Sir James Dyson, the founder of one of the world’s most popular types of vacuum cleaner, has announced his company’s move into the central heating.
Having generated sales of more than $1.2 billion last year, Dyson continues to dominate the vacuum cleaner industry, which is thought to be worth around $8 billion per annum.
Dyson’s move into central heating is perhaps not surprising; after all, the global firm, which is headquartered in Britain but recently relocated production to Singapore and Malaysia, has been straying from vacuum cleaners for quite some time.
In 2010, Sir James announced the launch of a revolutionary hand dryer and the innovative Air Multiplier fan, which is notable for its lack of blades. This year, Dyson has elected to venture into the domestic heating market with a new electric heater that employs the same “air movement” technology as featured in the Air Multiplier.
Such are the revolutionary characteristics of the new Dyson heater, the appliance is said to borrow aspects of design and technology from turbo-chargers and jet engines.
Sir James explained: “One of the benefits of the new device is that it will heat all the air in the room to reduce the effect of hot and cold spots. Sensors measure the temperature of the surrounding air so that once the desired temperature is reached, the system cuts out, making the product much more efficient and useful than comparable heaters”.
Adding that the new heater would be used primarily as a spot heater in small rooms, Sir James went on to explain that a range of devices are likely to be launched that replace conventional central heating systems.
Sir James noted: “Central heating is not particularly efficient and in some instances not as useful as many people think”. The engineer may have a point, of course, especially if improved insulation means homes rely less on conventional central heating.
Sir James concluded: “I would not limit the company to particular areas of technology or markets. We are developing a range of technologies to improve both industrial and consumer products so that the people using them get a better experience than with the comparable items that currently exist”.
