Air purification device

Abstract

An air purification device including a housing, an electric fan included with the housing for passing air through an air purification filter, and a sensor included with the housing for detecting environmental data. A computer processor is included with the housing. A communications module is included with the housing that is operably connected to the computer processor and configured to report the environmental data over a network.

Description

AIR PURIFICATION DEVICETECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to air purification devices that may be used in, but not limited to, bathrooms.INTRODUCTION

[0002] Unpleasant odours are all too prevalent in various environments, for example in public bathrooms. Some systems employ masking agents having strong smells such as pine or naphthalene. Additionally, or alternatively, a room as a whole may be ventilated by air extraction from the room.

[0003] Known systems may require complicated installation like plumbing, specialist wiring and building structure accommodation. Other known systems may not be fit for alleviating undesirable smells.

[0004] Rank smelling environments may be a symptom of an underlying uncleanliness and may be noted by visitors as a poor reflection of an establishment providing the bathroom or other room. It is often in the interests of a host or a business to ensure that high standards of cleanliness are maintained. A high degree of attentiveness to cleanliness may be balanced with considerations of how much, how often and when cleaning resources should be deployed.

[0005] Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods that provide a compact, relatively low cost, environmentally friendly and effective air purification device that is easy to install. It is further desirable to optimize effective use of a wall footprint of such an air purification device. Additionally, it is advantageous to support efficient use of cleaning resources. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.SUMMARY

[0006] In a first aspect, an air purification device includes a housing, an electric fan included with the housing for passing air through an air purification filter, and at least one sensor included with the housing for detecting environmental data. A computer processor is included with the housing. A communications module is included with the housing that is operably connected to the computer processor and configured to report the environmental data over a network.

[0007] In a second aspect, an air purification system is provided that includes the air purification device of the first aspect and a server configured to receive the environmental data from the air purification device over the network. The server configured to host a client interface to display the environmental data.

[0008] By including one or more environmental sensors in the air purification device and remote data connectivity, valuable data can be accumulated and analyzed that supports efficient use of cleaning resources.

[0009] In a third aspect, an air purification device is provided that includes a housing having an air inlet grill at a front face of the housing and an air outlet grill at a top face of the housing. A fan is included with the housing. The fan is an electric centrifugal fan having a duct housing including a duct inlet for pulling air through the air inlet grill and a duct outlet for blowing air through the air outlet grill. An air purification filter is disposed between the duct outlet and the air outlet grill. An air deflection duct extends between the duct outlet and the air purification filter, the air deflection duct providing an expanding airtight flow path.

[0010] The arrangement of the air deflection duct, the air purification filter and the fan provides a highly efficient device in terms of air purification function and energy use.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] The exemplary embodiments will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the following drawing figures, wherein like numerals denote like elements, and wherein:

[0012] FIG. 1 is a front view of an air purification device, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0013] FIG. 2 is a rear view of the air purification device, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0014] FIG. 3 is a first perspective view of the air purification device with a cover removed, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0015] FIG. 4 is a second perspective view of the air purification device with a cover removed, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0016] FIG. 5 is a first cross-sectional view of the air purification device, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0017] FIG. 6 is a second cross-sectional view of the air purification device, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0018] FIG. 7 is a third cross-sectional view of the air purification device, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0019] FIG. 8 is a diagram of a control unit included in a housing of the air purification device, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0020] FIG. 9 is a functional block diagram of an air purification system that includes a server, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0021] FIG. 10 is a first exemplary client interface, in accordance with various embodiments;

[0022] FIG. 11 is a second exemplary client interface, in accordance with various embodiments; and

[0023] FIG. 12 is a second exemplary client interface, in accordance with various embodiments.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The following detailed description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the application and uses. Furthermore, there is no intention to be bound by any expressed or implied theory presented in the preceding technical field, background, brief summary or the following detailed description. As used herein, the term module refers to any hardware, software, firmware, electronic control component, processing logic, and / or processor device, individually or in any combination, including without limitation: application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and / or other suitable components that provide the described functionality.

