Published Research Papers
Our published research papers and articles about air quality are inspired by nature and our commitment to innovating for the future.
These research papers support the development of our consumer natural air purifiers as well as our Industrial Solutions such as the uBreathe Rain & Airion.
Outcomes from the indoor test of Ubreathe' products
Abstract:
The Indoor air quality (IAQ) has become a paramount concern as we increasingly spend a significant portion of our lives within enclosed spaces. Whether it is our homes, offices, schools, or public buildings, the air we breathe indoors can profoundly impact our well-being and overall quality of 1ife. Poor indoor air quality can lead to various health issues, including respiratory problems, allergies, and long-term chronic conditions. There has been a growing emphasis on implementing sustainable technologies to improve LAQ. By combining innovative solutions with environmentally conscious approaches, we can strive for a harmonious coexistence between human activities and preserving our planet's resources.
Urban Air Pvt. Ltd. has been striving to address this issue, which resulted in conceiving the 'UBreathe' range of products, viz., UBreathe Rain, UBreathe Life, and UBreathe Airion. This report aims to explore the efficiency of these products in enhancing indoor air quality. We tested the individual products for their capabilities in improving indoor air quality, and the
results for each product are presented in the report.
Efficacy of uBreathe - Air Rain model (A uBreathe product) for improving Indoor Air Quality
Monitoring indoor air is essential as we mostly breathe in Indoor air. Poor indoor air can cause various acute health effects, e.g., headache, nausea, and eye irritation, affecting human well- being and work efficiency. Apart from that, ischaemic heart disease (ICHD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are the long-term effects of air pollution. So, keeping the indoor air clean is crucial for human health. There has been a growing interest in implementing sustainable technologies to keep the indoor air clean and maintain the indoor air quality (IAQ). Using indoor plants as an air purifier can be an environment-friendly. sustainable solution. In this study, particle number and mass reduction in an office is monitored using an Optical Particle Counter (OPC) and Nanens Pertector, a nanoparticle counter. The air purifier used in this experiment was Ubreathe Air Rain model.
Literature review: Science behind nature-based air pollutant mitigation
The test was carried out to understand the percentage of pollutant removal happening through the leaf and the root zone. The aerial part of the plant & the roots were exposed to the pollutant in separate chambers in day as well as night condition.
During night, the removal rate obtained through just the aerial plants drastically reduced whereas in the root cases, it remained the same. Furthermore, it was found that the root zone was responsible for removing 90% of the polluant.
Competitive Electrohydrodynamic and Electrosolutal Advection
Arrests Evaporation
Kinetics of Droplets
This article reports the hitherto unreported phenomenon of arrested evaporation dynamics in pendant droplets because of electric field stimulus. The evaporation kinetics of pendant droplets of electrically conducting saline solutions in the presence of a transverse, alternating electric field is investigated experimentally. While the increase of field strength reduces the evaporation rate, increment in field frequency has the opposite effect. The same has been explained on the solvation kinetics of ions in polar water. Theoretical analysis reveals that change in surface tension and the diffusion-driven evaporation model cannot
predict the decelerated evaporation. With the aid of particle image velocimetry, suppression of internal circulation velocity within the droplet is observed under electric field stimulus, which directly
affects the evaporation rate. A mathematical scaling model is proposed to quantify the effects of electrohydrodynamic circulation and electrothermal and electrosolutal advection on the evaporation kinetics. The analysis encompasses major governing parameters, namely, the thermal and solutal Marangoni numbers, the electrohydrodynamic number, the electro-Prandtl and electro-Schmidt numbers, and their respective contributions. It has been shown that the electrothermal Marangoni effect is suppressed by the electric field, leading to deteriorated evaporation rates. Additionally, the electrosolutal Marangoni effect further suppresses the internal
advection, further reducing the evaporation rate by a larger proportion. Stability analysis reveals that the electric body force retards
the stable internal advection. The stability mapping also illustrates that if the field strength is high enough for the electrosolutal
advection to overshadow the solutal Marangoni effect completely, it can lead to improvement in evaporation rates.
Air Quality Index Management of Medium-Sized Com-
munity Space in Gurugram, Haryana
Abstract. A case study details the Air Quality Index (AQI) audit and improvement conducted for office space in Gurugram, Haryana (Urban Air Labs Pvt. Ltd.). The parametric was the concentration of Particulate Matter (PM) of 2.5 (μg/m3) outdoors and indoors in the comparison. Due to the absence of volatile organic compounds, the AQI rating and PM2.5 concentration directly affect quality status representation. The safer rating of the AQI as per the NAQI standards is 50, and for PM2.5, the average of 24 hours is 30; the safer rating for 24 hours, the average PM2.5 as per the WHO revised standard is 15. In general, the measured AQI and PM2.5 rates of the site were 161 ± 20 & 85 ± 10 outdoors and 181 ± 20 & 105 ± 10 indoors. Hence, the test location was equally polluted outdoors and indoors and needed attention. With Urban Air Labs (pa-
tent applied) novel device UBreathe Life and UBreathe Mini, which uses Nature-based solutions (NBS) such as Phytoremediation and other bio-mimicked tech stacks for inducting air quality control. Using the mentioned equipment(s) and a few preventive measures, the AQI indoors was tracked down to ± 50, with single-pass efficiency being ~65%. The followed protocol lays a bench-
mark for future work on reducing AQI and PM in the workspace relevant to the discussion arena. The future scope includes improving efficiency with a multi-pass system and better regulating AQI with different devices suitable for various configurations.