Posts Tagged Technology
Prolitec Taps The Power of Scent to Banish Birds From Buildings
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ — Feathered friends wear out their welcome once they start roosting in the rafters above the prepared-foods section at a supermarket, or triggering the automatic doors at a big-box hardware store as they fly above heads of customers and cashiers. But a new bird-control system from Milwaukee-based Prolitec Inc., a leader in indoor air-quality systems and services, uses natural aromas to make birds head for the exit — for good.
“Because this bird-control system is always on, the birds don’t come back,” said Richard Weening, CEO of Prolitec. “That is a significant breakthrough.”
Branded “Avian Plus,”(TM) the new system was created by Prolitec’s Aerobiology and Infection-Control Unit. It is available in the United States from Mission View, Calif.-based Bird-B-Gone, Inc., a Prolitec distribution partner and leading provider of pest bird deterrents. The new system will be available from Bird-B-Gone’s pest-control clients in approximately 52 metropolitan areas.
“The bird control market worldwide is growing 20% annually and consists of hundreds of products, each with varying degrees of success,” noted Bruce Donoho, owner of Bird-B-Gone, which has manufactured and distributed bird control products worldwide since 1992. “Being the leader in bird control means that we have a responsibility to offer only the most effective products to our wide base of customers. We’re honored to partner with Prolitec in introducing and distributing the Avian Plus System. It offers significant advantages in the bird hazing product category and we’re excited about its potential.”
Avian Plus uses a proprietary formulation of fragrance and flavor ingredients engineered to be pleasant for humans but unpleasant for birds. Prolitec’s patented “always on” micro-droplet delivery systems ensure continuous bird control by maintaining a minute concentration of the fragrance in the rafters and other locations frequented by pest birds.
In the past, owners and managers of high-ceilinged structures like warehouses, big-box stores and airplane hangers have either used cumbersome netting or mist-sprayers and foggers to spray the rafters with a bird repellant. “The birds would scram, but only temporarily,” Weening noted, “and the foggers would leave residues on surfaces.” Prolitec’s delivery systems, by contrast, keep birds out of enclosed spaces for good by maintaining a constant level of bird-repelling scent within targeted areas. “The ‘always-on’ continuous-control approach is a significant improvement over fogging,” he said.
Moreover, Prolitec delivery systems such as the Air/Q 1100 employ patented micro-droplet technology that uses a fraction of the liquid formulation required for more conventional systems. “Prolitec’s micro-droplets are a million times lighter than conventional aerosol droplets and, ounce-for-ounce, have 10,000- times more exposed surface area,” Weening said. “In short, a little bit goes a very long way.”
Avian Plus has an on-board computer that enables users to control the scent-effect intensity and daily start and stop times.
Prolitec offers wall-mounted, HVAC-integrated or freestanding Air/Q systems that disperse the scent in spaces as small as a single room and as large as a whole building. Avian Plus can be used in conjunction with modified units that include accelerators designed to direct the scent formulation up into the rafters. Maintenance of these systems is as simple as a 30-second change of a recyclable cartridge. Avian Plus comes in two scent formulations: linen and fruit.
Beloved as they are in nature, birds carry over 60 diseases transmittable to humans, and their roosts and nests can also host ecto-parasites like bird mites. Commonly labeled as pest birds in the United States, species such as the feral pigeon, the English starling and the house sparrow pose serious problems in airplane hangers, retail stores, warehouses, restaurants and other businesses.
About Prolitec
Prolitec (www.prolitec.com) is a world leader in the development and deployment of innovative air-treatment and air care technologies including odor control, ambient scenting and the use of scent as a medium of communication. Clients include retailers, hotels, casinos and other commercial organizations in the U.S. and in 20 countries around the world. Prolitec’s Aerobiology and Infection Control Unit develops human-safe and green systems for controlling pests and killing airborne and surface bacteria and viruses.
About Bird-B-Gone
Bird-B-Gone Inc. (http://birdbgone.com) is the leading manufacturer of bird deterrents and is dedicated to solving pest bird problems. The business of bird control is constantly changing and is loaded with products and services with varied successes as bird barriers. Because Bird-B-Gone, Inc. is only involved with bird control, it is our business to stay on top of this evolution and provide our customers only the best in products and service.