[0025] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be described herein in terms of functional and / or logical block components and various processing steps. It should be appreciated that such block components may be realized by any number of hardware, software, and / or firmware components configured to perform the specified functions. For example, an embodiment of the present disclosure may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memory elements, digital signal processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, or the like, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control of one or more microprocessors or other control devices. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that embodiments of the present disclosure may be practiced in conjunction with any number of systems, and that the systems described herein is merely exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0026] For the sake of brevity, conventional techniques related to signal processing, datatransmission, signaling, control, and other functional aspects of the systems (and the individual operating components of the systems) may not be described in detail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the various figures contained herein are intended to represent example functional relationships and / or physical couplings between the various elements. It should be noted that many alternative or additional functional relationships or physical connections may be present in an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0027] With reference to FIGS. 1 to 7, an air purification device shown generally at 10 is shown in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. In general, the air purification device 10 has a highly efficient and spatially compact internal arrangement for performing an air purification function. Further, the air purification device 10 has network connectivity and environmental data sensing functions for remotely reporting pertinent information that can support timely and cost optimal allocation of cleaning resources.

[0028] The air purification device 10 includes a housing 12 comprising a front cover 16 and a back plate 14. The back plate 14 includes mounting holes (see FIG. 2) to allow the air purification device 10 to be secured to a vertical wall of a room such as a public restroom by any kind of fixing such as a screw. The present application may be described primarily in terms of use of the air purification device 10 in public washrooms, but this is merely one exemplary use possibility and installation in other internal spaces including households is envisaged. The front cover 16 is openable with respect to the back plate 14 such as by complete removal using a snap fit mechanism. Other kinds of opening mechanisms are possible such as a hinge. With reference to FIG. 1, the front cover 16 includes an air inlet grill 32 to provide a location at which air is pulled into the housing 12 of the air purification device 10. The front cover 16 includes one or more openings so that an indicator light 50 can be viewed from the outside and so that a motion sensor 22 can sense people in the external environment. With reference to FIG. 2, the back plate 14 includes an air outlet grill 34 so that purified air can be expelled (vertically)from the housing 12 of the air purification device 10. The air outlet grill 34 could alternatively be part of the front cover 16.

[0029] Referring particularly to FIGS. 3 to 5, the air purification device 10 includes, disposed within the housing 10 between the back plate 14 and the front cover 16, a fan 18, an air deflection duct 42, an air purification filter 30, a fragrance container 28, a control unit 20 and a power supply unit 48. The air purification filter 30 and the fragrance container 28 are consumable items and thus are removable and replaceable by a user whereas the other components are secured to the housing 10 (specifically the back plate 14).

[0030] In an exemplary embodiment, the fan 18 is an electric centrifugal fan that pulls air in axially (along an axis about which blades 50 of the fan 18 rotate) and expels air radially in an upwardly vertical direction. Herein, the directions of vertically up and down should be understood in the use condition where the housing 12 is mounted to a vertical wall with the air outlet grill 34 being uppermost and extending horizontally. The fan 18 includes a duct housing within which the blades 50 rotate. The duct housing 40, in combination with the action of the rotating bla 50, directs air flow between a duct inlet 36 and a duct outlet 38 of the duct housing 40. The air deflection duct 42 provides an expanding air flow path from the duct outlet 38 to a base of the air purification filter 30. The air deflection duct 42 defines an airtight flow path that tapers outwardly between a relatively small cross-section area of the duct outlet 38 and the relatively large cross- sectional area at an inlet of the air purification filter 30. The air deflection duct 42 fits (an air tight fit) to the duct outlet 38 and a base of the air purification filter 30 so as to ensure air does not escape, which reduces noise, increases air purification efficiency and increases energy efficiency. The air deflection duct 42 is positioned between the front cover 16 and the back plate 14 and defines a fully enclosed air channel (including front, rear and side walls). In the example embodiment, the air deflection duct is a separate piece from the duct housing 40 but these could be integrated in other embodiments.

[0031] In the exemplary embodiment, the air deflection duct 42 includes one or moreintegrated supports 46 upon which the air purification filter 30 rests. In other embodiments, the supports 46 are integrated with the back plate 14. In either case, the supports 46 are included within the air flow path defined by the air deflection duct 42 so that the air tight flow path extends directly to a base of the air purification filter 30. In the example embodiment, there are two supports 46 that are angled away from each other to define an expanding air channel therebetween so as to follow an outward taper of the sidewalls of the air deflection duct 42.

