Kristen Tapping, a designer at London South Bank University, has designed Rolloe, a bicycle wheel that uses motion to purify the air of particulate matter and harmful gases in polluted main streets.
Rolloe does not require additional energy to operate as it uses the kinetic energy of moving vehicles. Compared to other outdoor air purification devices, it captures polluted air directly at the source, allowing for greater efficiency and impact.
How Rolloe is made
The device consists of three parts: a tri-wheel and two circles that hold washable, circular air filters together. The rims have large central cavities and are lined with fins. As the wheel spins, the fins create a pressure difference by pulling air in from the internal cavities and then pushing it out through the outside.
When the wheel is moving, it sucks everything in from the central part and pushes everything out from the edges, after passing it through various external filters to purify the air. A pre-filter, a HEPA filter (for particulates up to 2,5 microns) and an activated carbon filter (for gases). The air is then expelled into the environment with fewer particulates and lower levels of harmful gases.
Upcoming developments of the bike wheel that can purify the air
The next steps aim to maximize air intake efficiency. If it works, the bike-based air-purifying device could be offered to ride-sharing companies.
There's something poetic about it, don't you think? Katie Melua's song “9 million bicycles” comes to mind. I listened to it on headphones at 6 in the morning in June 2012 in Beijing, while I watched many Chinese pass by on their bikes to go to work (already wearing masks, but because of the smog).
Nice to think that there could be 9 million air purifiers around, in Beijing as elsewhere.
