These days pollution, of air, water and sound are emerging as major problems for people, especially in urban belts, where residents are facing numerous hardships. The further cause of concern is that the pollution levels are reaching the danger levels, causing a major threat to the lives of people besides damaging fauna & flora. Few months back, the air pollution level in Delhi reached such a level that it became hard for the people to breathe properly. Moreover, the commuters, traffic personnel and people driving vehicles and bikes are more prone to the dangerous pollution, as they have to face the same for comparable longer period of time. Now, bringing bit respite for bikers, an anti-pollution helmet has been developed by a Delhi-based startup which can help 2-wheeler riders breathe clean air. The helmet developed by Shellios Technolabs has a Bluetooth-enabled app that lets the rider know when the helmet requires cleaning. The startup received seed funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and was incubated at Science and Technology Entrepreneur Park (JSSATE-STEP) Noida. They had signed commercialization deals with leading Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) for the helmet. The product, at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) level 9 has been granted utility patent and is now being sold in all parts of the country priced at Rs 4,500. The end-users of the product include individual riders all over India and for the next version, Shellios ties up with top tier-2-wheeler OEM for the commerciliazation of the anti-pollution helmet. The founders of Shellios Technolabs hit upon the idea on realizing the challenges faced by bikers during the air quality crisis that Delhi faces in the winter months. “We were disturbed by the health impacts of the air quality situation on the people on the roads, especially the millions of two wheeler riders who were having prolonged daily exposures and that too, to a double whammy of particulate matter and vehicular emissions in the air that they breathe,” said Amit Pathak, one of the founders. The helmet titled PUROS is integrated with air purifying accessories which include the patented innovations of the startup — a Brushless DC (BLDC) blower fan, High-Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filter membrane, electronic circuit, and micro-USB charging port integrated into the helmet. The purifying system set at the back of the helmet picks up all particulate matter coming from outside and cleans the air before it reaches the biker. Following all mandatory standards stipulated by Government, 1.5 Kg helmet ensures exposure reduction by more than 80 per cent as measured using a controlled environment.
