Released in: MTZ extra, August 2016. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.

Author ››› Dr.-Ing. David Keerl is a development engineer with MANN+HUMMEL Innenraumfilter GmbH & Co KG in Himmelkron. Modern cabin filters offer a high level of comfort and occupant protection. With MANN+HUMMEL’s innovative biofunctional coating, natural polyphenols and a biostatic product combine to provide additional anti-allergen and anti-microbial protection, inactivating and inhibiting more than 95 % of health-relevant allergens and germs respectively. According to the World Health Organization, allergies are now the fourth most common chronic illnesses worldwide 1. They are also exacerbated...

FIGURE 2: Pollen (© MANN+HUMMEL) Filter Structure The new FreciousPlus cabin filter from MANN+HUMMEL is tackling this issue head on. The FreciousPlus filter is constructed of multiple layers of filter medium, FIGURE 1, which in addition to the particle filter layer and the activated carbon layer, also features a specially developed biofunctional filter layer that has both anti-allergen and antimicrobial properties and thus offers consumers additional health protection against micro-organisms such as mold spores and allergens, FIGURE 2. The activated carbon layer absorbs harmful gases such as...

FIGURE 3: Particles can spread in the vehicle interior (schematic representation) (© MANN+HUMMEL) polyphenol coating. Polyphenols are natural phytonutrients, which occur, for example, in many plants such as green tea, apples and grapes. Health-promoting effects are attributed to polyphenols and they are therefore frequently also used as a nutritional supplement – for example in wine and beer 8 . Furthermore, polyphenols interact with proteins, which is why they can for example bind with and thus inactivate allergens that are separated out onto the fibers of the cabin filter. Immuno-chemical investigations...

materials to combat certain odorous substances and a reliable protection of dustladen filters against microbiological growth. Due to the multiple tasks a cabin filter must perform, it is recommended that it be replaced at least once a year or every 30,000 km, so that it continues to work properly and afford effective protection, FIGURE 4. FIGURE 4: MANN+HUMMEL filters in different sizes (© MANN+HUMMEL) References 1 HO Air quality guidelines – global update 2005 W 2 http://www.aaaai.org/about-aaaai/newsroom/allergy-statistics 3 http://dgk.de/gesundheit/allergie-haut/allergien/situation-in-deutschland.html...