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Airblade™ technology on tap

Press release
Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Airblade™ technology on tap
Wash and dry at the sink.

The new Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer washes and dries hands with no need to leave the sink.

Infrared sensors pinpoint hand positions and release water from the tap stem. Once hands are wet and drying is requested, integrated circuitry computes the information and activates the latest Dyson digital motor, creating two high velocity sheets of air on the tap’s branches. Using Airblade™ technology, the Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer sends sheets of unheated filtered air towards hands literally scraping them dry.

James Dyson says: “Using laser cutting techniques to manipulate marine grade steel, Dyson engineers have created an intuitive, high performance tap. Two branches channel high velocity air to literally scrap water from hands and into the sink - not the floor”.

The latest Dyson digital motor: The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer is powered by the latest Dyson digital motor – a power dense brushless DC motor, utilising a bonded magnet encased in a carbon fibre sleeve. It is one of the world’s smallest and fully integrated 1600W motors. Using digital pulse technology, it accelerates from 0-90,000rpm in less than 0.7 seconds.

HEPA filter: The Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer passes washroom air through a HEPA filter to remove 99.9% of bacteria before it’s blown onto hands.

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Motor bucket design: Key components, including the motor are housed in a discrete package under the sink. Dyson engineers spent over 2,240 hours designing the motor bucket, and worked hard to contain noise – introducing springs to reduce vibration, acoustic foams to absorb noise and expansion chambers to improve sound quality.

Helmholtz silencers: Six Dyson-designed Helmholtz silencers combine to absorb tonal frequencies and reduce the motor tone. The first harmonic of the motor tone, plus the high pitch noise made by the impeller have all been contained and made almost inaudible to the human ear.

Sensor operation: Independent infrared sensors allow the user to have as much water and air as they want according to need. An aerator mixes the water and dispenses water across hands to reduce the volume of water used and the flow rate of water is controlled by motion detection.

Materials: The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer is made from 304 stainless steel – an anti-corrosion steel used for the construction of boats. Dyson engineers developed a specialised laser cutter capable of cutting through tough steel with precision. The laser precision means that there are almost no joining lines – air, water and electrics are contained in a smooth package at the sink.

-Ends-

Notes to editors:

Dyson digital motor:
• Dyson has over 100 engineers in its in-house motors team and has spent £100m researching and developing its digital motors over the past 15 years. Dyson continues to invest £10m a year into motor R&D.
• The latest Dyson digital motor cost £26.9 million to develop. It was the result of 10 years development.
• Dyson digital motors are built in Dyson’s high-tech £20m motor factory in Singapore. The West Park facility will produce 50,000 motors a week and covers an area of 36,000 square feet.
• In its lifetime the digital motor inside a Dyson Airblade™ hand dryer may move around 189,000 m3 of air, which is the equivalent of 75 Olympic swimming pools.

Research, Design and Development: Dyson’s new Airblade™ hand dryers are the result of nearly three years’ intensive R&D by a team of 125 Dyson engineers and an investment of £40m.

Robotic and people testing:
• The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer was subject to atmospheric testing and was exposed to 16 bar pressure – enough to make a conventional tap explode. Conventional taps are typically tested at 2 bars of pressure.
• Dyson engineers created over 3300 prototypes for Dyson’s new Airblade™ hand dryers and every component was subjected to hundreds of tests.
• Dyson’s unforgiving test team was tasked with finding fault and weakness and paying attention to detail – they simulated washing hands more than one billion times.

Patents: there are 110 patents and patents pending on Dyson Airblade hand dryers using Airblade™ technology, and the latest Dyson digital motor has another 100 patents and patents pending.
Guarantee: The machine is guaranteed to last for 5 years.
Variations: The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer comes in three varieties, for different washroom set-ups: wall mounted or counter top with a long or short stem.

Running cost: The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer is able to dry 18 pairs of hands for the price of a single paper towel.

RRP: To be confirmed in late February 2013.

Availability:
Pre-orders can be taken on Dyson’s Airblade Tap hand dryer from February 5th 2013. This allows facilities managers and architects to design their washrooms around the new Airblade™ technology in advance of its distribution.
Contact:

Facilities managers and architects can visit the www.dysonairblade.co.nz from February 5th 2013 to download CAD drawings and see technical data.


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