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The Dyson Zone does not fall within that category. Announced on 30 March – leading some to speculate that an April Fool’s Day press release had been sent a couple of days early – the Zone does not look quite like anything else.
After the firm has upended markets including vacuum cleaners, hand driers and hair styling with precisely engineered, premium products, Dyson’s Zone first looks like a drastic break from tradition. The combination of noise-cancelling headphones and mask-like visor has a futuristic, cyberpunk-style aesthetic, and does not slot easily into a pre-existing product category.
It also has an undeniable Dyson look, however, and the similarities are not just on the outside – the product’s engineering draws on 30 years of experience directing airflow, filtering pollutants and managing acoustic levels.
The company’s chief engineer Jake Dyson – son of founder Sir James – claims the Zone will “deliver pure air and pure audio, anywhere”. But, for many, there was just one simple question – why?
In the Zone
To grasp the reasons behind the product, its inner workings must be understood. Within each earcup is a compressor, which draws air through dual-layer filters. A negatively charged electrostatic filter captures ‘ultrafine’ particles such as allergens and brake dust, while a potassium-enriched carbon layer captures gas pollutants such as NO2 and SO2.
The compressors channel the purified air through the non-contact visor to the wearer’s nose and mouth, with ‘sculpted returns’ ensuring the airflow is diluted as little as possible by external crosswinds. The device was originally prototyped as a snorkel-style mouthpiece paired with a motor inside a backpack, but Dyson engineers pursued a non-contact solution to avoid discomfort and irritation.
The engineers tested prototype devices with a breathing manikin fitted with mechanical lungs and sensing equipment, which inhaled pollution. The team then measured pollution levels within the artificial nose and throat to determine filtration efficacy.
Testing of the electrostatic filters in an independent laboratory confirmed that the product captures 99% of pollutants as small as 0.1 microns, Dyson said. The company believes that, paired with active noise cancellation, the Zone can tackle the twin menaces of urban air pollution and noise. The World Health Organization estimates that nine in 10 people breathe air that exceeds its guideline pollutant limits, while more than 100 million people face noise exposure above WHO guidance.
Covering up
Images of the Zone were first reminiscent of Covid-19 masks. But with no contact to the face, and airflows directed at the nose and mouth, could the Zone actually spread viral particles from the wearer to the surrounding environment?
“The Dyson Zone does not produce high-speed airflow, and the air passing into the visor is filtered,” a company spokesperson said in response. “The visor acts as a physical barrier against forward projection and the filtered air would help to dilute exhaled air. The air that comes out of the product will not contain any higher concentrations of germs than exhalation without the product.” When the product launches in the autumn, Dyson says ‘community face covering’ attachments will be provided in the box, as will FFP2 face covering attachments.
This article originally appeared in Professional Engineering magazine, Issue 3 2022.
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Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.