Source: PR Newswire
Add comment October 27, 2009
Prolitec Unveils First Fully Adjustable Air Freshener for Individual Rooms
SPA-QUALITY SCENTING TECHNOLOGY COMES TO THE HOME—AND DESKTOP
–Prolitec Unveils First Fully Adjustable Air Freshener for Individual Rooms
MILWAUKEE (7/7/09) – The world’s most elegant hotels, resorts, spas and retail shops have long understood the power of scent to improve the customer experience. Now, thanks to the introduction of Prolitec Inc.’s new Air/Q™ Whole Room Air Freshener™, homeowners can use a sleek, miniaturized version of the company’s highly popular commercial scenting technology to erase odors and enhance the ambiance of any room—without the safety and environmental issues associated with most other air freshening methods.
Air/Q™ is a sleek five-inch cube, handsome enough to be on display and small enough to be hidden away. The system can be adjusted for any size room and homeowner preference for scent strength. Air/Q™ works continuously to erase odors, including pet and common household odors, while also maintaining a consistent level of scent. Homeowners can choose from a dozen of Prolitec’s most popular commercial scents, including Clear Sky, Lemon Verbena, Rose and Peony, and Mojito.
“Air/Q™ is the first and the only fully adjustable room air freshener on the market today,” said Roger Bensinger, Prolitec’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “Scent intensity levels can be set from ‘1’ to ‘50,’ to precisely match room size and user tastes. Air/Q™ can be programmed to start and stop at certain times each day. Most of all, Air/Q™ is the greenest, safest way to kill odor and introduce scent into the air. It is the same technology proven effective in demanding commercial settings, but miniaturized for home use.”
The Air/Q™ is available for purchase at www.airq.com, which also offers accessories and refill cartridges of proprietary scents.
Prolitec’s new Air/Q™ comes at a time when consumers are spending more hours at home and have an even greater interest in the use of scent to improve the home environment. This has created a booming market for household air-care products that is estimated at $8 billion a year, including scented candles. At the same time, however, consumers are increasingly aware of the potentially harmful consequences of open-flame candles and the soot they produce, as well as the VOCs emitted by some other home air fresheners. “Air/Q™ was created to address the deficiencies of low-performance, traditional air fresheners. Some of these have safety issues. None is adjustable to room size and the consumer’s taste, nor do these old-fashioned approaches provide a uniform scent effect,” Bensinger noted.
To that end, Air/Q™ takes advantage of Prolitec’s patented micro-droplet technology, which erases odors and delivers a uniform scent effect impact with an ultra-low quantity of scent: less than 1 molecule for every million compared with 20,000 per million from conventional aerosols. “This extremely low quantity of scent formulation, free of harmful VOCs, makes us the greenest way to scent a home,” Bensinger said.
The launch of the Air/Q™ Whole Room Air Freshener follows the recent introduction of the Air/Q™ Whole House Air Freshener™ or “WHAF,” which is installed in the home heating and air conditioning system. The WHAF is available through selected heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractors throughout the U.S.
About Prolitec
Prolitec (www.prolitec.com) is a world leader in the development and deployment of innovative air-freshening technologies and solutions for aerobiology, indoor air quality and the use of scent as a medium of communication. Clients include retailers, hotels, casinos and other commercial organizations in the US and around the world. Prolitec also sells scent systems for the home at www.airq.com.
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Press Contacts: At Prolitec, Roger Bensinger, (414) 615-4630, AirQinfo@prolitec.com; at Parness & Associates Public Relations, Lisa Kreda or Bill Parness, (732) 290-0121, parnespr@optonline.net
Add comment July 7, 2009
Prolitec unveils home air-freshening system
Prolitec unveils the world’s first fully adjustable, HVAC-integrated home air-freshening system at Chicago’s AHR Expo
CHICAGO (1/26/09) – Amid the slowdown in commercial and residential construction, HVAC-industry professionals are focusing harder than ever on innovative ways to boost revenue. In a major new sales-generating opportunity for the industry, Prolitec, Inc. today unveiled the Air/Q™ Whole House Air Freshener™ (WHAF)—the first fully adjustable, HVAC-integrated home air freshening system.
The new technology, on view through Jan. 29 at the AHR Expo at McCormick Place (booth 1243), comes at a time of rising concern among consumers about the harmful effects of aerosols, plug-in air fresheners, reed diffusers and other low-performance air fresheners, noted Roger Bensinger, Prolitec’s Executive Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “People today want to add scent to their total home experience, but thanks to the green movement they also are much more aware of what is in the air,” he said. “They are particularly concerned about the ill effects of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted in large doses by some of these old-fashioned products, including scented candles.”
