A hand dryer that uses 鈥渂lades鈥� of air and bacteria-killing filters is more effective and hygienic than conventional drying machines, its inventors claim.
Conventional hand dryers use a heater and a motorised fan to evaporate water from a person鈥檚 hands. The Dyson dryer uses a motor to force unheated air through two thin slots at 640 kilometres (400 miles) per hour. These jets form so-called 鈥渁ir blades鈥� that force water off a user鈥檚 hands, as they slowly withdraw them past the blades.
鈥淭he Airblade scrapes your hands clean with a high speed sheet of air,鈥� Dyson says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a bit like a windscreen wiper.鈥� The process also takes just 10 seconds, instead of the 30 to 40 seconds needed when using a normal dryer.
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A video shows the , founder of the company.
Dyson claims his dryer is more hygienic because, unlike a conventional dryer, it filters the air drawn in from the room. In addition, any microbes found in the water removed from a user鈥檚 hands are killed by an iodine filter inside the machine. An oscillating piezoelectric plate then atomises this sterilised water, which returns to the room as a mist.
Although the Airblade costs twice as much as a conventional dryer, it is much more efficient, requiring a quarter of the energy, because it does not heat the air it uses.
Raw meat
In a study carried out for Dyson by researchers at Bradford University, UK, fourteen volunteers handled raw meat and then washed their hands with soap and water. The participants who used a conventional dryer carried 14 times as much bacteria on their hands as those who used the Airblade instead, the company claims.
鈥淒rying is as important as hand washing itself,鈥� says microbiologist Anna Snelling who worked on the trial. 鈥淭ransmission of microbes is more likely to occur from wet skin than from dry skin.鈥�
The Airblade is currently being tested in two unnamed hospitals in the UK as well as several restaurants and service stations across the country.
