Air Purifier with Sensor: 2022's Best Pick for You (With Video & Detailed Review)
Air purifiers with sensors show you the real-time air quality and have auto modes to let the machine adjust its settings based on the current air quality.
With this type of air cleaner, your home air quality is always in the know.
In this post, you'll get the top 1 air purifier with sensor to fill your home with fresh air while staying tuned with the air quality anytime. Meanwhile, a 101 guide is also included helping you get full knowledge of this type of air cleaners.
Table of Contents
1. Best Air Purifier with Sensor: Purivortex V3
2. Top 2 Sensors That Air Purifiers Adopt
3. How Air Purifiers with Sensors Work
4. Top 2 Features of Air Purifiers with Sensors
1. Best Air Purifier with Sensor: Purivortex V3 (with Stunning Video)
As a smart air purifier, Purivortex V3 uses infrared technology to detect PM2.5 particles (particles ≤ 2.5 microns), such as volcanic ash, dust, smoke, and vehicle emissions.
PM2.5 particles are the greatest health threat among all air pollutants. Since it is small and light, it can float in the air for a long time.
This large room air purifier detects the amounts of PM2.5 particles, and reports real-time air quality with the LED color. For example, if you notice that the indicator light is green, congratulations! Your home's air quality is as pure as the early morning in the mountains.
You should not be concerned if the color is yellow because the air quality remains normal.
The red color indicates that the air quality in your room is poor. Normally, the indicator light will not change to red while air filter is operating unless the air quality in your home suddenly deteriorates, such as your guest smoking near the air cleaner.
Thus, you can always keep track of your home or office's air quality anytime with V3 on.
Auto mode is another superior function that V3 has. V3 can change the fan speeds automatically based on the current air quality in your room if you turn the auto mode on.
Smart feature overview:
- Real-time air quality monitor
- H13 true HEPA air filter
- Designed for large rooms
- 2 fabric cloth pre-filters
- Smart auto mode
- 3 fan speeds
2. 101 Guide: Top 2 Sensors That Air Purifiers Typically Adopt
There are two groups of sensors that are widely used in air purifiers. Keep reading to unveil the “secret” inside the air filter.
2.1 PM Sensors
Particle sensors are normally used to detect PM2.5 (particles ≤ 2.5 microns) and PM10 (particles ≤ 10 microns). Below is the size of different particle pollutants for your reference.
Smoke Particles ≤ 2.5 microns
Pet Dander ≤ 5 microns
Household Dust ≤ 10 microns
Pollen ≤ 30 microns
70 microns ≤ Human Hair ≤ 90 microns
You cannot see objects which are smaller than 40 microns.
Air purifiers with PM2.5 sensors use infrared (IR) technology while air cleaners with PM10 sensors use laser technology. In most cases, PM2.5 sensors can be referred to as IR sensors and PM10 sensors as laser sensors.
Which one is better? Both are generally accurate at detecting particles. Typically, laser sensors are used in industrial areas with particles larger than 10 microns, such as cement factories.
The particle pollutants in our house are normally smaller than PM2.5. Therefore, most home air purifiers will use IR technology.
2.2 Gas Sensors
Gas sensors are used to detect gas pollutants and VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) in the air.
Such as:
Sulphur Dioxide (SO2)
Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
Ground-level Ozone
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Ozone (O3)
An air purifier with a gas sensor will alert you when toxic gases are increased in the air by changing the color of the LED lights so that you can take precautions.
Normally, particle sensors are sufficient for home use. Those harmful gases only exist in some factories, such as cosmetic companies and food processing companies.
3. How Air Purifiers with Sensors Work
3.1 Air Purifiers with Particle Sensors
Infrared sensors: An infrared light-emitting diode will emit reflected light when it encounters dust. When the sensor detects the intensity of reflected light, it outputs a PWM (a method for creating digital pulses to control analog circuits) signal directly that indicates the current concentration of dust in the air.
Laser sensors: Suspended particles in the air are scattered with the use of laser light. The scattered light is collected and analyzed over time to create a scattering curve.
The microprocessor calculates the equivalent particle diameters and the number of particles per unit volume. Based on this figure, you can know the air quality.
3.2 Air Purifiers with Gas Sensors
Metal-oxide (MOx) sensors and Micro electro-mechanical system (MEMs)-based sensors are commonly used in air purifiers with gas sensors.
Despite the fact that MOx sensors have been used for almost 30 years, MEMs-based sensors are going to occupy the market of air purifiers with gas sensors because of their smaller sizes, lower prices, and the use of embedded signal conditioners.
MOx sensors: A heated metal oxide sensor changes its electrical resistance based on the amount of oxygen on its surface. For example, if the level of O3 in the air rises, the electrical resistance will become high.
Color or number changes on the control panel can provide information about the amounts of gas pollutants in your room.
MEMS sensors: MEMs is a chip-based technology in which sensors are made up of a suspended mass sandwiched between two capacitive plates. This suspended mass causes an electrical potential difference when the sensor is tilted. The created difference is then measured as a capacitance change.
Actually, it is based on capacitance changes. Briefly, the sensor will be tilted based on the amounts of air pollutants. The more air pollutants, the more the sensor tilts, and then, it causes in higher capacitance.
4. Top 2 Invincible Features of Air Purifiers with Sensors
4.1 Change Fan Speeds Automatically
The exceptional feature of air purifiers with sensors is AUTO. This type of air cleaner can change the fan speed based on the air quality. Traditional air purifiers without sensors fail to do so.
The air quality in your home changes constantly. For example, you have a pet. Your pet's hair and dander will fly in the air, especially in the pet molting season. If your house is close to the street, the vehicle smoke will flow into your house and remain in the air for a long period.
Your pet fur & dander, or the vehicle exhaust will increase the amount of particle in your home.
It's very inconvenient and inaccurate to adjust the air cleaner's mode based on your feelings. How can you address the issue of fluctuating air quality? Open your air purifier's automatic mode and let it decide when the highest setting is appropriate and when it is not.
Higher fan speed consumes more energy. But it doesn't mean that keeping your air purifier on 24/7 will cost a thousand dollars. With the power-saving technology, an air cleaner with a sensor, like the above Purivortex V3, only costs you less than $1 each week.
The noise level of different fan speeds varies. The highest fan speed is a bit louder than the lowest fan speed. If you are reading or sleeping, you may not be able to stand the machine running at top speed for a long period. So, you may adjust the fan speed manually.
Therefore, the auto mode is a very user-friendly and convenient design as it can adjust the fan speed automatically based on the current air quality. As long as you turn the air cleaner on, you won't be bothered by the noise, as it will operate in the lowest noise level.
4.2 Display Real-Time Air Quality
The real-time air quality gives you an idea of your device's performance and lets you know the current air quality in your house.
For example, if you are moving into a newly decorated house or a house that has been vacant for a long time, you can use an air filter with sensor for a few days before moving in because it not only removes the formaldehyde odor or paint and wood odor from the furniture but also provides evidence of when the air quality is pure enough to move in.
Your town or city's air quality changes frequently. Particle pollutants will increase dramatically if there is an increase in car exhaust or wildfires in your area. With sensor-equipped air cleaner, you can monitor real-time air quality developments and get a sense of the current air quality trends in your area.