Vancouver startup Nanozen is a creating real-time, wearable particle sensor for use in mines, sawmills and other industrial locations where dust and other particles can lead to dangerous explosions and debilitating respiratory diseases.
Nanozen founder Winnie Chu was working as a professor in environmental health at the University of B.C., teaching students about environmental monitoring, when she realised particle monitoring methods were falling far short of the need.
“The current technology is not sufficient to protect workers or the community when concentrations exceed the acceptable level,” she said. “It took me six years to get to this and I’m pretty happy with the product finally,” said Chu. “WorkSafeBC and some mining companies are interested and very excited about this technology and they want to test the technology.”
The product has gone through several iterations as Chu has sought to create a monitor that is small and light enough to be truly wearable. “Everything is very small, it’s about half the size of an iPhone,” she said. “Workers can put it on their helmet.”
An app showing real-time data on a smartphone is also under development. Once field testing for the wearable sensors is completed, they hope to launch the product in 2015.
