Story
Bringing a new generation of fans to market! There are unexpected inspirations and discoveries during the development of the GreenFan.
Gen Terao, CEO and Chief Designer, BALMUDA
When I was in primary school, a friend's family had just bought their first air conditioner. The boy proudly invited me and other children to experience this technical innovation. The cool air felt exciting and invigorating. But we were used to enjoy the freedom in the countryside. A room with air conditioning was quite nice – but there were no bugs and crabs. On our adventures, we roamed nature, tried to catch the fish in the stream, explored abandoned houses on the outskirts of the city – a thousand things that were fun and sweated a lot. I remember the soft gusts of wind that caught us as we crawled toward groups of trees in search of insects. And the strong wind that came towards us when we raced down the mountain on our bike.
In 2009, I began my development efforts for a fan. I took countless measurements to find out where the enormous difference between natural wind and the airflow of a fan comes from. One day I found out that the airflow of a fan has sharp turbulence. Natural wind moves like a gentle wall, whereas the airflow of a fan is in vortex motion. So I thought about how to remove the turbulence on the airflow of a fan. If I succeed, the airflow generated by the fan will be as pleasant as a gentle wind coming into the room through an open window. So I began to experiment tirelessly, according to the proven motto "trial and error".
I found a suggestion for a new kind of airflow in the small factory in my hometown. The people who worked there set up their fans so that they blew against the wall, so that they were not exposed to the direct air flow, then the wind was gentler. When the airflow generated by the fan hits the wall, the turbulence is reflected and extinguishes each other, so that you get an air wall. That was exactly my goal. After all, I had now found the desired air wall. All that remained was the challenge of achieving a mutual extinction of the turbulence within a fan.
I could create a wind that felt completely natural if I could get the turbulence in the fan's airflow to wipe each other out. But how should I proceed to cause such a change in the airflow supplied by the rotor blades? While I was thinking about this question, I saw a "31 Legged Race" in an entertainment program on TV, each team has 30 children in a row, whose legs were tied together with the legs of the two neighbors, so the left leg with the right leg of the left neighbor and the right leg with the left leg of the right neighbor, etc. Initially, all the children stood in a straight row. When the race began, the faster children could not get out because their legs were tied together with the legs of their neighbors. Ultimately, the whole row is held back by the slower children, and those children who run with all their might fall over. I was able to transfer this idea to the airflow of my fan!
Based on my findings from the "31 Legged Race", I set about constructing dual-blade that generate two different wind speeds at the same time. The slower wind generated inside will pull the faster wind generated outside inwards, so that the two air streams bundle at a single point and the turbulences wipe each other out. Immediately I started experiments with a prototype. The airflow of the fan no longer has sharp turbulence, but there is a gentle wind. This brings me to my goal, the two air currents meet at different speeds, the turbulences extinguish each other, and I have succeeded in creating a wind like in nature.
The value a fan provides is coolness but it isn’t comfortable to be directly in the airflow of a conventional electric fan for too long. That’s why people swivel from side to side. But this only reduces the time the user is in the airflow, which also reduces coolness. We would like to make an electric fan that would create airflow as pleasant as a natural breeze coming in through the window.
