CASE STUDY: Educating on your pollution exposure
Six years ago, Dyson connected its first purifying fan, allowing the consumer to monitor the real-time air quality in their home for the first time, on screen and in app. These machines have since gathered indoor pollution data from around the world, driving a new generation of machines and understanding of air quality in the home. Dyson engineers use this data, sensed by more than 4 million smart Dyson purifiers, to map indoor air quality worldwide. A live track of connected machines means Dyson can see pollution events occurring and its purifiers can educate on personal exposure. Dyson engineers believe they are the first and only in the world able to alert people about pollution events in their local areas, such as wildfires or sandstorms, based on air quality data from Dyson purifiers. 200 million air quality signals are sent from the purifiers to Dyson engineers each day, informing future research and educating on personal exposure.
The upcoming Dyson Zone will use this technology to monitor and purify air in your personal space, on the go. The Dyson Zone is connected and the MyDyson app will provide real-time air quality and noise pollution data, and weekly pollution trend reports, helping to educate and empower individuals to take meaningful action and reduce pollution exposure.
Alongside product development, Dyson collaborates with research bodies and academic institutions to advance global understanding of air quality globally. In 2019, Dyson engineers developed the connected Dyson air quality backpack for the Breathe London Wearables project. 250 schoolchildren wore the backpack fitted with particle and gas sensors, GPS and a battery pack to monitor their pollution exposure on their journeys to and from school, through the streets of London – 31% of participating children changed their journey to school to minimise exposure to pollution. The smart backpacks are currently being used across sub-Saharan African countries, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe, as part of the CAPPA project, led by Queen Mary University London, to understand asthma rates among African children.