[0032] In the example embodiment, the air purification filter 30 has a honeycomb structure, which has been found to optimize filtering efficiency. The air purification filter 30 is a carbon filter which traps toxins, pathogens and odours. The air purification filter 30 has a generally rectangular prism shape with a base face resting on the supports 46 and being snugly received in the air deflection duct 42. The air purification filter 30 may be made at least partly from coconut shells. The air deflection duct 42 has side walls that extend between front and rear walls where the side walls extend along at least a quarter (even up to a half) of a height of the air purification filter 30 to ensure efficiency of air flow through the air purification filter and to support the air purification filter 30.

[0033] Referring to FIG. 7, the air purification device 10 includes an inlet air filter 44 positioned between the air inlet grill 32 and the duct inlet 36 of the fan 18. This provides a pre-filter for dust, pollen and other relatively large matter entrained in the incoming air. The inlet air filter 44 is removable for cleaning. The inlet air filter 44 may be an electrostatic filter.

[0034] The air purification device 10 has a particularly compact arrangement by having the air purification filter 30 located above the fan 18 (with the air deflection duct 42 disposed therebetween) and the fragrance container 28 at substantially the same level as the air purification filter 30 but disposed to one side. The fragrance container 28 is positioned atop a housing for a control unit 20 that is located at the same level as the fan. The fragrance container 28 includes a wick 52 extending between a fragrance reservoir included in the fragrance container 28 and a space above the air purification filter 30 sothat air expelled from the air purification filter 30 is infused with the fragrance. The fan 18 is located between a power supply unit 48 and the control unit 20. The power supply unit 48 converts AC mains power to a DC voltage for powering the fan 18 and components of the control unit 20.

[0035] With reference to FIG. 8, the control unit 20 will be described in further detail. The control unit 20 includes a DC voltage input 402, a DC regulator 404, a fan control circuit 406, a scent heater control 408, a scent bottle heater connection 410, a resonator 412, a scent bottle heater temperature sensor 414, a microprocessor 416, a status LED connection 418, a motion sensor amplifier circuit 420, a motion sensor connection 422, a Wi-Fi / BLE module 430, a microprocessor programming interface 424, a Wi-Fi Programming interface 426, a thermal barrier cut-out 428, a humidity sensor 432a, a temperature sensor 432b, a fan speed selection switch 434, a mode switch 436, a fan connection 438 and a door safety switch connection 440. These components of the control unit 20 are positioned on a circuit board 450. In the following, not all of the components of the control unit 20 are described in further detail. The salient features will the be a focus of the following description.

[0036] The control unit 20 connects with various sensors including a motion sensor 22 that is in electrical connection with the motion sensor connection 422 of the control unit 20. The motion sensor 22 may be a Passive InfraRed sensor (PIR sensor) that is able to detect a person in the vicinity of the air purification device 10. Other motion sensors may be utilized (such as imaging devices) but the PIR sensor is able to heat detect a person in an energy and processing efficient manner in addition to being a spatially compact option. The control unit 20 includes the motion sensor amplifier circuit 420, which, in combination with the motion sensor 22, provides a voltage level as an output. The voltage level changes when a person is detected within a sensing range of the motion sensor 22 and this change in output voltage is detectable. The microprocessor 416 (or other computer processor) is configured to receive a digital reading of the output voltage and to determine whether a trigger event is realized, which is indicative of a persondetection. The microprocessor 416 may make such a detection on the basis of an amplitude of the output voltage relative to a trigger threshold, a duration of the trigger event (i.e. a time amount over which the trigger threshold is continuously breached) and a minimum amount of time since a previous trigger event. The microprocessor 416 makes a determination of a detection event when the voltage measured reaches the trigger threshold, the trigger remains in place for a trigger event time (duration), and a delay period before another trigger event can occur has not been passed. The minimum trigger duration is provided because if the trigger event is too short, a false trigger may be detected. Similarly, the delay period before another trigger event can occur reduces multiple triggers by the same user to avoid false triggers. As will be described in the following the amplitude threshold, the duration and the delay period (or any one or any combination of two) of these variables can be remotely adjusted by a client through a user interface to better suit local conditions.

