Under the guidance of Professor Elliott Gall, the PSU team developed an award-winning DIY air filter for treating indoor air during wildfires.

Written by Shaun McGillis November 16, 2021

The team of current and former PSU engineering students is one of only five teams to win the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Clean Indoor Air Challenge during the Wildfire.

The smoke produced by wildfires contains dangerous gases and particulates, which pose a threat to health, especially for people suffering from cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases. These risks increase during prolonged exposure to high concentrations, such as those that occurred in Portland during the 2020 wildfires.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Cleaner Indoor Air Challenge during Wildfires offers up to $10,000 in prizes, requiring participants to propose innovative solutions to remove particulate matter in the indoor air of their homes during wildfire smoke incidents. The winning PSU team included advanced mechanical and materials engineering (MME) students Warren Gunn and Brett Stinson, MME alumnus Matthew Moore, and associate professor Elliott Gall who served as team consultant.

The team’s award-winning “do it yourself” (DIY) design creates an efficient indoor air purifier using materials that most of us have around the house or materials that cost less than $45: a box fan and cotton Fabric. The design called "The Cocoon" uses a fabric filter similar to a large sock fixed to a box fan.

The team used techniques and methods adapted from the indoor air quality course taught by Gall to test the design on the spot. Tests show that their air purifier can remove more than 80% of indoor air particles in a bedroom-sized space within 30 minutes, exceeding the removal rate determined by the competition.

The idea of ​​an air purifier came about during the wildfires in September 2020, when the smoke from the Cascade fire enveloped the Willamette Valley, causing the air quality in Portland and other parts of the area to deteriorate. Danger. According to Gall, during the smog incident, demand for commercial air purifiers and other DIY solutions exceeded supply. Recalling how people made masks in the early days of the pandemic, Gall thought, why can't we use indoor air purifiers to do the same thing?

"The design is deliberately simple," Gunn said. "We want it to be low-cost, simple to make and use, and it can be used by everyone."

After developing and testing their design, the team had the opportunity to showcase their work at an EPA-sponsored event. The team will now enter the second phase of the challenge, where they will submit prototypes to the EPA for additional testing. In addition, the team plans to make their designs and data available to the public via the Internet.

Matthew Moore, a recent graduate of PSU, said: "It is exciting to have a real-world experience related to what you are learning in class." "This is a great opportunity for all of us."

The team plans to test other fabric filter materials in Gore's Healthy Building Research Laboratory in the next few months. The laboratory will soon install a new testing facility funded by the EPA, with Gall as the main investigator. The facility will provide teams and external organizations seeking partnerships with additional testing resources to evaluate technologies aimed at improving indoor air quality.