Bring clean air with you wherever you go

Air pollution is a pressing concern not only in China, but increasingly so around the world. It's a silent killer that affects everyone: men and women, young and old. While many companies have tried to counter this by producing air filters, few have the technical and scientific expertise as Wynd, a portable air purifier and tracker rolled into one. It uses a high-tech fan turbine and medical-grade air filter to clean the air around you, while the tracker gives real-time updates on the air quality of your location. To find out more, we chat with co-founder and CEO Ray Wu on how their device came about.

How did Wynd come about?

One of the co-founder’s parents-in-law lived in Zhengzhou, which is one of the most polluted cities in China. When his daughter was six months old, they took her to visit and on the first day she had a reaction and started coughing. They bought bottled water for her to drink and even rice from the US for her to eat, but it didn’t help her. The problem turned out to be the poor air quality. They needed something to protect his daughter wherever they went, especially when she was in her stroller and needed to be outside. This inspired the creation of Wynd.

How does it work?

Wynd’s founding team is made up of six MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) engineers, one of whom was a rocket scientist who had declined an offer from Elon Musk’s Space-X to work at Wynd. The key technologies that enable the purifier to clean fast are the high air flow turbine as well as the medical-grade filter. Because we partnered directly with one of the largest fan manufacturers in the world, and because the device has specialized air couplers to reduce turbulence and maximize air flow output, the maximum air flow is almost 10 liters per second. In addition, the medical-grade filter (made in Santa Barbara, California and approved for use in US hospitals) optimizes for both particulate (PM2.5, PM10) capture as well as air flow.

The end result is that when Wynd is attached to the side of a stroller and with the top pulled down, a half-enclosed space can be created. In this space Wynd can remove 70 percent or more of PM2.5 and PM10 inside. That allows parents to have a peace of mind that their children are protected and not harmed by poor air quality.

What is the range of Wynd indoors and outdoors?

Wynd can clean up to 1 meter around the device as well as purify an enclosed room up to three by three meters. It can also be used inside a car or in a stroller.

How effective is Wynd when used in heavily polluted outdoor areas?

While Wynd is primarily designed to be used indoors or in enclosed or semi-enclosed spaces, there’s a small secret that enables complete outdoor use. On the bottom is a detachable air quality sensor called the Air Quality Tracker. You can use it attached to the Wynd Purifier or use the Tracker entirely independently – and the purpose is to monitor your air quality so you know when to take precautions.

We invented the Tracker to be the smallest and most accurate consumer air quality monitor ever. It’s the size of your thumb and can go all day without having to recharge. In addition, because our team has air quality sensor designers we’ve invented proprietary algorithms that enable the Tracker to have as high an accuracy as a laboratory-grade device.

What do you do with the air quality data you collect?

Wynd is already one of the largest aggregators of air quality readings worldwide, with over 10,000 stations in over 50 countries. However, these stations are all derived from a limited number of reporting stations, often coming from governments. We hope to create a crowdsourced data network like Waze but for air quality, and inform people how the air quality is where they live, work, and play. They can make better decisions, and organizations such as hotels, health clubs, and schools can compete on who provides the best air quality for their end users.

What is your aim in China?

Our two co-founders are Chinese, spend half their time there, and have relatives living in polluted cities like Beijing. We always wanted to help families in China breathe healthier air wherever they go, and be equipped to understand their environment. There are a lot of air purifiers and some air quality sensors in China, but many of them don’t work well. A recent study by the Chinese government, for example, tested 30 air quality sensors in the market and not a single one passed a set of quality testing, including for accuracy. We want to bring to market products that work as advertised and can actually help people immensely.

When compared to the US, how do you adapt your approach to selling Wynd here?

Much of the way people receive information is different – for example no one in China uses Facebook and instead everyone uses WeChat. We needed to adjust to the local forms of communication, and at the same time dedicate significant resources and time to describe why Wynd is unique. The air purifier market in China is much noisier than in the US, and while we strongly believe that many of the products in the market don’t work as advertised, we still need to educate the market about why Wynd stands out. To that extent we have committed to being local and formed a offices in both Shenzhen and Shanghai so that we can properly serve the market.

Can you take this on a plane?

Yes, you can. The device is safe for transport and use.

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