The Bladeless Fan - the Fan You Never Knew You Needed

[UPDATE : First off some people say this new invention is not so new but based on an invention by Romanian Henri Coanda a 100 years ago - the "Coanda effect" - you can read Dyson's patent (in among all the adsense ads. - here - Dyson bladeless fan) You can read about the Coanda effect here - Dyson's overpriced bladeless fan and the Coanda effect)]

Dyson is well-known for its vacuum cleaners but now they have invented a fan with no visible blades - The Air Multiplier - which they claim is 15 times more efficient than a standard fan.

How can you have a fan with no blades ? Well, in fact you put the blades somewhere else where they are not visible, in the base. This fan creates the draft of air which is forced out through a slit at the top. The lack of blades actually pushing the air into your face makes the whole device more efficient (and easier to clean)

Dyson's Air Multiplier bladeless fan will come in 10" and 12". Dyson have been working on this gadget for four years and it will cost £199 in the UK ! (Dyson is nothing if not confident of the stupidity of the British buying public. ) Not cheap, around $310 at current exchange rates. At that sort of price it had better be good !

I'm Nice But Dim and Want to Buy an Overpriced Fan to Help Gordon Brown Get Re-elected Please Do Tell Me Where I Can Purchase the Dyson Air Multiplier Bladeless Fan for My HOT Christmas Party in the UK

It will be marketed in upmarket department stores and design shops, before being sold via the Argos catalogue next year. The average price for a good old desk fan with blades,  is £18 in the UK ($30).

Dyson is confident that their fan is so radical that people will pay $300 just so they can show off ! A bit of a gamble I would argue.

How does the Bladeless Fan work?

The Air Multiplier sucks air in one unit of air at the base, and pushes it out at speed through a thin slit in the ring at the top of the fan, over an airfoil-shaped ramp (similar to an aeroplane wing). This shape causes surrounding air to be sucked into the air flow, thus multiplying the effect by 15 and creating 15 units of air in your face.

405 litres (about 900 pints) of air are expelled every second.

Dyson also say the fan is not only more efficient than a fan which expels 1 unit of air for every 1 unit taken in, but the air flow is far smoother, and therefore more comfortable for the person at the receiving end.

Dyson knows that the largest markets for fans are not the UK but areas of the USA, Australia and Japan and the Middle East.

Reviews say however that the 10" and 12" fans do not produce as much air as normal fans of the same size, which is a bit odd to say the least !