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Dyson Unveils New 'Wet and Dry' AirBlade Faucet
- mmcconnell1618 14y agoHow does the faucet know when you're done washing and want to start drying?
- hkmurakami 14y agoSeparate sensors for faucet, left dryer and right dryer would be my guess.
- adamman 14y agoIt looks like the air blowing in the sink like that could cause germs to fly all over the place.
- NathanKP 14y agoThe HEPA filter would prevent germs from being sucked in and blown onto your hands. I guess there might be issues with germs in the sink becoming aerosolized, but if the sink basin was designed properly it could become a sort of funnel so that the "dirty" air could be sucked away, separated from waste water and maybe filtered before being released back into the bathroom.
- jimzvz 14y agoI agree. I would imagine that in with many basin designs the filtered air would hit the basin, collect bacteria and deflect towards your face. I remember reading somewhere (can't remember the actual article) about how many doctors will not use air dryers in public bathrooms. Ever since then I have always dried my hands on the inside of my shirt when disposable paper towels aren't available.
- mdanger 14y agoIt might be slightly preferable to the existing problem with the AirBlade where the bottom portion traps water and becomes a germ pool party.
- Swannie 14y agoYou're worried about the germs? I'm worried if there is water in the sink and the fan kicks in at 400mph, what happens to that displaced water? The AirBlade when it's not properly calibrated makes a big enough mess as it is...
- swashbuck1r 14y agoCollateral splashage seems like it will be an issue. The Today Show segment with Dyson demoing it actually shows water flying towards the camera. Matt Lauer even leapt out of the way when the blower came on. http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50703424 http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50703424
- momchenr 14y agoBut when will they release a Dyson wet/dry Bidet?
- hkmurakami 14y agoI think the Japanese toilet seat makers like ToTo have a huge head start in that area.
- gcheong 14y agoKind of like when Mitsubishi first came out with the jet towel years ahead of Dyson's "airblade"?
- dpcx 14y agoI'm not sure I want that much air pressure on my naughty bits. A well placed blast of air can hurt my hands...
- stcredzero 14y agoHow about a "vibro-massage" option for both the air and water streams?
- NathanKP 14y agoThis is one of those practical inventions that I could see being in everyone's home (and bathroom) in twenty years, with future generations asking: "Did people really use unhygienic towels to dry their hands after washing, grandpa?"
- danellis 14y agoWhat I really want is something like that for the shower. No more getting out wet when it's cold.
- Aloisius 14y agoAgreed. Would be really useful in the gym too.
- ceejayoz 14y agoUse one of the Dyson dryers first. Your hands get cold - they use hot air, but evaporation makes it feel pretty cold until they're actually dry.
- VLM 14y agoSkin temp drops to dew point and not a degree lower. Wind speed can mess with total heat energy flux thru a surface via windchill, but thats more a long term / higher delta t effect. Hence the Floridians who are looking confused at your claim and the Arizonians who shiver along with you.
- mistercow 14y agoThere's also some evidence that air drying is better for your skin than using a towel. From what I've heard, if you're wealthy you can already get a system that pumps hot, dry air into your shower from all sides and dries you off. It may not have the skin-rippling magic of the AirBlade, but it gets the job done. A DIY version of this concept is on my list of "projects I lack the expertise to do safely or effectively, but I'll be damned if that stops me from wasting hours on ill-conceived diagrams and hundreds of dollars on parts".
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- aslewofmice 14y agoThe description makes it seem prone to blow whatever remnants of water out of the wash bowl and onto your shirt/pants. Here's to hoping they figured that part out!
- joezydeco 14y agoSeems like the bowl design would be critical in this. Did Dyson design a complimentary sink to go with the faucet?
- clicks 14y agoSomeone on Youtube asked that, here was the reply: Hi there, it’s Jack at Dyson. The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer is designed for commercial environments – these commercial washrooms do not have plugs due to health and safety issues, and the risks related to flooding. So we wouldn't expect this to be an issue.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- ryen 14y agoSeems like a great idea, until you put one in a high traffic area. Pretty much doubles the time each person spends at the sink.
- bryanjclark 14y agoExcept for one issue: it actually slows down the efficiency of the bathroom. See, by splitting up washing and drying into two steps, you allow two people to be in the process of cleaning their hands at a time. By bundling the two steps together, you reduce the amount of stuff in the bathroom, but you also reduce the efficiency of the bathroom. This AirBlade Faucet is a great idea for low-usage bathrooms: less paper towels, less equipment to maintain, etc. For high-volume bathrooms, (airports, etc) this would actually be a step backwards to put these faucets in, if a goal of the bathroom is to be able to quickly serve a large group of people.