[0037] The motion sensor 22, and associated signal processing, allows a count of people in the environment of the air purification device 10 to be kept. Such a count per unit time is representative of footfall, which is important information for a business owner to make decisions on when to allocate cleaning resources. It may also allow an estimate of when to replace consumable items of the air purification device 10. The control unit 20 includes a Wi-fi / BLE module 430 for communication the footfall data. Such data may be communicated periodically such as every hour or more or less frequently. The Wi- fi / BLE module 430 is one example of a communications module for sending data to a remote server over a network and other communications schemes (wireless or wired) may be utilized.

[0038] The control unit 20 includes a humidity sensor 432a and a temperature sensor 432b or just one of such sensors. The humidity sensor 432a provides an indication of when a room has been cleaned because humidity will usually increase when floors are wet. The humidity sensor 432a can also provide an indication of a tap having been left open. The temperature sensor 432b can similarly indicate whether an environment has arequirement for more or less air purification and also an indication of a diffusion rate of fragrance from the fragrance container 28. The humidity sensor 432a and the temperature sensor 432b thus provide environmental data that can be used by the microprocessor 416 for control purposes and can be communicated remotely to a server over a network via the Wi-fi / BLE module for informative and monitoring purposes by a managing client.

[0039] The control unit 20 includes the fan control circuit 406 and the fan connection 438 to the control unit 20 so that the microprocessor 416 (or other computer processor) can adjust a speed of the fan. The speed of the fan may be adjusted based on a user selection through a control interface (e.g. a switch or dial) physically associated with the air purification device 10. Alternatively, or additionally, the fan speed may be adjusted by control commands received at the Wi-fi / BLE module 430 from a remote server over a network, as discussed in greater detail in the following. The fan speed may be adjusted to a fixed speed as directed by a user input (local or remote) or a mode may be entered so that the fan speed is adjusted based on sensor readings from the humidity sensor 432a and / or the temperature sensor 432b and / or the footfall reading from the motion sensor 22. For example, when temperature or humidity is detected to be above a threshold level, by the microprocessor 416, the fan speed may be increased. A continuous adjustment or multiple threshold and fan speed adjustment could also be implemented. In this way, operation of the fan 18 can be adapted based on requirements indicated by sensed environmental data.

[0040] The control unit 20 includes the scent bottle heater temperature sensor 414 and the scent bottle heater connection 410. The scent bottle heater temperature sensor 414 provides a control input to the microprocessor 416 as to a temperature of the fragrance in the fragrance container 28 (or an indirect indication thereof), which may not be the same as environmental temperature sensed by the temperature sensor 432b because the fragrance container 28 is associated with a scent heater (not shown) that is controlled by the scent heater controller 408 via the scent bottle heater connection 410. The scentheater is powered so as to heat the fragrance reservoir in the fragrance container 28 according to control signals provided by the microprocessor 416 and the scent heater controller 408. The microprocessor 416 is configured to adapt scent heating by the scent heater in dependence on environmental temperature sensed by the temperature sensor 432b so as to maintain a desired fragrance diffusion rate even when ambient temperature is low. The scent heater is controlled according to a control loop that takes into account a difference between a temperature setpoint and an output from the scent bottle heater temperature sensor 414. The scent heater can be arranged in a variety of ways including a resistive element in proximity to a base of the fragrance container 28. In addition to, or alternatively to, control of the scent heater by a control loop that is adaptive to the ambient temperature from the temperature sensor 432b, the scent heater may have its level adjusted by a physical interface (e.g. switch or dial) associated with the air purification device 10 or by remote control from a server as will be discussed in the following.

[0041] The control unit 20 includes a speed selection switch 434 and a mode switch 436. These switches may be physically located as part of the air purification device 10 and / or be activatable by control commands issued from a remote server as described in the following. The speed selection switch 434 allows a user to adjust a fan speed according to local requirements or preferences. The mode switch 436 allows a user to select between various operating modes including fixed speed, motion activated, temperature activation and humidity activation (or one or more of these possible mode possibilities in any combination). Under fixed speed mode, the fan 18 is operated at a speed set by a user via the speed selection switch 434 (or set by control command from a remote server). Under motion activated, the fan speed is adaptive to sensed people in the environment according to the output from the motion sensor 22. For example, the fan may turn on or increase speed depending on a single instance of a sensed person or based on an accumulated frequency of multiple visitors within a given timeframe. In the temperature and humidity activation modes, the fan 18 is activated or changed in speed according to a temperature and / or humidity control algorithm and an output from the temperature andand / humidity sensors 232a, 232b.

