Electrolux has released a smart air cleaner for the most polluted cities

Not so long ago, the Electrolux campus in Stockholm was filled with acrid smoke from a fire in a nearby garage.

The developers and managers who were in the office felt a burning sore throat. One employee had breathing problems, and she took time off from work. But before she left home, she lingered a bit in the building where Andreas Larsson and her colleagues were testing the Pure A9, an air purifier connected to the Internet of things using Microsoft Azure

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The time has come to check what the new device is capable of in extreme conditions.

“We had 10 or 15 Pure A9 air purifiers, and we included them all,” recalls Larsson, technical director of Electrolux. - Air quality has changed dramatically. We invited a colleague to our office to sit at the table and work with us. She took a few deep breaths and stayed all day. ”

Launched on March 1 in four Scandinavian countries and Switzerland, and earlier also in Korea, the Pure A9 removes ultra-fine particles of dust, impurities, bacteria, allergens and odors from the rooms.

By linking the purifier and the corresponding application to the cloud, Electrolux informs users in real time about the quality of the air inside and outside and tracks the improvement in the room over time. In addition, Pure A9 constantly monitors the level of use of filters, reminding users of ordering a new one when necessary.

According to Larsson, since Pure A9 is connected to the cloud, he eventually can study the daily schedule of family members — in particular, remember the time when everyone is gone — and work in the smart home system.

“If we can predict that there is no one in the room at a certain time, we can guarantee that the filter will not be wasted. - says Larsson. “But by the time someone returns home, the air in the room will be cleared.”

The launch of the Pure A9 marked a new stage in Electrolux’s intention to provide household appliances with networking capabilities “millions of homes around the world to make life more comfortable for consumers.”

He reiterates that "the company's path to improving consumer comfort lies through the Internet of Things, software, data and applications." This process began two years ago with a cloud cleaner called Pure i9 connected to the cloud.

Pure i9 cleans the carpet and washes the floor around the table and sofa.
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The triangular device is equipped with a 3D camera for smart navigation. Moreover, according to Larsson, the Azure IoT platform contributed to the rapid entry of the product to the market, giving developers the opportunity to update the software and extend the functionality already after its launch. The new functionality includes viewing the map with the display of the places already cleaned by the robot.

The moving robot is now available in the USA, Europe and Asia, including China.

Thanks to the possibility of obtaining cloud data from the device, Electrolux launched a unique pilot in Sweden: a vacuum cleaner as a service.

“Swedish buyers can subscribe to Pure i9 services for $ 8 a month and get 80 m2 of floor cleaning,” reports Larsson.

“You only pay for what you use,” he says. - It would be impossible without connecting to the cloud or without collecting data. This product gives us a business opportunity that we simply never had before. ”

This pilot only emphasizes the digital ambitions of the 100-year-old brand, once famous throughout the world for its vacuum cleaners. Today, Electrolux manufactures and sells ovens, refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers, dryers, water heaters and many other household appliances.

The app for the Pure A9 provides users with valuable data on the state of the air in the room. During the launch of the Pure i9 in 2017, Larsson said that “it became obvious that this would not be a single product. An ambitious plan to create an ecosystem of smart, networked products has already begun to take shape. ”

The next type of home appliances with network capabilities was the air purifier connected to the cloud. In September 2018, a team of just three Electrolux developers began building the Azure IoT platform for the future Pure A9. By February 2019, this product has already appeared on the Asian market.

“Azure cloud technology has enabled them to launch a product to the global market very quickly and with minimal development costs,” said Arash Rassulpor, Microsoft cloud solutions architect, who worked on the project together with the Electrolux developers.

Electrolux engineers used the finished functionality Azure IoT Hub

that allowed them not to write programs themselves, but to devote this time to other tasks.

For a first introduction to consumers of its new air purifier, Electrolux chose Korea, where a staggering level of air pollution caused, according to the legislature, a public disaster.

Another day in Seoul, South Korea, was poisoned by smog. Photo: Getty Images

So, on March 5, the South Korean government strongly recommended that residents of Seoul wear masks and avoid being outdoors due to a record high level of dust concentration in the air.

Numerous studies have shown that severe air pollution from the outside adversely affects the air quality in homes and offices, penetrating through ventilation systems.

Moreover, according to the Environmental Protection Agency , impurities in indoor air caused by cleaning products, cooking and fireplaces can have even more harmful effects on health than the air that is breathed in the street.

The global headquarters of Electrolux in Stockholm, Sweden.

“By monitoring and controlling indoor air quality, our smart premium air cleaner helps improve the climate and thus improve consumer welfare,” said Karin Asplund, global director of the Electrolux ecosystem category.

“With the Pure A9 application, consumers can better understand the actual work done by the cleaner, since the data from its sensor sensors are transformed into clear and practical information,” she adds.

Having in their hands two devices with network capabilities, consumers can start the weekend on a comfortable and clean note.

“We want your home to be clean and tidy when you return home on Friday night,” says Larsson. “You just go in, take off your shoes, sit on the sofa and feel that this is your home.”