The prototype of the air filter is a respiratory protective device for people to use for protection. According to records, as early as in first Century in Rome, people in the purification of mercury with coarse linen made of masks for protection. After this long time, the air filter has made progress, but it is mainly used as a respiratory protective equipment for some hazardous industries, such as the production of harmful chemicals. In 1827, Brown discovered the law of the movement of the particles, the mechanism of air filtration has been further recognized.

The rapid development of air filter is closely related to the development of military industry and electronic industry. During the first World War, due to the use of various chemical agents, with asbestos fibre filter paper came into being as a military gas mask of the smoke filtering layer. Glass fiber filter media for air filtration in the United States in October 1940 to obtain a patent. 50 years, the United States on the glass fiber filter paper production process for a thorough study, so that the air filter has been improved and developed. In the 60's, the HEPA filter was out. In the 70's, the micro glass fiber filter paper is used as the filter medium of HEPA filter, and the filtration efficiency of 013 micron particle size is as high as 99.9998%. Since eighty "s, with the emergence of new testing methods, the improvement of the use of evaluation and the improvement of filtering performance requirements, it is found that there is a serious problem in the HEPA filter, and the higher performance of the ULPA filter. Today, countries are still working hard to study, and it is estimated that there will be more advanced air filters.

The design of air filter has made significant progress, the most important one is the removal of the separator plate, that is, the development of the non separator filter. The barrier filter not only eliminates the risk of damage to the filter medium, but also increases the filtering area, improves the filtering efficiency, and reduces the air flow resistance, thereby reducing the energy consumption. In addition, the air filter in the high temperature, corrosion-resistant and waterproof, bacteria also take great progress, to meet some special needs.