Posted on 10/12/2009 8:41:26 PM PDT by Arec Barrwin
Dyson launches the bladeless electric fan
By Paul Taylor
Published: October 13 2009 00:09 | Last updated: October 13 2009 00:09
First there was the bagless vacuum cleaner, then the towel-less hand dryer: Now James Dyson, the British inventor, has developed a bladeless electric fan which goes on sale on Tuesday in the US and Australia.
The Dyson Air Multiplier fan – which looks like something straight out of a sci-fi movie - uses advancements in airflow engineering instead of traditional blades to ‘multiply’ air 15 times and push out 119 gallons of smooth and uninterrupted air every second.
As a result, Dyson claims the bladeless fan, which works by forcing a jet of air out of a narrow circular slit and then over an aerofoil-shaped blade, is at least as efficient as its bladed counterpart, more comfortable and much safer.
Conventional electric fans have gone largely unchanged for years,” notes Mr Dyson. “The fundamental problem has remained the same for more than 125 years - the blades ‘chop’ the air creating an uneven airflow and unpleasant buffeting.”
Mr Dyson and his team of fluid dynamics engineers developed the technology behind the bladeless fan after studying the performance of an earlier Dyson invention, the Dyson Airblade commercial hand dryer that uses sheets of clean air travelling at 400mph to dry hands far more quickly and efficiently than rivals.
A team of fluid dynamics engineers spent four years running hundreds of simulations to precisely measure and optimise the machine’s circular aperture and airfoil-shaped ramp before perfecting Dyson’s Air Multiplier technology.
“We realised that this inducement, or amplification, effect could be further enhanced by passing airflow over a ramp,” says Mr Dyson. “And of course this was the point where the idea of a bladeless fan became a real possibility. Here was a way to create turbulent-free air ¬and finally do away with blades.”
The new fan works by drawing air into the base of the machine. The air is forced up into the loop amplifier and accelerated through the 1.3mm annular aperture, creating a jet of air that hugs the airfoil-shaped ramp. While exiting the loop amplifier, the jet pulls air from behind the fan into the airflow (inducement). At the same time, the surrounding air from the front and sides of the machine are forced into the air stream (entrainment), amplifying it 15 times. The result is a constant uninterrupted flow of cooling air.
The Dyson Air Multiplier is powered by an energy efficient brushless motor and air speed can be precisely adjusted with a dimmer switch. It will be available in two sizes, a 10-inch model costing $300 and a 12-inch model costing $330.
Ping.
I’ll stick with my harem girls and Palm leaves.
At this price it had better have a burnout proof, self resetting thermal protection motor. I have had cheap fan after cheap fan give up the ghost irreparably when its inaccessible thermal link failed.
Those little slits sound like they are just asking for dust clogging too. We’ll have to see how this works in the real world.
Another, cheaper alternative is the squirrelcage blower fan. Those are not choppy and they generally throw themselves clear of dust.
Makes you wonder if there might be some aero applications.
The turbulence from a regular fan is what feels good.
“http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/12/dysons-air-multiplier-is-the-overpriced-bladeless-fan-you-never/)
DYSON’S AIR MULTIPLIER IS THE OVERPRICED BLADELESS FAN YOU NEVER ASKED FOR
“We can’t fault Dyson for chutzpah. After putting the company’s spin on vacuum cleaners and then hand dryers, we probably should’ve guessed that a revolution in table fan engineering was next up. When we first saw an image of the Dyson Air Multiplier “bladeless fan” a few spurious theories popped into our heads as to how it works, but it didn’t take long to figure it out: it has blades in it. It’s just that these blades are inside the lower canister, rather similar to, dare we say it, how a vacuum cleaner is set up, with the air then routed through the ring up top. The benefits of this tech are that there are no nasty blades to get fingers caught up in, but also that there’s no “buffeting” — that on-off gush of air caused by fan blades unceremoniously chopping up the air into inelegant segments. Unfortunately, the downside of the Dyson method is that you can’t make Darth Vader voices through the backside of the fan, and the whole assembly is closer in noise pollution to that of an actual vacuum cleaner than a regular table fan. And then there’s the matter of price: $300 for the 10-inch model, $330 for the 12-inch, and neither of them offer nearly as much wind as a regular fan this size — quite a steep entry fee for the gentle breezes that emanate out of this plastic wind tunnel. Full PR is after the break...”
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We shall see. I have encountered the Dyson hand dryer recently and I personally give it my awesome-o seal of approval. This fan may be another matter, however.
hmmm....wonder how the air is ‘drawn’ into the base....
A fan maybe??
Any pictures?
Most likely.
That was my thought too.
It’s based on the coanda principal, invented by Henri Coanda a hundred years ago.
“...is that you can’t make Darth Vader voices through the backside of the fan...”
Ha! That’s the first thing I thought of too!
<I have encountered the Dyson hand dryer recently
Same here. We have hand dryers at work and when I used the Dyson at an airport, I was transported (no pun intended)! Immediately dry hands and no wet residue to pick up all the germs on the way out of the restroom. Double plus good.
The bladeless fan looks great, but I’ll wait ‘til v2.0 and a reduced price.
Maybe this technology could be implemented for quiet PC cooling.
No. It claims gallons of air? How do you measure gallons of air? I have a 1927 Robbins and Meyers fan with a hell of a pitch to the blades that really moves some air. Damn thing still works.
The first jet aircraft used this... It’s used today in tail rotors of some helicopters.
And that's the principle that UFOs use to fly!
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