14 DAY TRIAL // Everyone is accustomed to fans consisting of a motor and blades, which, through their circular motion and their shapes, suck up air from behind them and push it forward. But now, British inventor James Dyson, the same man that created the vacuums that bear his name, has created a new, groundbreaking type of fan, which has no blades. It sports a very simple, circular design, with nothing in the middle. However, it can push a massive amount of air forward every second and ensures a smooth air flow within the room, LiveScience reports.
Since more than 200 years ago, when the first fans appeared, little changes have been made to its base design, mostly because everyone considered that the device merited no improvements. But Dyson has invented the Air Multiplier technology, which ensures that his fans push as much as 119 gallons of air out every second. It is a massive improvement, when compared with 19th-century Middle Eastern fans, which were powered by streaming water and a system of belts that could operate more than one at the same time. Some of these installations can still be found in old houses in the region today.
However, the one thing that is ineffective about bladed fans is the fact that, in essence, they chop up the air, creating bursts of faster-moving flows, riddled with slower air movements. This can become annoying, if you are in the range of a fan most of the day. The new system is highly complex and draws on jet-engine and aeronautics technologies. It works by sucking air into its base, using an impeller drawn from larger models, installed on today's jet fighters.
The air is then forced upwards, into the ring, at very high speeds, and is then made to exit within the ring through very narrow, one-sixteenth-of-an-inch-wide slits. It then flows over the inner edge of the rings, which is, in fact, the most groundbreaking part of the fan. It has been modeled after a wing profile and functions in very much the same way a wing does. When the air encounters what should be the leading edge of the wing, it speeds up and creates an area of low pressure, Dyson engineer Andy Samways explains.
“Air or any fluid will tend to hug a smooth surface. Air over a wing follows the profile, and that creates lift,” he says. Simple physics then takes over. The area of low pressure draws in air from the back of the fan, and, as the air stream is propelled forward, it also carries air from the front of the fan. “We realized that this inducement, or amplification, effect could be further enhanced by passing airflow over a ramp. 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,” Dyson adds.
The air output can be regulated with a small switch, and the motor required to suck in air through the base is rather small and does not consume too much electricity. The need for a safety grill has also disappeared, seeing how there are no moving parts in the machinery. Its base price, for the ten-inch version, starts at around $300.