For many years, NanoLayr and one of New Zealand’s leading home ventilation companies, HRV, have worked together to harness the power of FilterLayr air filtration media to provide cleaner air into thousands of homes around the country.

As part of our customer success story series, we look at how we embraced a challenger mindset to deliver a bespoke solution for HRV and their customers.

We interviewed Brad Courtney, GM Product & Performance at HRV to talk about how they transformed audience insights into a leading solution to improve the lives of many people across New Zealand.

What was the challenge that HRV was aiming to address?

Our mission is to improve the air quality inside people’s homes to safeguard health and wellbeing. People, on average, spend approximately 90% of their lives indoors and are more at risk of allergens inside than outside.

Because of this, the World Health Organisation (WHO) regards indoor air pollution as one of the world’s leading environmental concerns. Indoor pollutants, along with damp and cold conditions brought on by a home with inadequate ventilation and heating, can contribute to respiratory illness, asthma, and life-long health issues.

One of New Zealand’s leading-home solutions companies, HRV, was established in 2003 with the aim to help all New Zealanders make their homes drier and healthier by filtering and purifying the air inside the house.

HRV had a goal to develop a revolutionary home ventilation system using a high air flow-rate filter that was specifically designed to improve the air quality of damp and stuffy New Zealand homes. And they wanted to do this whilst keeping the supply chain local.

Collaborating to deliver the solution

And so NanoLayr and HRV worked together to develop and deliver a quality ventilation system, using FilterLayr nanofibre technology.

Brad mentioned, “the incorporation of FilterLayr, NanoLayr’s advanced air filter media, into our HRV ventilation systems meant that we could deliver a significant step change for our customers with regards to technological advancement.”

Unlike conventional air filter media, FilterLayr contains incredibly thin electrospun nanofibres which results in a filter media with exceptional filtration efficiency and excellent airflow rates.

When compared to commonly used filters in the likes of fibreglass or cotton/polyester fabric , electrospun nanofibres provide enhanced protection against airborne particles, bacteria, and viruses. The increased performance is attributed to the different filtration mechanisms, fibre dimensions, and smaller pore sizes.

As explained by NanoLayr’s Dr Fabrice Karabulut, “…using a commercially successful and low-cost process for producing filtration microfibres, produces fibres with diameters in the range of 1-3 micrometres which are much larger than bacteria and viruses that can get down to just 0.1 micrometres in size. Nanofibres, however, are significantly smaller and range from just 10 – 300 nanometres in diameter. This is 10 – 100 times smaller than conventional melt-blown microfibres, meaning they are the most effective in trapping viruses, bacteria and other harmful particles in the air.”

The end result

The result of the collaboration was the development and incorporation of FilterLayr into HRV’s ventilation system. The development team designed a long-life, deep-pleat box filter made up of 16 pleats (with an 8x increase in surface area when compared to a flat non-pleated filter) to create the most effective filter media in its class on the market.

The electrospun nanofibres are infused with locally sourced natural antibacterial additives which can trap 99.99% of microscopic airborne particles such as spores, allergens, and bacteria. The result is an air filtration system that captures a wide array of harmful aerosols, including even the smallest lung-damaging particles to ensure that only the cleanest air comes into your home.

“Not only has NanoLayr the capability, technical know-how and experience to come up with a filter that meets all our standards, but a local supply chain is crucial for us” says Brad.

“The design of the FilterLayr nanofibre filter enables large particles to be filtered out first before the finer particles are removed. Put simply, smaller fibres mean smaller holes and an incredibly high surface area, allowing the filters to catch even the finest dust and airborne particles. Additionally, NanoLayr can fulfil production at the scale that we need, supported by highly specialised experts driven to make unique and world-leading products.”

“We are proud to work with NanoLayr and our long-standing relationship has allowed us to take our unique and world-leading products into the New Zealand and Australian markets.” says Brad.

HRV is the first company to have integrated FilterLayr filtration technology in their home ventilation systems.
NanoLayr and HRV continue to collaborate to improve their products, so keep an eye out in 2022, as something exciting is coming with FilterLayr inside, brought to you by HRV.