Love Is In The Air: how Dyson’s love affair with airflow technology has withstood the test of time

A love affair with airflow technology has been at the heart of Dyson’s engineering journey since the very beginning. Starting with the DC01 in 1993, airflow was at the core of Dyson vacuum cleaners within Dyson’s pioneering cyclonic technology. When expanding into fans and purifiers, Dyson engineered machines to multiply and project air further before adapting that understanding to design and develop the Dyson hair care range, which use airflow and lower temperatures to achieve the same styles, while maintaining hair health by reducing the reliance on heat. Airflow is a core part of Dyson’s DNA. In the words of James Dyson, “in order to fix it, you need a passionate anger about something that doesn't work well.” The Dyson story focuses on solving problems others ignore, reinventing the outdated and engineering the future – but airflow is a lasting romance.

Dyson Air Multiplier technology

It all began when Dyson engineers started looking into hair care back in 2012, investing £50 million into the development of Dyson’s first ever hair tool. Dyson engineers found that a powerful airflow could be achieved if air was taken into a motor and accelerated over an annular aperture – this is the iconic ring-shaped head that can only be recognised as Dyson’s first ever hair dryer, and in 2016, the Dyson Supersonic™ hair dryer was launched.

The traditional model and technology of the humble hair dryer had seen very little change since the 1960s. Traditional hair dryers often have a weak airflow and are powered by bulky motors, meaning they are slow at drying. To solve that problem, Dyson invented the Dyson digital motor V9, a motor which is up to eight times faster than conventional hair dryer motors, enabling the Dyson Supersonic™ hair dryer to move over 13 litres of air every second.