Sep 20, 2016 | By Tess
Does the constant drone of your home’s fan keep you up on hot summer nights, or disrupt your peace and quiet during the day? If so, French designer Stéphane Thirouin may have developed a solution: a powerful but silent indoor fan named Williwaw. The fan, which is being marketed by the designer as the “best of fans”, was designed with the help of 3D printing, and is currently seeking funding through an ambitious €1 million Kickstarter campaign.
Thirouin, an independent designer with lots of experience under his belt, was inspired to create his own indoor fan when he found that even the best fans on the market produced too much noise, and were not versatile or strong enough for his liking. As he explains, “I like objects that are useful, durable, and pleasing to look at,” so he set about creating his very own fan that would meet all his own expectations. After much research and development (which itself involved a number of 3D models and 3D printed prototypes), the designer devised a functional nine-blade fan that was largely inspired by aeronautics.
What makes the Williwaw so special? Well, according to the designer, the fan’s blades were designed with input from an engineer who specializes in aerodynamics, which allowed Thirouin to find the most optimal blade structure for his fan. This design, along with the fan’s brushless, electrically controlled motor, resulted in a machine that is both more powerful and more silent than fans already on the market. If you’re looking for exact figures, the Williwaw’s sound only measures 50dBA per 2000 liters of air brewed, which was measured at a 2 meter distance (3 dbA less than the next leading brand of fan).
The fan’s design is also notable for its versatility. That is, the fan’s swing angle can be adjusted from 20 to 270 degrees, meaning that you could choose whether you want a whole room or just a specific section of it ventilated. The fan’s head can even be rotated to face upwards, so that rather than blowing air around the room, it works as a sort of ceiling fan would, creating a slow convection airflow. This means that the fan can be used year-round, both to cool you down in the summer and to make heat flow in the colder months. In terms of energy consumed, the fan’s motor is designed to consume no more than 45 watts, even at full power.
There are a couple unexpected perks that come with the new Williwaw fan as well, which include a handy app that can help you to visualize the fan in your own home space before purchase, and a warranty which includes 3D files for each of the fan’s plastic parts so that if anything breaks you can 3D print the broken part on the fly (this is on top of a basic 2 year warranty).
Through the Kickstarter campaign, you can get your hands on one of Thirouin’s innovative indoor fans for the starting price of €350 (about $390), for either a 220/240 V or 100/127 V fan. If the Kickstarter campaign reaches its goal of €1 million, backers can expect to receive their fans in time for summer in June 2017. Currently, Williwaw will only ship within in the EU.
The €1 million goal, if you were wondering, will be put towards industrializing Thirouin’s product, which includes funds for the tooling investment, the completion of the product line, and production costs and packaging.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Williwaw 100/127 Ventilateur is available for the US and Canada
Stephane Thirouin wrote at 9/20/2016 10:16:46 PM:
Just want to make a correction, Williwaw will also ship within in the US & canada, with a 100/127 V US plug version.
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