As part of an initiative for boosting local manufacturing, IIT Kanpur has developed & licensed a technology titled “Multiple Slit Nozzle-Based High Volume PM2.5 Impactor Assembly”, having Indian Patent application No-2088/DEL/2014, to a startup company i.e. “Airshed Planning Professionals Private Limited” for local manufacturing, with an objective of replacing imported & expensive air samplers & Impactors.

The said technology is developed by Prof. Tarun Gupta from Department of Civil Engineering, to study different parameters of air pollution, In the last few decades air pollution has emerged as a major environmental issue, studies showed correlation between concentration of PM2.5 particles & health effects in sensitive population. For further studies about the investigation of PM2.5 particle and at varied range, it becomes necessary to collect particles at varied range. In order to collect particles in the PM2.5 range, air samplers with impactors having low pressure drop are required.

The current technology provides a multiple slit nozzle-based high volume PM2.5 impactor, with a sharp particle collection efficiency characteristic and low pressure drop. The nozzle plate along with the substrate plate assembly is designed and fabricated with brass (chrome plated) and retrofitted in the high volume dust sampler downstream of the PM10 cyclone separator. The impactor is designed in a manner that certain high volume respirable dust samplers available in the market can be easily retrofitted with the impactor assembly without disturbing/changing their original setup.

The agreement was finalized on Wednesday, 08^th July 2020, where the signed copies of MoU were exchanged between the Institute and Airshed. During the MoU exchange ceremony Prof. S. Ganesh (Deputy Director), Prof. AR Harish (Dean, R&D), Prof. Amitabha Bandyopadhyay (Prof-In Charge, Incubation & Innovation), Prof. Tarun Gupta from Civil Engineering and Mr. Dhirendra Singh, Director Airshed were also present.

The above technology has been licensed to Airshed for a duration of 5 years on exclusive basis, along with provisions of royalty sharing with IIT Kanpur on net annual sales of Impactor assembly units. Airshed is a start-up company founded by Dr. Dhirendra Singh, the company is already manufacturing instruments in the area of Air and Water Quality Monitoring.