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Dyson Designs a Hand-Drying Sink Faucet

By Rain Noe - March 12, 2013

in Object Culture

Well, now we know where some of the motors being made in Dyson's new factory will be going: into sink taps! Dyson has designed a sink faucet that integrates their Airblade technology, blowing 28 liters of air per second out of two wings on either side. The Dyson Airblade Tap allows the user to wash their hands and immediately dry them at the same spot, rather than traipsing over to the wall-mounted dispenser/blower (inevitably leaving a trail of droplets on the way). There are no controls; sensors detect when your hands are in a washing vs. drying position, and the tap dispenses water or air accordingly.

My first thought was, won't washing and drying in the same spot hold up lines at crowded bathrooms? Dyson's angle is that the Airblade Tap is faster than a regular dryer, getting the job done in 14 seconds versus what they say "can take up to 43 seconds" with a conventional air dryer.

The HEPA filter in the Airblade Tap's motor is another selling point:

Most other hand dryers are unhygienic. They don't filter bacteria from the restroom air. They suck in dirty air then blow it back onto hands. The Dyson Airblade Tap hand dryer uses a HEPA filter removing 99.97% of bacteria at 0.3 microns from the air used to dry hands. So hands are dried using cleaner air, not dirty air.

Perhaps the strongest pro-Airblade-Tap argument is the long-term cost. They're claiming a 69% cost savings in electricity over a regular hand dryer, to the tune of just $48 per year. (Disposable paper towels look like the real cost loser here, costing a projected $1,460 annually.) And to reassure buyers that they'll use the product long enough to see the savings, they're offering a five-year warranty.

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bob

11 years ago

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this seems like a human behavior mapping problem- putting your hands in a place where you expect them to get wet to get dry
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Bryan Johnson

11 years ago

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I have seen the Dyson hand driers and avoid them for the most part. They are grimey look close at one they are not well kept and its like playing operation when I go to dry my hands. I want nothing more than to avoid touching the edges of those things. More power with a wider gap for hands may help this issue. Until then paper towels for me.
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Tony

11 years ago

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This is actually pretty similar to this product that launched earlier this year:
http://www.bradleycorp.com/advocate

Full disclosure: I work for Bradley, the company that makes it.

It is a really good product to use though. Your hands quickly get dry enough where you don't need to wipe them, and the shape of the bowl/dryer doesn't have any blow back.
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Mike

11 years ago

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I'm with W. Even if it's proven to be totally clean, the thought of all that hot sink air blowing back up at my face means I'll wipe on my pants every time.
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Bob

11 years ago

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I will still use my pants.
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Andrew

11 years ago

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My first thought is that the water in the sink will be blown onto the user's shirt or pants.
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andrew

11 years ago

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Blasting air downwards into a curved wet handbasin? Sounds like you will get a face full of water!
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W

11 years ago

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Sorry to sound like a germophobe, but won't the water left in the sink, along with the germs from you and prior users, be directed back up out of the sink and onto you?
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GP

11 years ago

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Frankly, I don't buy it. There are the current Dyson dryers in loads of places, and everyone I've seen uses them twice. While they work better, they do take longer. Plus I'd rather wait in a line of people with clean but wet hands as opposed to a line of people with soiled hands. Additionally, most bathrooms have a few drying options, and some people don't use any of them. Having the dryer incorporated makes sense in a private bathroom, not a public one. There is a reason most bathrooms mount the drying area and garbage cans away from the sink. The few that have paper towels above the sink take an infuriatingly long amount of time to wait. It's why assembly lines work.
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