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.
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.