- dpcx 14y agoThis also allows you to remove towels and several trash cans, and add additional stations.
- tocomment 14y agoThat's only if you assume unlimited paper towel stations. In reality hand drying is the bottle neck. So if every sink has its own dedicated dryer it will speed things up.
- r00fus 14y agoDon't ignore the folks who actually don't want to airdry their hands. I soap, wash, shake and wipe my hands in my pockets as I walk out the door if I'm in a hurry.
- lttlrck 14y ago"every sink has its own dedicated dryer" Exactly. Sinks seem to always outnumber dryers by a wide margin.
- epo 14y agoBut you wouldn't get a queue for paper towels. People would grab 2 or 3 towels and move aside.
- tocomment 14y ago
- 3amOpsGuy 14y agoThe airblade hand driers are the only hand driers I've used that thoroughly dry your hands in a reasonable time frame. Even high air flow traditional driers don't come close to airblade driers. They do depend on blowing from both sides of your hand at once though. This seems like it will double the drying time.
- woobar 14y agoExcel's Xlerator does better job. And there is no walls to touch (accidentally) while drying your hands. And no moldy water pool at the bottom.
- dublinben 14y agoI find that the Xlerator takes far longer than old fashioned paper towels or the Airblade. It's also painfully loud. It may be far better than the awful standard hand dryers, but it's not perfect.
- Swannie 14y agoTrue on the walls and the water pool. Not true on the drying faster. The sheet of air is much more efficient than the xlcerator.
- stcredzero 14y agoI've had to do 2 or 3 passes with AirBlades to get my hands dry. I've never had that happen with an xcelerator. In my recollection, the xcelerators are faster and more pleasant to use.
- Kadin 14y agoAgreed. They sound (and feel) like a leaf blower, though.
- 3amOpsGuy 14y agoExcel Xlerator, that's the one i was thinking of with my meek "high airflow traditional driers".
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Simucal 14y agoThis model doesn't allow you to control the temperature of the faucet which might be important in a home setting. It seems like a great idea for public restrooms however. Here is a video of James Dyson describing the faucet: http://youtu.be/3y4-fnTXzio http://youtu.be/3y4-fnTXzio
- username3 14y agoInteresting comment from YouTube. dysonteam 5 hours ago Hi there, it's Jack at Dyson. In total, our engineers created over 3300 prototypes of the new Dyson Airblade hand dryers, and every component was subjected to hundreds of tests. Our unforgiving test team was tasked with finding fault and weakness and paying attention to detail – they simulated hand washing 213 million times. They even doused the machines in chemical mixes and tipped beer over the Airblade hand dryer range to make sure they are not damaged by harmful substances.
- biot 14y agoHopefully this device operates at under 100 decibels.
- slamdunc 14y agoInteresting timing on Dyson's announcement this week - yesterday NPR ran the first of a 2-part piece on the Excel Dryer Co [1], a US-based Dyson rival. Though it's not mentioned in the transcript, late in the nine-minute piece, the Excel VP takes the reporter into Excel's R&D where he's shown one of their latest inventions, a faucet that dispenses soap, water, and then drying air... [1] http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/171090394/how-one-company-reinvented-the-hand-dryer http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/171090394/how-one-company-rein...
- k4st 14y agoTwo slightly on/off-topic rants about public washrooms: First, the one thing I don't like with the normal AirBlade is the tendency for the water to drip off your hands, onto it, and then to pool below it on the floor. Not much water, mind you, but enough to make both the floor and the plastic onto which the water first drips a bit nasty (in some places). This might just be a cleaning issue in said places, though. Second, the one mistake I hate seeing washrooms make is to have a tiny faucet where, in order to get your hands properly wet, your hands are almost forced to run into / touch the back of the sink.
- Anechoic 14y agoAs other posters have mentioned, one big drawback of the Dyson Airblade (stand alone unit) is that it's loud. 90 dBA loud [1]. I've never seen more than two Airblades in one restroom, with this combo unit, there could be double that number. That could lead to an unpleasant environment for guests of the establishment and potential OSHA violations for employees. From using it, it appears to me that most of the noise is caused by the turbulence of the high-speed airflow interacting with hands and the enclosure (Fullerton's paper comes to the same conclusion). In that case, all you can really do to reduce the noise is reduce the flow speed, which reduces the effectiveness of the dyer action. [1] http://www.acoustics.org/press/159th/fullerton.htm http://www.acoustics.org/press/159th/fullerton.htm
- r00fus 14y agoThey have one of these (non-combo) Dyson airblades in a breastfeeding area in a mall I live near. It's horrendous - my wife couldn't feed whenever anyone used the blade. So now whenever we go, we put a "do not use - baby is feeding" note on the hand-dryer. It's not a drop-in replacement for towels or normal air-dryers by any means.
