the size of 0.1 microns. Dyson claims that the pollutant is emitted by furniture, wooden items, insulating materials, paint, wallpaper, varnish, and home cleaning products and that formaldehyde's off-gassing propensity has resulted in extended exposure to airborne compounds that are damaging to humans' health.
Three of the four new air purifiers introduced in Seoul, the Dyson Purifier Cool Formaldehyde, Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde, and Dyson Purifier Humidify+Cool Formaldehyde, are capable of precisely monitoring formaldehyde levels while ignoring other gases detected by a separate sensor to detect home pollutants such as allergens, bacteria, pollen, mold spores, and influenza A virus subtype H1N
All four products, including the Dyson Purifier Cool without the formaldehyde sensor and destroyer, are capable of capturing 99.95 percent of particles as small as 0.1 microns. In Korea, these products range in price from 899,000 to 1.3 million won ($760-$1,100) per unit, depending on the functions they provide, such as heating and air multiplier technology for whole-room purification.
Furthermore, according to Dyson, all four types of products include a magnetized remote control, sleep time to set preset intervals ranging from 15 minutes to nine hours, voice control that is compatible with mobile apps such as Google Home, Alexa, and Siri, and nighttime mode, which is designed to monitor and purify using its quiet settings with a dimmed display. Furthermore, all devices' filters, much less the goods themselves, satisfy the high-efficiency particulate air 13 level, which is deemed medical-grade quality, according to Dyson.
"As our homes increasingly become places where we work, exercise, sleep, and play, the quality of the air we breathe is non-negotiable in all aspects of our routine," Dyson said in a statement.
These lines have been available in Canada and other areas of the world since early this year, with an improvement in formaldehyde detection and capture features over the previous edition in 2019.
Dyson distributes a broad range of consumer electronics products in Korea, including cordless vacuum cleaners, hairdryers, stylers, and hand dryers, in addition to air purifiers.
