There's no shortage of devices aimed at removing impurities from the air, from robotic air purifiers that roam the home to solutions that you wear on your legs. It is in this more portable arena that startup Wynd is looking to make an impact, with a personal air filter designed to keep you breathing easy when you're on the move.
Wynd is actually a two-in-one air monitoring and filtering machine. A detachable, clip-on tracking module senses particles in the air from sources such as smoke, bacteria, mold spores, smog and allergens and reports data to a companion smartphone app. Here, users can check on the air quality in their environment and receive alerts when pollution reaches dangerous levels.
Wynd can be left in auto mode, which will automatically adjust its purification levels based on the surrounding air quality. It works by drawing air in through vents and passing it through a medical-grade filter before pumping it out of the top of the device. Alternatively, users can take air quality control into their own hands, with a knob on top that can be turned left or right to set a purification level between 0 and 100.
Capable of filtering eight liters (2.11 gal) of air per second, the team behind Wynd claims it can cleanse 70 percent of particles in a typical car cabin within 10 minutes and 70 percent of PM10 (coarse) particles in a semi-enclosed stroller by 70 percent.
The app also presents the user with an easily digestible measure of how much pollution has been filtered before entering their lungs, offering a milligram figure of particulate matter or even converting that into a cigarette equivalent. You can also check in on friends and family members with Wynds of their own to see what kind of air they're breathing, with the company hoping to one day establish a crowdsourced map of air quality.
Weighing 0.6 lb (272 g) and measuring 2.8 in (7.11 cm) at its base, Wynd is about the size of a regular water bottle. It will last for eight hours of typical use before you'll need to recharge via USB-C cable, a process that takes four hours and also powers up the detachable tracker.
Depending on how polluted the environment is, the Wynd's filter should last from three months to a year. Users are alerted when the current filter is one its last legs and it's time to order a new one. The filters are easy to replace and will be priced at US$7 each.
The team is running a Kickstarter campaign to get Wynd into commercial production, where early pledges of US$69 are available. If the campaign runs as planned, the company expects to begin shipping in November 2016.
You can check out the pitch video below.
Source: Wynd
