GPS-iMod®: Cleaner Coils And Odor Control For Large Air Handlers

GPS-iMod is a modular ionization system designed for large air handling units (AHUs). It applies ionization evenly across the cooling or heating coil to help keep the coil surface cleaner over time, which preserves airflow, reduces static pressure, and lowers energy use.

The system also reduces common odors at the air handler before they reach occupied spaces. GPS-iMod operates without replacement parts and produces no ozone.

Coil fouling occurs when particles, biofilm, and organic material accumulate on the coil surface, restricting airflow and forcing the fan to work harder against increased static pressure. GPS-iMod applies ionization across the coil face to reduce the rate of this accumulation.

GPS Air's coil cleaning white paper documents two case studies: an 18,000 CFM air handler at a healthcare and life sciences facility where GPS-iMod brought static pressure from 0.65 inWC back to the design static of 0.45 inWC and held it steady over 24 months, and a North Carolina hospital where installation produced a significant decrease in static pressure across the coil, improving both system efficiency and airflow.

GPS-iMod is designed to reduce odors at the air handler, including vehicle exhaust, diesel fumes, smoke, and kitchen odors, before they are distributed to occupied spaces.

In the Novant Health installation, the system was deployed specifically to mitigate helicopter exhaust entering the facility's air intake. The plant engineering manager confirmed the exhaust was mitigated following installation.

In multi-tenant buildings, cooking odors from ground-floor restaurants often enter the building’s outside air intake and get distributed through the air handling system to upper floors. The ventilation system pulls outside air in without filtering odors unless an odor-control system is in place.

At 500 South College, a Charlotte office building, cooking odors from a ground-floor restaurant were reaching fourth-floor tenants through exactly this path before GPS-iMod was installed.

Outside air intakes draw in whatever is present at that point on the building’s exterior, such as cooking exhaust, vehicle emissions, diesel fumes, and cigarette smoke.

The air handler processes and distributes this air to occupied spaces without filtering odors unless equipment addresses it upstream of the coil.

Buildings near restaurants, loading docks, parking structures, or high-traffic roads are most affected during periods when outside air is being drawn in at high rates.

GPS-iMod mounts directly on the existing air handler upstream of the coil, without ductwork modifications, and can typically be installed in an afternoon without disrupting tenants or building operations. At 500 South College, odor complaints from the fourth-floor office tenant stopped the day GPS-iMod was installed.

GPS-iMod also offers a lower-maintenance alternative to carbon filtration for buildings managing persistent inbound odor problems, with no media to replace and no scheduled changeouts.