Bladeless Fan Invented: James Dyson Explains How 'Air Multiplier' Fan Works

Switched.com:

A fan with no blades? Sounds impossible, but when coming from the innovating mind of James Dyson (of the nifty, newfangled vacuum cleaners and hand dryers), maybe it's not so impossible. Then again, maybe that's why Dyson is calling his newest creation the Dyson Air Multiplier instead of the Dyson fan.

Read the whole story: Switched.com

Comments

[shthar]

08:35 PM on 10/28/2009

Billy Mays would have sold it for 3 easy payments of 99.95!

[wadenelson1]

07:22 PM on 10/28/2009

I'll bet $5 there's a blade going around down in the base unit. Almost has to be.

Waaay cool, but not for $300.

Problem is he can't patent Bernoulli's principle which mean there'll be Chinese knock-offs at Wal-Mart for $19 within six months.

[Mannock]

08:49 PM on 10/28/2009

Well, he's perplexed me with the vacuum cleaner. IT IS AMAZING! And yes, I do feel like I am plugging the product!

[jimmygee]

07:12 PM on 10/28/2009

hopefully it doesn't cost an arm and a leg like their vacuums do. I find that opposing windows opened create a nice cool breeze but then I'm just a dumb plumber.

[AngusC]

05:23 PM on 10/28/2009

I read about this 2 weeks ago.
I like the fan, it is cool and all.
But $300???
Get the (expletive) out of here.
I can buy a $20 fan that works just fine.
Dyson...

[entropy2]

04:36 PM on 10/28/2009

Oh gosh...and I thought my life was complete before this.

[CraigR]

04:27 PM on 10/28/2009

Uhhh..there's this new thing out now....it's called central air conditioning. One big fan in the basement, it blows nice cool air throughout the entire house...

[MurCal]

04:21 PM on 10/28/2009

Does it use more or less energy than a regular fan?

[Tyler Brown]

04:06 PM on 10/28/2009

Well sure it's a cool concept, but there are numerous reasons why no sane person should buy this. First, it does exactly what a normal fan does in terms of moving air. Second, it has a fan inside of it that provides the air that is moved by the upper ring. Third, it's three hundred freakin dollars! That's pretty huge for a fan that essentially is a novelty. Anyway, I think the rather large cylindrical pedestal that holds most of the working parts greatly diminishes the overall aesthetic value of the device.

[martinchill]

04:11 PM on 10/28/2009

did you miss the part where it informed you that the air stream is much less 'choppy'?

surely worth $300.

[Tyler Brown]

05:39 PM on 10/28/2009

I'm sure they'll come out with a $295 fan before you know it that is also less choppy. I wait with bated breath for that day!

[GeorgeMilquetoast]

03:17 PM on 10/28/2009

This implementation of Bernoulli's Principle of Pressure is cute but not technically impressive. I would suggest that Dyson provide the overall efficiency of this device versus the efficiency of a bladed fan, in terms of liters of air per minute versus electrical energy consumed to produce that flow.

If this bladeless fan is more efficient than a bladed fan, then he can make a useful claim. Otherwise it's just another expensive gadget that will tickle the fancy of some folks who don't mind spending too much money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernoulli%27s_principle

[waldopepper]

03:10 PM on 10/28/2009

I like my fans to have blades thank you very much.

And another thing...

"We can't bust heads like we used to. But we have our ways. One trick is to tell stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I caught the ferry to Shelbyville. I needed a new heel for m'shoe. So I decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So I tied an onion to my belt. Which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. Gimme five bees for a quarter, you'd say. Now where was I... oh yeah. The important thing was that I had an onion tied to my belt, which was the style at the time. You couldn't get white onions, because of the war. The only thing you could get was those big yellow ones..."

[Bitsko]

02:58 PM on 10/28/2009

This guy is going to get filthy rich.

[martinchill]

04:12 PM on 10/28/2009

lol - dyson vacuums have been around awhile already.

[ezeflyer]

02:46 PM on 10/28/2009

Can it be made into a wind tunnel?

[slithers]

01:59 PM on 10/28/2009

keeping the statusquo is obama's priority. if he makes changes in Iraq he can no longer blame bush. he inherited the war, he took the job, now do something.

pull the troops, increase troop levels, change priorities in the war.... do something tha gives some sort of plan.... it's called a goal! everything must have a goal otherwise it's just wasting time and resources.... and in this case lives.

[slithers]

02:00 PM on 10/28/2009

btw.... not just Iraq but Afganistan and even Pakistan

[CraigR]

04:28 PM on 10/28/2009

Are you lost?

[Decipherer]

05:25 PM on 10/28/2009

In more ways than one.

[uglygnome]

01:37 PM on 10/28/2009

If I could afford a $300 fan I'd pay someone to stand over me and wave large palm fronds

[wijg]

12:53 PM on 10/28/2009

Cool... but not for 300 freakin' dollars.