Dyson blade-less fans 98% less power than air conditioning

Seems a bit disingenuous to compare it to an air conditioner, since it doesn't really cool the air, it just moves it. Comparing it to a box fan might be more fair. My suspicion is that a $9 window fan from WalMart uses 98% less power than an air conditioner, too, so it's kind of silly to tout that as an advantage.

The invention is neat, but the only advantages it has over a regular fan is the lack of blades, allegedly less "buffeting" (although unless you're very close to a bladed fan, I don't think this is noticeable), and the chic appearance. I think it's that last bit that's actually going to sell the things.

Note that there are blades hidden in the base- This, again, makes the concept a bit disingenuous.

...It's still kind of cool though how the air generated by the fan hidden in the base is multiplied through the airfoil.

Um...yeah. Not that I expect anything but pablum on business (let alone basic science) from BusinessWeek, but comparing direct adiabatic air conditioning cooling (direct air temperature change) to evaporative cooling (more air movement) is apples vs. oranges.

At "desk fan power levels", buffeting is a non-issue beyond a few fan-blade radii distances from the rotor.

Child-Safe "flexible" blades running off of de-torquing motors on non-burn-out electronic transmission feedback circuits have been around for 20+ years.

The key metric to examine is, across a variety of humidity gradients and temperatures, what the volumetric cooling efficiency is per watt of input power (i.e. delta-Temp/m^3/s/watt).

Unless it's MUCH better than a typical fan (unlikely), this product is just the Dyson name attached to an Coanda airfoil fed by a conventional ducted fan--most definitely not even worth $150 USD--let alone $300+.

I wonder how much power a regular $10 fan uses compared to air conditioning.

Peace and quiet is worth the price to a lot of people. Besides, all inventions are expensive at first, it'll become cheaper in time.

I'd actually like to see a ceiling version of this. :)

Not that this is really relevant to the article or invention itself, but there was one line that made me instantly dislike the product (knee jerk reaction, I know.)

"But most important of all the blades give a buffeting when they come on. It's uncomfortable and you don't enjoy it."

My initial reaction to this line was "don't tell me what I don't enjoy." From that point on, I didn't want to like his new fan.

Dyson Air Multiplier explained: http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00250/Dyson_...

One of the most pleasant things about a conventional bladed fan is the soothing white noise. I can't sleep without it.

I guess something like this is good for a novelty maybe? Or maybe some fancy CPU cooling getup?

Cracking open a window without using a fan at all uses 100% less power than AC. That doesn't mean it's as effective at cooling.

Introducing Brick: 100% less power than air conditioning.