[0042] The control unit 20 includes a door safety switch connection 440 for connecting to a door safety switch so that a status of closure or opening of the front cover 16 is detected. This information may also be reported to a remote server so that information on replacement of replenishable items can be collected and also any error state of the air purification device 10 can be reported.

[0043] The control unit 20 includes a status LED connection 418 that connects to the indicator light 50 for indicating a status of the air purification device 10 in a differentiable manner. Different colors or different light blinking (or absence thereof) or a combination of both can be used to show a status of the air purification device 10. Exemplary statuses includes error states such as an error with the network connectivity, a door open status, a no error state, etc. The status may also be reported to a remote server over a network using the Wi-Fi / BLE module 430.

[0044] Reference is made to FIG. 9, which shows a functional block diagram of an air purification system 70 in accordance with various embodiments. The air purification system 70 includes the air purification device 10 and a remote server 24. The air purification system 70 further includes input sensors 78 including the motion sensor 22, the temperature and humidity sensors 232a, 232b, an air fan speed sensor 80, the scent heater temperature sensor 44, a door safety switch 82, the mode switch 436 and the speed selection switch 434. Most of these components have been described in the foregoing. The air fan speed sensor 80 is used as part of a control algorithm for controlling the speed of the fan 18. The input sensors provide data to the processor 416 to control hardware components of the air purification device 10. Hardware outputs 76 as a result of this processing include an adjustable speed 74 of the fan 18, a temperature setpoint for the scent heater 72 and a status of the indicator light 50.

[0045] As described previously, the air purification device 10 is connectable to the remote server 24 via the Wi-fi / BLE module and optionally a Wi-fi router internetconnection 84 (although non-Wi-fi remote network communications are possible). The server 24 provides an internet cloud resource that hosts a client interface 26. The client interface 26 provides various functional modules including data visualization 86 of data provided by the air purification device 10, alarm settings 88 so that a client can adjust the alarm settings 88, client alerts 90 for notifying appointed personnel as to any alarms being triggered and adjustable device settings 92 by which a client can adjust various device settings. The alarm settings 88 may be an alarm threshold humidity level, an alarm threshold temperature level or an alarm threshold footfall rate (e.g. a certain maximum number of motion detections within a set period of time such as an hour). The periodic reporting (e.g. every minute or faster) of sensed environmental data from the air purification device 10 allows this data to be compared to the alarm thresholds by the server 86. If an alarm is triggered, a corresponding notification is sent as one or more client alerts to designated personnel. The notification may be sent by text message, by a push notification from a designated application on a smart phone or by email or a combination thereof. The addition of environmental data with alert alarms and messages allows the washroom to be better managed during busy periods. Footfall, humidity and temperature information may be taken alone or together to determine that a notification should be sent. For example, if high humidity readings are detected then this could highlight excessive water is present on the floor creating a safety hazard. Similarly, a notification may be sent to request washroom inspection based on user footfall or a change of device operating mode may be requested based on user footfall. The designated personnel, the medium of notification, the thresholds for the alarms as well as any automated response to the alarms (e.g. change of operating mode) can configured by a client through the client interface 26.

[0046] The adjustable settings 94 of the air purification device 10 include motion detector settings 600, fan speed adjustment 608, indicator light status adjustment 610, scent heater control 612 and operating mode 614. Each of these various settings can be adjusted by a client remotely through the client interface 26 and a corresponding control command is sent by the server 24 over the network. Motion detector settings 600 that areadjustable include movement sensor trigger level 602 (which is an amplitude of output voltage that triggers a detection event), movement trigger duration 604 (which is a length of time that the trigger level must be continuously surpassed for a detection event to be counted) and re-trigger delay time period (which is a minimum length of time since a previous trigger event that must occur before a new detection event can be counted). The fan speed, the indicator light status, a temperature of the scent heater and the operating mode may also be changed from the remote client interface 26. The operating modes can be fixed fan speed mode, environmental temperature adaptive mode, environment humidity adaptive mode and motion trigger event adaptive mode as discussed previously.