- femto 14y agoNot to mention the number of three year olds that refuse to enter a room with a jet engine affixed to the walls. Maybe there's a market there? Just as The Wiggles showed that there is money in adapting adult music for kids, maybe there is money to be made by taking children into account in the design of public facilities? Venues that are frequented by families (shopping centres, child care centres, schools, ...) might be prepared to pay for a line of appliances that don't make life unpleasant for their customers?
- cubicle67 14y agoDyson was asked once if he'd attempted to design a quieter vacuum. He replied they had, but there was a strong perception amongst the public that noise equals power, and therefore a quiet vacuum wasn't sucking very much. Wonder if he's carried the same sentiment over to other products Completely unrelated Dyson trivia - Dyson manufactured a washing machine for a short while; the white and purple CR01
- hammock 14y agoA 1400W fan? Maybe it was the Dyson AirBlades that caused the power to go out at the Super Bowl! A typical box fan (dorm room style) is 100W and puts out 2,000 cubic feet per minute, whereas the airblade puts out 56 cfm @ 14x the power draw. That is a lot of power, and it's interesting to see from the article "the $40-$43 per year cost of a regular Dyson AirBlade dryer." Although I'm sure their salesmen always compare it to the labor & materials cost of refilling paper towel dispensers.
- CountHackulus 14y agoBut in this case it's not really the CFM that matters, it's also the static pressure. Especially since they're trying to make a nice sheet flow at good speed.
- deleted 14y ago[deleted]
- Shivetya 14y agoI will stick with separate sinks combined with automatic paper towel dispensers. Why? Its more hygienic. After my work converted what did we notice? Two trashcans, one by each door of the bathroom and now people dry their hands and grab handles with the paper towel ditching it in the can at the end. With all the concern over the flu and other contagious diseases, let alone witnessing some of my coworkers habits, I am all for a simple solution. Besides paper towels always work.
- scott_s 14y agoAre you assuming that paper towels are more hygienic, or are you aware of studies? Personally, I doubt that the door handle out of the bathroom is any dirtier than other doorhandles in the building.
- function_seven 14y agoI always assume the interior door handle of the bathroom is the cleanest one in the building. Many people touch it after washing their hands.
- sliverstorm 14y agoThe pessimist in me says, many people also touch it without washing their hands.
- iyulaev 14y agoPaper towels are more hygenic as it turns out that friction after you wash your hands is essential for removing some dirt & germs. The environmental impact of paper towels is minimally worse than air dryers. http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2012/12/paper-towels-v-air-dryers.html http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2012/12/paper-towel... Also have you ever tried to dry your face with an air dryer? Awkward is not nearly a strong enough term to describe it, let alone if there is someone watching you.
- jtbigwoo 14y agoJust heard a report on the radio about these kinds of dryers. Excel Dryer, Inc. in Massachusetts was actually the first to sell a high-speed dryer like this (the Xlerator). The Dyson AirBlade came later. Interesting stuff: http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/171090394/how-one-company-reinvented-the-hand-dryer http://www.npr.org/2013/02/04/171090394/how-one-company-rein...
- Kadin 14y agoThe Xlerator works far better than the Dyson, too, it just doesn't look as strange and doesn't seem to have attracted as much press attention. Every time I've attempted to use a Dyson dryer, it's turned off as I've been drying my fingers, leaving them still wet. It seems like it'd be trivial to put a few seconds worth of delay into the automatic cutoff (or position the sensor higher), but no, they all seem to be configured this way. I've watched probably dozens of people run into the same problem while using them, so I don't think it's just me. Hopefully the Excel dryers will remain after the Dyson dryers get pulled out; I can't imagine they'll age gracefully or attractively with the water dripping down into/onto them, in low-maintenance situations.
- ricardobeat 14y agoIsn't the Xlerator just a more powerful (and louder) blower? The Dyson is a different concept, uses way less energy and dries much more efficiently than standard driers, sometimes in one 5-second pass (I haven't seen an xlerator).
- stcredzero 14y agoXlerator can get my hands dry in an acceptably short time. One pass with an AirBlade leaves me with damp hands more often than not. By the time I have my hands feeling comparably dry with an AirBlade, there's often no time savings left at all. (There is, but only over the low-velocity blowers, which I think are generally horrible.)
