Air Innovations prepares for test of new product

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Jul 20, 2007 by Tampone, Kevin

CICERO - For someone with asthma, airborne irritants can spring up practically anywhere - even from inside the home.

"One of the biggest culprits is the kitchen," says Cheryl A. Gressani, director of business development for Air Innovations, a developer and manufacturer of specialized air-conditioning and environmental-control units.

Cooking releases tiny particles into the air that can then easily migrate to other areas, she explains.

Air Innovations is working on a new product to help those with asthma and other respiratory problems find some relief inside their homes. With help from Clarkson University and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, the company is preparing to test the system starting this month.

The center awarded the company a $150,000 federal grant earlier this year to fund an 18-week study of the product - an air heating, cooling, and filtration unit designed for use in a single room known as an integrated energy-recovery ventilator. The ventilators are designed to be energy efficient as well.

Air Innovations will install the units in the bedrooms of 45 asthma patients during the study and, with help from Clarkson researchers, record detailed information on their health and the effectiveness of the system throughout the course of the study. In addition to heating, cooling, and filtering indoor air, the product brings fresh air in from outdoors.

It also pressurizes the room to help stop airborne irritants such as those created during cooking - from entering. The bedrooms of the study subjects will be completely sealed off from the heating and cooling system in the rest of their homes.

Vents will be closed off and all the air-handling will be done by the in-room unit during the study, Gressani says.

In addition to recording the air quality and particle concentration inside the room during the test, university researchers will collect exhaled breath samples from the asthma patients throughout the study, according to Clarkson. The samples will be frozen and sent back to the university for detailed analysis.

The live study comes after two years of development work on the new product, Gressani says. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority provided more than $197,000 to Air Innovations for early research onthe unit.

The overall goal of the product is to improve the air quality in an asthma patient's bedroom, thereby improving the person's overall quality of life and health.

"Ideally, what we would like to do is prove that thesis with this study and then replicate it with a larger population," Gressani says.

After the 18-week in-home testing is finished, Air Innovations and Clarkson will analyze the collected data and produce a final report by March 2008.

The company will develop sales, marketing, and distribution plans after research and testing are finished, Gressani says.

Air Innovations was founded in 1986 as Floratech. It changed the name to Air Innovations in 2000 to reflect the company's broader product line.

The firm manufactures a variety of air-handling systems including floral cases for clients like Wal-Mart. It also creates clean-room systems for medical-device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

One of its systems is even used to cool the machines airports use to screen baggage for explosives.

Lawrence Wetzel, chairman of the board, co-owns the company with his son, company president Michael Wetzel. Air Innovations employs 45 in its 40,000-square-foot facility at 7000 Performance Drive in Cicero.

Air Innovations generates between $8 million and $10 million in annual revenue.