New Delhi: As New Delhi prepares for winter - and the accompanying season of acrid smog - the government is promoting a motorcycle helmet fitted with filters and a fan at the back that claims to get rid of 80% of pollutants.

In 2016 a startup named Shellios Technolabs began work on a helmet with a purifier, and in the same year, New Delhi became unbreathable for three months due to the Great Delhi Smog. From mid-December to February, s the winter traps dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from burning waste in nearby states.

"Inside a home or office, you could have an air purifier," said Pathak, an electrical engineer. "But the guys on the bike, they have no protection at all."

So the company designed a helmet with an air purification unit, fitted with a replaceable filter and a fan powered by a battery that runs for six hours and can be charged through a micro USB slot.

They started sales in 2019, before sales they tested the helmet in an independent laboratory and confirmed that the helmet can keep more than 80% of the pollutants out of users' nostrils.

source: Reuters