Build Your Own Air Filtration Box
Remember all those science projects you made as a kid? Perhaps a paper-mache volcano, a sundial, or a popsicle stick bridge? How about an air filtration box?
This Corsi-Rosenthal box helps clean the air in a space such as a classroom, or personal living space. The unit can be easily built, comprised of a few easy to source components from your local hardware store. This is a low cost solution for improving indoor air quality, and it can be implemented quickly.
With the heightened focus on indoor air quality in the past couple years, a simple do-it-yourself air filtration box was developed by Richard Corsi and Jim Corsi. The combined effort was jointly named the Corsi-Rosenthal Box, also called a Comparetto Cube. There are variations of this device, some including four or even five filters in the one box unit.
Air changes per hour (ACH) is a term used in the study of indoor air quality. While there is some variation on the optimal number of air changes for a building, the number six seems to be fairly common. Simply put, the Corsi-Rosenthal box is a series of filters connected to a fan, which pulls air through the filters. Running the fan increases the number of air changes in the room, which results in cleaner air.
Whether it is a classroom, personal living space, or shared space like an area for meals, the Corsi-Rosenthal box helps remove particles from the air. There is a lot to discuss in terms of indoor air quality. Professor Jeffery Siegel, a former professor of mine, at the University of Toronto was in a recent interview with an update on air filtration and Covid-19.
What do you need to build your own Corsi-Rosenthal box?
(4) MERV-13 air filters (20” by 20”)
(1) roll of duct tape
(1) Box fan
(2) sheets of cardboard
Image by: Edge Collective, edgecollective.io/airbox
James Andrew Smith, a professor at York University, built his own filter box and uploaded the footage to YouTube to show the experience of building the unit for the first time.
There is a comprehensive description of the design and details to the process provided by EdgeCollective with lots of information on their airbox project. This group runs a distributive research, teaching, and facilitation cooperative that provides opensource materials associated with this project. Below is a poster that summarizes the overall construction process of one unit. The filters need to be replaced every six months based on Edge Collective’s research, but they may need to be changed sooner depending on the frequency of use.
Image by: Edge Collective, edgecollective.io/airbox
This is not a perfect solution, but it does have a benefit in the fight for better indoor air quality. Every building has a unique solution to improving air quality. While retrofitting the existing HVAC system in the building may be the best solution, the Cori-Rosenthal box is a quick to deploy unit at a very reasonable price.
For more information on indoor air quality, you can check out Edge Collective: Ventilation and reducing the risk of COVID transmission, and the WHOs main page on Advice for the public.
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