Real time purification of contaminated common air is an unsolved
consumer health problem inside residences and the workplace, and outside
air pollution by industry and transportation. Currently popular
consumer grade electrostatic air filters accumulate suspended contaminants onto accumulation plates which require subsequent disposal or cleaning of the highly concentrated contaminates, a maintenance requirement that creates new jeopardy to
consumer health. Disclosed are a method and apparatus with several embodiments that structurally eradicate suspended
particulates after they have been electrostatically migrated to a hollow, activated dismantling rod. The dismantling rod is typically composed of a durable, UV transmitting material, such as
tetrafluoroethylene, or a current carrying
metal mesh coated with
tetrafluoroethylene, and further over-coated with active photocatalytic material that is energized to create on its surface powerful dismantling agents, including hydroxyl radicals, from natural
ambient air elements. Microorganisms,
smoke particles, industrial pollutants,
odor molecules, and allergens are structurally dissociated into harmless
protein fragments and natural molecules when they encounter the dismantling grid purifying agents. The decontamination phenomenon is amplified by imparting, or enhancing, either a negative or positive electrostatic charge to the
suspended particles, as they enter the device, and using that to migrate the particles to the activated dismantling rod containing an internal, oppositely charged attraction screen. The method can be used to eradicate particles, including lethal pathogens, that may have a naturally occurring negative, positive, or electroneutral charge. Both contaminants and suspended water molecules are drawn to the dismantling rod in this manner, providing an enhanced supply of
raw material from which the decontaminating agents are created. Any
trace amounts of
ozone molecules produced during the process are also attracted and dissociated back to
oxygen within the device. The permanent
photocatalytic coating does not require renewal or cleaning, and is designed to use UV energy in a bandwidth that also physically inactivates the replication defenses of passing microorganisms until they can be dismantled, whether in the
first pass on during a subsequent
air exchange pass. None of the powerful dismantling agents escape the device because of their short half lives; once their job is done all return to the natural elements from which they were made, creating no environmental harm. The method and apparatus are
self cleaning and maintenance free.