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. %Gallery-75354%
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SAY GOODBYE TO THE BLADE
James Dyson introduces the bladeless fan. No blades. No buffeting.
James Dyson, who for the past 30 years has continuously revolutionized the vacuum cleaner his attention to addressing the everyday fan. As a result, he has designed the Dyson Air MultiplierTM fan, which has no blades, but instead uses a unique technology to multiply air 15 industry through unprecedented advancements in airflow engineering, has turned times, expelling 119 gallons of smooth and uninterrupted air every second.
Until today, conventional electric fans have gone largely unchanged. The fundamental problem has remained the same for more than 125 years; the blades chop the air creating an uneven airflow and unpleasant buffeting.
Dyson's fluid dynamics engineers spent four years running hundreds of simulations to precisely measure and optimize the machine's aperture and airfoil-shaped ramp before perfecting Dyson's Air Multiplier technology. Air fluctuations were mapped with Laser Doppler Anemometry, helping measure control the machine's airflow.
"We realised that this inducement, or amplification, effect could be further enhanced by passing airflow over a ramp," says 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."
How it works: inducement and entrainment
Air is drawn 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 MultiplierTMfan is powered by an energy efficient brushless motor and air speed can be precisely adjusted with a dimmer switch. Conventional fans are wired to run at just two or three settings.
No blades mean no need for a grille and it's safe and simple to clean.
And because its motor is at its base, the Dyson Air MultiplierTM fan can be tilted with a touch, unlike a conventional top-heavy fan, which needs to be positioned with two hands and can topple easily.
The Dyson Air MultiplierTM fan is available in two 10-inch models: blue & iron and silver & white with an MSRP of $299.99. A 12-inch model is available in silver & iron with an MSRP of $329.99. All three machines are available at The Conran Shop (NY), Luminaire (Chicago/Miami) and Twentieth (LA). To learn more about the Dyson Air MultiplierTM fan visit www.dyson.com.
