Freudenberg Nonwovens present the first product of a new cabin air filter series
micronAir proline diesel offers optimum protection against soot particles and diesel odour
Weinheim, January 2005 - For the first time, there is a specialised cabin air filter that provides optimum protection for drivers and passengers against health-hazardous diesel exhaust fumes. The micronAir proline diesel combifilter from the automotive component supplier Freudenberg features a structure specifically designed to ensure very high arrestance of diesel particles and diesel soot. It thus offers protection for the driver and fresh air in the passenger compartment. This filter is the first product from the new innovation platform micronAir proline, with Freudenberg Nonwovens setting new standards in terms of automotive air design.
micronAir proline as the innovation platform for the future
Taking topical problems on board, anticipating up-to-the-future trends at an early stage, and developing responsively effective solutions - that's the basic thinking behind the creation of Freudenberg Nonwovens' micronAir proline innovation platform. When it comes to new development work, the company taps into its long years of expertise as the market leader for cabin air filters, its knowledge of the global market, and its interdisciplinary research operations. This results in highly specialised filter innovations designed to address current issues and offer enhanced comfort and safety during the driving experience.
The new micronAir proline diesel combifilter has been developed for drivers who want really effective protection against diesel exhaust fumes. The filter features a multi-layered, high-arrestance microfiber material, and thus keeps significantly more of the fine and ultra-fine diesel soot particles out of the vehicle's passenger compartment than would a conventional combifilter. The combination of the high-arrestance filter material and an impregnated activated-carbon layer, moreover, is able to reduce diesel odours by up to 90 percent.
The high-arrestance microfiber layer is surrounded by a prefilter layer and a support layer. The prefilter and microfiber layers form a progressive structure, thus ensuring effective deep-bed filtration and uniform, high-efficacy dust storage. Thanks to an optimum combination of electrostatic and mechanical filtration effect, the filter media provide consistently high filtering performance even under the toughest of conditions. With an innovative material combination of nonwoven and activated-carbon granules, Freudenberg has successfully developed a filter system that effectively minimises the levels of solid particles, gaseous pollutants and unpleasant odours.
Ultra-fine diesel soot particles are a health hazardThe risk entailed by diesel exhaust fumes has become increasingly relevant. For example, pollution in the form of fine and ultra-fine soot particles is showing a disproportionate rise, due to the expanding number of diesel vehicles on the roads. Cars with diesel engines emit up to 1,000 times as many particles with a diameter of up to 0.1 micrometers than do cars with petrol engines. These soot particles are so small that they can pass through the respiratory passages and the lungs into the blood stream, where they can cause asthma, allergies, circulatory distress and even cancer.
Diesel vehicles are as yet not being consistently fitted as a standard feature with diesel particle filters for the exhaust gas, that prevent emissions of health-hazardous particles. In order to reduce the particle concentration in the air, moreover, around ten million pre-owned vehicles would have to undergo a retrofit job in Germany alone. Even if all new diesel vehicles were to be fitted with diesel particle filters for the exhaust gas, Greenpeace estimates that air quality would not improve before 2014. An effective cabin air filter is therefore at present the only option for ensuring the best possible protection against soot particles and diesel odour for driver and passengers.
The new filter product micronAir proline diesel is scheduled to reach the market this year.
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