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The Origin of the HEPA FilterDuring the 1940’s, the first HEPA filter (high efficiency particulate air) was developed aspart of a top-secret U.S. military program called the “Manhattan Project” by Arthur D. Little Co., a government contractor working to produce the first atomic weapon. To move forward with the project, scientists needed a means of eliminating the minute but highly toxic radioactive particles that were contaminating experiments and endangering personnel. The scientists were mainly concerned with a specific particle size of 0.3 microns which was the most penetrating and problematic. The revolutionary new HEPA filter they designed solved the problem, and from that point on, the 0.3 micron particle size became the standard for HEPA performance and became the basis for modern HEPA filter designs After World War II, the
technology was declassified and HEPA filters
(originally called absolute Different countries refer
to the technology by other names; in the United States we call
it HEPA |