{"id":70760,"date":"2019-06-09T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2019-06-09T15:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=70760"},"modified":"2019-05-29T14:40:49","modified_gmt":"2019-05-29T12:40:49","slug":"09-05-42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/?p=70760","title":{"rendered":"The Israeli device that aims to clean up your air"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>The Israeli device that aims to clean up your air<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

Brian Blum<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Israeli home device Aura Air checks for dangerous gases and particles, and purifies the air of tiny particles of bacteria, viruses, mold, fungi and pollen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nEldar and Aviad Shnaiderman of Aura Air. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

If you suffer from pollen allergies or are concerned about \u201cindoor pollution\u201d from sources such as cleaning materials, furniture glue and mold, you might have considered buying an air purifier from a brand like Dyson, Molekule or Blueair. And if you\u2019re a safety-concerned home owner, you probably already have a few smoke and carbon monoxide alarms installed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Israeli startup Aura Air asks: Why buy two devices when you could have it all-in-one?<\/span><\/p>\n

The Tel Aviv-based company launched a crowdfunding campaign earlier this year to build its indoor air-quality detector and air purifier combo. The goal was a modest $15,000, but backers pledged close to $300,000. That\u2019s on top of the $1.5 million the company received from private angel investors when it launched in 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

What makes the air from Aura so cool? The story begins 20 years ago, when brothers Eldar and Aviad Shnaiderman would spend summers and vacations helping at their father\u2019s air-conditioning and maintenance company.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw what was happening on the inside of the units,\u201d Aviad tells ISRAEl21c, \u201cand we thought, wow, it\u2019s so dirty. This is what we\u2019re breathing?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Aviad, 32, now the CEO of Aura Air, had been in the army\u2019s special forces unit for more than a decade, while also pursuing an MBA. Eldar, the older of the two at 37, who now serves as Aura Air\u2019s CTO, is an electrical engineering by training. When both found themselves ready for their next gigs, they remembered what they\u2019d seen in their father\u2019s shop.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we had to find a solution,\u201d Aviad says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air is an all-in-one smoke and carbon monoxide detector and air purifier. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The result is a device the size and shape of a small robotic floor cleaner but that hangs on your wall.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air first checks for all kinds of dangerous gases and particles: smoke, carbon monoxide, propane, butane and other flammable gases that can leak, as well as VOCs (volatile organic compounds) such as formaldehyde, paints and acetones, and emissions from office machines (for example, the smell from your photocopying machine).<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air then goes to work to purify the air. It can filter out tiny particles \u2013 down to the size of bacteria, viruses and pollen. It cleans the air of mold, fungi and PM2.5, particulate matter just two and a half microns in width that can lodge in the lungs, leading to coughing, sneezing, shortness of breath and, over extended exposure, more serious problems.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air uses a combination of four filters \u2013 a carbon- and copper-infused \u201cRay\u201d filter, a HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filter, a pre-filter and ultraviolet UVC LEDs. There\u2019s also a \u201csterionizer\u201d generating positive and negative ions to freshen indoor air.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose can get to places like the carpet and furniture where bacteria and fungi have started to develop but haven\u2019t gone through our product yet,\u201d Aviad explains.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air is developing packages to cover all the rooms in a home. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

One Aura Air device can cover 700 square feet, so the average home will need more than one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re developing packages to cover more than just the living room or bedroom,\u201d Aviad says. \u201cWe will have packages for singles, families with newborns, businesses. We want the price to be affordable.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

A single Aura Air will sell for $389 \u2013 that compares favorably with competitors retailing at $600 and up. If you pre-order an Aura Air on Indiegogo<\/strong><\/span><\/a>, you can save 41%. Initial orders are expected to be delivered this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Targeting US market first<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aura Air\u2019s team has been working with the Technion \u2013 Israel Institute of Technology and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem to validate its technology. The product is currently in the process of receiving approval from UL (formerly Underwriter\u2019s Laboratory) in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n

While you can order an Aura Air on Indiegogo (and eventually through the company\u2019s website) from anywhere in the world, Aura Air is targeting the US market first. The company displayed its product at the CES show in Las Vegas in January of this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

One place you won\u2019t find Aura Air: your local Best Buy \u2013 at least not initially. \u201cWe want to understand our audience better before we go for the big retail stores,\u201d Aviad says.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air wouldn\u2019t have been so successful on Kickstarter without the latest personalization bells and whistles. You control your Aura Air device via your mobile, which displays both indoor and outdoor air quality (the latter through a partnership with fellow Israeli environmental startup BreezoMeter).<\/span><\/p>\n

When you set up your Aura Air, you\u2019re prompted to answer a series of questions, such as whether anyone in the home suffers from allergies. Your mobile, running the Aura Air app, can then send you push notifications if, for example, there\u2019s a lot of pollen in the air or there\u2019s a higher level of PM2.5 outside.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Aura Air smoke detector and air purifier has an associated app. Photo: courtesy<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Your personalization data also affects how the device operates. \u201cIf you\u2019re asthmatic, the product will be more sensitive to PM2.5,\u201d Aviad explains. That might mean the fans run faster and longer depending on who\u2019s at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aura Air works in the background. The company\u2019s name comes from the idea that its product protects your breathing environment like a halo \u2013 or an \u201caura.\u201d Once you\u2019ve set it up, you don\u2019t have to monitor it, although you can always talk to your device (via Google Assistant or Amazon\u2019s Alexa) to check air quality and adjust parameters manually.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Shnaiderman brothers have big plans for their 10-person company. Self-sterilizing sheets and towels \u201cthat help kill viruses and bacteria will be coming soon,\u201d Aviad says.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The Israeli device that aims to clean up your air Brian Blum Israeli home device Aura Air checks for dangerous gases and particles, and purifies the air of tiny particles of bacteria, viruses, mold, fungi and pollen. Eldar and Aviad Shnaiderman of Aura Air. Photo: courtesy If you suffer from pollen allergies or are concerned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[26,24],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70760"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=70760"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70760\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70773,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70760\/revisions\/70773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=70760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=70760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reunion68.se\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=70760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}