LG has officially announced a portable air purifier mask that you use on your face like a mask. The PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier utilizes a set of replaceable filters related to what you’d notice in LG’s range of air purifiers for the house, pairing them with battery-powered fans to assist you to breathe.
LG states the battery-powered air purifier mask device has sensors to recognize when you’re breathing in or out and regulates the fans’ speeds equally.
Today’s announcement ahead of IFA 2020 doesn’t explicitly specify the COVID-19 pandemic, but it gradually implies that the mask was formed in response to it.
The company maintains the wearable air purifier is invented to replace the “inconsistent” homemade masks worn by some people, as well as the disposable masks that it states have been in short supply.
Back in July, when LG first stated the mask and told it would be donating 2,000 of the devices to a university hospital in Seoul, one executive from the company said they believed it would improve medical staff “amid the protracting COVID-19 pandemic,” The Korea Herald reported. They thought it would make it more accessible for medical staff to wear a mask for hours at a time.
It’s essential to note, however, that LG’s press release doesn’t obtain any claims about the mask reducing the spread of the coronavirus, including whether it filters the air as you exhale as well as inhale.
LG refused to comment to The Verge when “The Verge” inquired about this directly, and stated that it was waiting until certification and testing is complete to give full specifications.
It’s an essential distinction since masks are as much about stopping the wearer from affecting those around them as they are about serving to prevent the wearer from being contaminated.
The USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now advises upon the use of masks with exhalation valves or vents to limit the spread of the coronavirus, since these don’t filter “expelled respiratory droplets” that could permit wearers to affect those nearby.
Since LG’s new mask uses motorized fans, it requires to be powered to operate. LG says the PuriCare Wearable Air Purifier has an 820mAh battery that gives up to eight hours of use in its low-power mode, falling to just two hours in high-power mode.
LG’s report doesn’t say precisely when the mask will release or how much it will cost, but notes that it will be possible in the fourth quarter of this year in “selected markets.”