Cabin air filtration

Nonwovens also play a vital part in automotive filtration applications. Recent innovations involve the incorporation of nanofibre layers into the nonwoven components used for cabin air filtration. These nanofibre layers help to improve the filtration efficiency and performance for submicron particles. 

Cabin air filtration, for cars at least, was introduced with the 1939 Nash, but did not survive the demise of that marque. Not until the mid 1980s did European manufacturers start to fit cabin air filters as standard equipment, soon followed by Ford in the USA and other American manufacturers quickly thereafter. It is almost certainly a case of application following development of suitable media - as synthetic nonwovens became available, so did it become apparent that they could be used for cabin air filtration (refer back to Figure 5.7). 

An important feature of the medium used to provide vehicle cabin air filtration is that it should provide large filtration areas in a relatively small volume. This means that it will almost certainly be pleated. It should also be relatively easily changed (a high proportion of private vehicle filters are never changed, partly because of the owner s ignorance of where the filters are and/or how to change them). 

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