- epoxyhockey 14y agoThe Xlerator works far better than the Dyson, too, it just doesn't look as strange and doesn't seem to have attracted as much press attention. Yeah, the Xlerator may not get a lot of press, but it is the device that I see in every restaurant, bar, and airport bathroom. I have never seen a Dyson dryer.
- mmagin 14y agoAm I the only one who hates the AirBlade dryers because they splash me in the face (presumably partially with the water that's been pooling in crevice along the bottom if it's being heavily used)?
- ricardobeat 14y agoHow is that even possible? Are you putting your head through the loop?
- retube 14y agoNothing grinds my gears more than Dyson products. Oh sure I'll spend £400 on an insanely complicated vacuum with hundreds of springs and hinges and clips that breaks 6 months later and does no better job than a simple, virtually indestructable Henry that cost just 1/4 the price. Or £300 on a FAN. And just what the FUCK is a digital motor? http://www.dyson.co.uk/vacuumcleaners/ddm.aspx http://www.dyson.co.uk/vacuumcleaners/ddm.aspx Over-priced, over-engineered, completely unnecessary rip-off bullshit.
- 3amOpsGuy 14y ago>> digital motor Just another way of saying brushless.
- njharman 14y agoNot "just" a rip-off bullshit (aka marketing) way of saying brushless. No one pays 1x let alone 2x for something lacking brushes! But digital, big improvement over analog, 2x is a bargain!!!
- ndonnellan 14y agoBrushless motor, not brushless vacuum - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushless_DC_electric_motor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushless_DC_electric_motor As opposed to a brushed DC motor: - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_motor http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brushed_DC_motor
- VLM 14y ago"digital motor" = marketing name for a brushless motor. Very light, very high power, very expensive, very cool. Think of something like a cross between the mechanics and wiring of a 3 phase motor and the operational action of the worlds fastest stepper motor, all scaled down to a tiny little thing. Better called an electronic motor than a digital motor in that all you really need is a herd of opamps to synthesize the rather complicated driving waveforms, but most folks do that in a digital microcontroller now so thats where the marketing name comes from. Not a complete misnomer. I guess you could say an old fashioned universal brush motor that you're probably familiar with is kind of like a single bit single speed simplification of a brushless motor.
- specialp 14y agoI think the whole idea of having air blasting into a sink is asking for sanitation problems. Sinks are very dirty and if you are blasting air into them it would then create aerosols of the grime and spit in the sinks!
- stcredzero 14y agoThe old AirBlade had some huge design flaws. I've been in busy restrooms with AirBlade dryers which were wet and gross. Not pigsty level, but that's not really what you'd want to be touching after you've just washed your hands. Well, a problem with AirBlades is that it's very easy to accidentally touch the dryer cavity when you're plunging your hands in and drawing them out. Sometimes the strong blast of air even encourages this to happen. I have encountered more conventional air dryers which have touch less activation, and hyper fast airflow that are just about as quick as the Dyson, and which give better results, because you can rub your hands beneath the blower and adjust which parts get the most airflow according to dampness. AirBlades allow nothing of the sort. I think the design is gimmicky and is more about differentiating Dyson's product than real utility. Unfortunately, other hand dryer companies don't have Dyson's marketing budget.
- ceeK 14y agoRubbing your hands together has actually been linked to increasing bacteria counts[1]. I personally quite like the Dyson driers and the new tap seems interesting. [1] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7991492/Rubbing-hands-together-after-washing-them-increases-the-danger-of-contamination-scientists-warn.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7991492/Rubb...
- stcredzero 14y agoThat one study was paid for by Dyson. Also, the result only really supports airblades being better in medical and food preparation contexts. In the context of most public restrooms, transferring commensal bacteria doesn't seem that big a deal. As stated in the article, we all have them and can never get rid of them with ordinary hand washing. I think it suffices in that context for one to wash and dry hands quickly and comfortably. If someone found an epidemiological difference between hand dryer types, I'd pay attention. Otherwise, going by bacteria counts, one should rather lick a toilet seat than eat a tortilla chip with salsa.
- pasbesoin 14y agoI finally ran across one of their (or is it someone else's) high speed hand dryers. It was about as miserable an experience as I'd expected. Also, I felt that I should be wearing hearing projection -- LOUD! At a glance, I expect people to end up wearing at least a few drops of waste water.
- kalleboo 14y agoThis kind of thing has been around for ages in Japan http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalleboo/4611597467/lightbox/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/kalleboo/4611597467/lightbox/
- hkuo 14y agoBut what are we gonna use then to open the germy bathroom doors, for the 95-ish% of us who use the paper towel we dry out hands with to also open the door and then drop in a bin next to it?