[0047] FIG. 9 illustrates that data visualization 86 is possible through the client interface 26 (particularly a computer screen and input device connected to a cloud service hosted by the server 24). The data visualization 86 can be provided in a number of ways including graphs or charts for the collected data to allow a client to remotely discern busy periods in washrooms based on footfall, when cleaning has occurred based on humidity and whether an air purification device 10 or the washroom needs some other maintenance based on temperature, humidity and status data that is collected at the air purification device and reported periodically to the server 24. Exemplary client interfaces are shown in FIGS. 10 to 12. FIG. 10 shows a client interface in the form of a footfall heatmap 100. The footfall heatmap 100 illustrates a number of visitors in the proximity of the air purification device 10 within time bins (of 1 hour in this case) at various times of the day 104 and across different days of the week 102. The length of the time bins and the days of the week may be user configurable. Instead of days of the week, weeks of the year could be illustrated or months of the year. The client interface provides valuable information to a manager as to when cleaning resources should be deployed based on busy periods. In the exemplary embodiments, the footfall data is color coded with different colors for different ranges of numbers of visitors in a time period covered by a cell of the footfall heatmap 100. In FIG. 11, there is an illustration of a client interface for temperature 200, which shows a sensed temperature 202 at different times of day 200. A legend for device identifiers 206 is also provided as a number of line graphs are plottedfor temperature against time for a number of different air purification devices 10 located at different locations at a client establishment. FIG. 12 provides a similar client interface for humidity 300 where sensed humidity 302 is plotted against time of day 304 for a number of different devices identified in the legend of device identifiers 306.

[0048] Through the client interface 26, a client is able to select to visualize environmental data (and other sensed data like status, operating mode, door switch state) for any of their installed devices. Further, the data may be grouped based on location such as a particular building or particular rooms within that building where a number of devices are installed in the building or on a selected room.

[0049] The server 24 may keep a running count of user footfall for an air purification device since a last replacement of a fragrance container 28 and / or an air purification filter 30. The replacement event may be inferred based on an output from the door safety switch or based on a corresponding entry through the client interface 26. The running count can automatically trigger a notification to designated personnel (as described previously) when a replacement threshold is breached when it can be inferred that it is time to replace the fragrance container 28 and / or the air purification filter 30. An automatic ordering process may be accepted by a client through the client interface 26.

[0050] While at least one exemplary embodiment has been presented in the foregoing detailed description, it should be appreciated that a vast number of variations exist. It should also be appreciated that the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments are only examples, and are not intended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of the disclosure in any way. Rather, the foregoing detailed description will provide those skilled in the art with a convenient road map for implementing the exemplary embodiment or exemplary embodiments. It should be understood that various changes can be made in the function and arrangement of elements without departing from the scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims and the legal equivalents thereof.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is claimed is:

1. An air purification device, comprising: a housing; an electric fan included with the housing for passing air through an air purification filter; and at least one sensor included with the housing for detecting environmental data; a computer processor included with the housing; and a communications module included with the housing operably connected to the computer processor and configured to report the environmental data over a network.

2. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes a motion sensor for detecting user footfall as the environmental data.

3. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes a temperature sensor for detecting temperature as the environmental data.

4. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor includes a humidity sensor for detecting humidity as the environmental data.

5. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the communications module is configured to receive control commands over the network andthe computer processor is configured to adjust control settings of the air purification device based on the control commands.

6. The air purification device of Claim 5, wherein the at least one sensor includes a motion sensor and the control commands include user detection trigger settings.

7. The air purification device of Claim 6, wherein the user detection trigger settings include at least one of trigger event amplitude threshold, trigger event delay period and trigger event duration threshold.

8. The air purification device of Claim 5, wherein the control commands include fan speed.

9. The air purification device of Claim 1, comprising a fragrance release heater.

10. The air purification device of Claim 9, wherein the communications module is configured to receive fragrance release heater control commands over the network and the computer processor is configured to adjust control settings of the fragrance release heater based on the control commands.

11. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the computer processor is configured to adjust operation of the fan based on the environmental data.

12. The air purification device of Claim 11, wherein the environmental data includes at least one of detection of a user, humidity and temperature.

13. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the computer processor is configured to implement different operating modes for the fan.

14. The air purification device of Claim 1, wherein the operating modes include at least one of adaptive fan operation depending on the environmental data and fixed fan speed.

15. The air purification device of Claim 13, wherein the different operating modes are selectable based on at least one of manual switch included with the housing and control command received by the communications module over the network.

16. An air purification system, comprising: an air purification device according to Claim 1; a server configured to receive the environmental data from the air purification device over the network; the server configured to host a client interface to display the environmental data.

17. The air purification system of Claim 16, wherein the client interface is configured to display user footfall as the environmental data.

18. The air purification system of Claim 16, comprising a plurality of air purification devices according to Claim 1 at different locations, wherein the client interface is configured to display location differentiated user footfall as the environmental data.

19. The air purification system of Claim 18, wherein the client interface is configured to display date and / or day of the week and / or time of day differentiated user footfall as the environmental data.

20. The air purification system of Claim 16, wherein the environmental data includes humidity and / or temperature.

21. The air purification system of Claim 16, wherein the server is configured to send notifications to designated personnel based on the environmental data.

22. The air purification system of Claim 21, wherein the server is configured to send the notifications based on at least one of user footfall, humidity and temperature as the environmental data.

23. The air purification system of Claim 22, wherein the server is configured to compare the environmental data to one or more notification thresholds.

24. The air purification system of Claim 23, wherein the one or more notification thresholds are client customizable through the client interface.

25. The air purification system of Claim 21, wherein the designated personnel is client selectable through the client interface.

26. The air purification system of Claim 16, wherein the user interface is configured to allow a client to select control commands for the air purification device and the server is configured to send the control commands to the air purification device.

27. The air purification system of Claim 26, wherein the control commands include control settings including at least one of operating mode of the fan and trigger settings for the at least one sensor.

28. The air purification system of Claim 27, wherein the trigger settings include user footfall triggering event settings.

29. The air purification system of Claim 16, wherein the environmental data includes user footfall and the server is configured to monitor a replenishable item of the air purification device based on the user football and to generate a replenishment notification based on the monitoring.

30. The air purification system of Claim 29, wherein the replenishable item is the air purification filter or a fragrance container.

31. An air purification device, comprising: a housing having an air inlet grill at a front face of the housing and an air outlet grill at a top face of the housing; a fan included with the housing, wherein the fan is an electric centrifugal fan having a duct housing including a duct inlet for pulling air through the air inlet grill and a duct outlet for blowing air through the air outlet grill; an air purification filter disposed between the duct outlet and the air outlet grill; and an air deflection duct extending between the duct outlet and the air purification filter, the air deflection duct providing an expanding airtight flow path.

32. The air purification device of Claim 31, comprising an inlet air filter between the air inlet grill and the duct inlet.

33. The air purification device of Claim 32, wherein the inlet air filter is foam.

34. The air purification device of Claim 32, wherein the inlet air filter is an electrostatic filter.

35. The air purification device of Claim 31, wherein the air purification filter has a honeycomb structure.

36. The air purification device of Claim 31, wherein the air purification filter has a carbon honeycomb structure.

37. The air purification device of Claim 31, comprising a fragrance container for adding fragrance to air passing between the air purification filter and the air outlet grill.

38. The air purification device of Claim 37, comprising a fragrance release heater.

39. The air purification device of Claim 31, comprising a motion sensor.

40. The air purification device of Claim 31, comprising a communications module for communicating data collected by at least one sensor of the air purification device to a remote server over a network.

41. The air purification device of Claim 31, wherein the air deflection duct has a rectangular cross-section at the outlet duct and a rectangular crosssection at an outlet of the air deflection duct.

42. The air purification device of Claim 31, wherein the air deflection duct comprises supports upon which the air purification filter rests.

43. The air purification device of Claim 31, comprising a power supply unit for converting AC inlet power to DC output power.

Images