Prolitec created Air/Q WHAF to give homeowners a safe, affordable and highly efficient air-freshening alternative, Bensinger said. This proprietary technology and chemistry, he added, already is in use at many major hotels, resorts and spas. Without flame or heat and without releasing any harmful VOCs, Air/Q WHAF creates a pleasant scent throughout the home. As an option, when used with ARIA ™, Prolitec’s breakthrough air-treatment agent also being introduced at AHR Expo, Air/Q WHAF and automatically sanitizes the air by killing airborne odor-causing bacteria and mold, fungus and microorganisms.
Patented micro-droplet technology enables Air/Q WHAF to deliver a uniform air treatment and scent throughout a home using an ultra-low concentration of liquid, and with no build-up in the duct work, Bensinger explained. “The system puts out droplets that are less than 1 micron in diameter, compared to a typical aerosol droplet of 50 microns,” he said. “These micro-droplets weigh about a million times less than those formed by traditional aerosols. Consequently, Air/Q WHAF can cover massive spaces using a tiny fraction of the liquid required by other air-fresheners, and does so in a much more uniform way.”
HVAC professionals will find Air/Q WHAF simple to install—it attaches to air handlers using a mounting template with four screws—and Prolitec designed the system to make cartridge-replacement easy for homeowners. In addition to direct sales of and installation fees for AIR/Q WHAF, a variety of air-freshening agents are available for sale as a recurring revenue opportunity, especially for spring and fall check-ups. “The ambient scent business has taken off in recent years,” Bensinger said. “Prior to Air/Q WHAF, however, no product could uniformly and efficiently cover the entire home.”
About Prolitec
Prolitec (www.prolitec.com) is a world leader in the development and deployment of innovative air-freshening technologies and solutions for aerobiology, indoor air quality and the use of scent as a medium of communication. Clients include retailers, hotels, casinos and other commercial organizations in the US and around the world.
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Press Contacts: At Prolitec, Roger Bensinger, (414) 615-4630, WHAFinfo@prolitec.com; at Parness & Associates Public Relations, Lisa Kreda or Bill Parness, (732) 290-0121, parnespr@optonline.net.
2 comments January 25, 2009
Ambient scenting gets smart
Imagine if your ambient scenting machine had multiple possible scents, could learn to associate a scent with an event by observing how you interact with information sources, and based on its learning it would emit particular scents at relevant times during the day. Industrial designer David Sweeney (Royal College of Art) has designed something like this, which he’s calling “Quale.” Emitters that are best described as a Seuss-like cross between a chemistry beaker and a loudspeaker would be placed around the room like speakers in a kind of “surround smell” fashion. It’s unclear to me how the learning takes place to let the device know what scents to emit and when, but the fact that Sissel Tolaas designed the scents makes me think this device is worth a closer look.
Read more at Yanko Design or David Sweeney’s web site
1 comment November 29, 2008
MIT scientists one step closer to artificial nose
MIT researchers report they’ve finally mass produced olfactory receptor proteins — molecules that can smell. Many researchers across the world have been working on e-noses, but the MIT research is based in the biology of the human nose. Previous efforts to make large numbers of artificial receptors have failed because the protein’s structure breaks down when it’s removed from the mucus membrane. The MIT team developed a protective detergent solution that allowed mass production of the molecules. Possible applications for artificial nose technology include sniffing for disease, environmental pollutants, and bacteria.
Read more in BBC
Add comment October 2, 2008
Car makers integrate scent
In an effort to please customers, European car makers Fiat, Peugeot, and Citroen have incorporated scenting technology into the ventilation systems of their vehicles. Scent plays no small part in the driving experience, as we know from the popularity of “new car scent” in auto air fresheners. Opel (a brand of GM Europe) is looking into creating an “aroma organ” that would distribute different aromas to different parts of the vehicle. On the flip side, Audi apparently has a team of “sniffers” that approve every part of a car before it enters production, in an attempt to minimize bad smells from chemicals that are a normal part of the production process.
Read more in the Earth Times.
Add comment October 2, 2008
Electronic noses benefit from polymer-based mucus
British electronic-nose developers have found that adding a mucus layer to their e-nose improves its sniffing ability. Just like the mucus in a human nose, the synthetic mucus used on the e-nose controls the sniffing rate, thereby improving precision and accuracy, as well as length of time required for odor analysis. Some aroma identification that had been challenging for the pre-mucus e-nose, such as distinguishing milk from cream, is now being done with ease. The research team, from the University of Warwick and Leicester University, thinks the mucus-enhanced e-nose could be on sale sometime in 2009. The team is looking into health-care diagnostic uses, including for eye infections, skin diseases and urinary infections.
Read more at Bionic Nose and BBC News
Add comment September 9, 2008
