Design + Technology: 3M’s Ultra Smart Air Purifier

After a year and a half of adapting our lives to stay safe in the COVID 19 pandemic, we are still adjusting to new ways of socializing, working, and entertaining.

The pandemic has heightened our awareness of health-conscious living. And it is now more common to pay close attention to our indoor environments as many of us spend longer times at home for quarantine and work.

In China, 92% consumers focus on “health” functions while purchasing household appliances, and they specifically care about healthy indoor air. And the finding is not just China specific, the search for air purifier products reached a peak around September 2020 on Google trends, which reveals that households, on a global scale, are deeply concerned about indoor air quality.

In response, leading brands are dedicating development resources to the next-generation of air purifiers to protect people from air pollution. The goal is to remove PM2.5, formaldehyde, TVOC, and most importantly, to rid our air of bacteria and viruses that are a threat to human health.

The 3M Ultra Smart Air Purifier

3M partnered with Designworks to develop a unique free-standing air purifier of this kind. The new product successfully made its first debut at the Appliance & Electronics World Expo 2021 (AWE) and caught wide attention from the public.

“Based on market insights, 3M’s technical expertise and globally connected R&D advantages, this well-designed air purifier not only better solves the pain points of consumers’ indoor air purification needs, but also achieves a breakthrough in terms of interaction and design aesthetic,” said Weijie Huo, Vice President of 3M Greater China Consumer Products Division.

Design + Technology

The 3M Air Purifier is designed to communicate a premium look, feel and user experience in line with 3M’s brand values: Effective, trustworthy, professional, knowledgeable and advanced. It possesses a sleek and clean aesthetic that seamlessly blends into the home environment, effectively communicating its purpose. What differentiates it from other devices on the market is a filter tag system that allows the user to know which filter is currently in use.

The Air Purifier removes bacteria, viruses and gaseous pollutants such as formaldehyde/TVOC, and uses a sensor that can detect these pollutants and visualize the real-time data. A built-in RFID smart chip in the filter, combined with core algorithms, controls the filter parameters based on real-time filter data, and optimizes the air purification efficiency.

Despite the impact of the pandemic, China’s economy has undergone a robust recovery and maintained strong resilience and vitality. New consumption trends and new business opportunities have continued to emerge. Chinese consumers’ pursuit of a healthier life, and their demand for safer and more intelligent products have increasedtremendously, indicating a huge potential for continued growth in the high-quality consumer market.

Watch the video below for more on the 3M Air Purifier: