A bike helmet that filters out dangerous emissions from the air is defending riders in New Delhi and different Indian cities that rank among the many most polluted on the earth.
Shellios Technolabs, the New Delhi-based startup that developed the helmet, says filters utilized in it may well take away PM 2.5 and different poisonous, vehicular emissions which thousands and thousands of two-wheeler riders are instantly uncovered to on Indian roads.
“Because the complete purifying system — together with rechargeable batteries, blower and digital circuit board — is positioned behind the fiberglass helmet it doesn’t intervene with the bike rider’s actions or imaginative and prescient however creates a clear, purified air area instantly behind the clear visor ,” Amit Pathak, one of many firm founders, tells SciDev.Web.
Bikes, scooters and different two-wheelers are an necessary means of private transport in India and in 2019 there have been greater than 221 million registered models within the nation. Throughout the 2021 – 2022 monetary yr, over 13 million models have been offered.
Shellios Technolabs obtained seed funding from India’s Division of Science and Expertise and assist from the Science and Expertise Entrepreneur Park (STEP), to develop the helmet which is now being offered commercially at US$56.
It says the 1.5kg head gear conforms to authorities security and ergonomic requirements and has proven, in managed take a look at environments, to cut back PM 2.5 particles and different outside pollution by 80 per cent.
“The anti-pollution helmet was one of many extra promising merchandise taken up for assist by STEP contemplating that it had actual advantages for the general public that struggles to deal with extraordinarily excessive ranges of air pollution in India’s main cities,” says Deepthi Shanmugam, the Bangalore -based chief government of the Academy of Technical Training that works with STEP.
New Delhi and Kolkata have been ranked because the world’s two most polluted cities by the Institute for Well being Metrics and Analysis, Massachusetts, US, of their Air High quality and Well being in Cities in a report launched on 17 August.
The report which ranked cities on the idea of two main air pollution — wonderful particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) — discovered the very best population-weighted annual common PM2.5 publicity in 2019 to be in Delhi at 110 micrograms per cubic meter, adopted by Kolkata at 84 micrograms per cubic meter.
The WHO — which considers PM 2.5 to be the only largest environmental menace to human well being — recommends that annual common concentrations of PM2.5 mustn’t exceed 5 micrograms per cubic meter.
Our helmet has patented air purifying equipment together with a silent blower fan that attracts air by way of disposable, high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter membrane and is powered by rechargeable batteries.”
Amit Pathak, Founder, Shellio’s Technolabs
HEPA filters are already extensively utilized in air purifiers present in houses, workplaces and eating places in New Delhi. The India air air purifier market, price US$74.8 million in 2020, is projected to achieve US$565.7 million by 2027, in keeping with Blue Wave Consulting, which attributes the market progress to fast urbanization and industrialization, leading to poor air high quality and widespread respiratory illnesses.
Pathak says that future variations of the helmet would incorporate air-conditioning and hands-free operation of cellphones by way of a wi-fi hyperlink. The helmet already connects by way of Bluetooth to a cell phone to warn the wearer when it’s time to change the filter. “The main target, for now, is on guaranteeing breathable air for motorbike riders in Indian and different closely polluted South Asian cities like Kathmandu and Dhaka,” Pathak provides.
Bhupendra Das, air high quality specialist and chair at Nepal Power and Setting Improvement Companies, says that of the three.2 million autos registered in Nepal over the past 20 years 80 p.c have been two-wheelers. “Given the sharp rise in PM 2.5 air air pollution brought on by congested visitors circumstances in Kathmandu, an air-purifying helmet could be a boon to two-wheeler riders.”
That claims the HEPA filter within the helmet may cut back publicity to pollution related to respiratory, cardiovascular, allergic hypersensitivity illnesses that are on the rise in Nepal. “Governments in South Asia ought to contemplate the introduction of such progressive units as a part of coverage devices being applied to take care of excessive air pollution ranges, together with different measures.”
In July, India’s nationwide capital area, which incorporates New Delhi, launched a sequence of measures to “forestall, management and abate air air pollution” by way of restrictions on industries, vehicular transportation, development, municipal strong waste burning, and crop-residue burning.
Smog towers with filters have been put in in recognized air pollution hotspots and anti-smog weapons able to blasting and settling mud have been positioned close to development websites. Nevertheless, these haven’t proven tangible results on the ever-rising ranges of aerial air pollution.
