September 25, 2008 – MultiMode Control Capability – Have It Your Way
We are excited to make use of technology to give greater versatility to our fans. Since our AltAir fans already have the core functionality of control of direction, pitch, and speed, and then throw in temperature sensors at the fan and down at the wall box, all of a sudden there are a lot of things one can do with microprocessors. As they used to say at Burger King – “have it your way”. You want to be in complete control of the fan, just run on Manual. You like the idea of being most efficient, set it on EcoMode. You want to cut your heat costs big time, put it on DeStrat Mode. You want the fan to do it all for you (the Navy does) – go for AutoMode. Or maybe you just want a timer set up to turn the fan on. We’ve got it. Who knows what else we will come up with? It’s simple (OK, there are a lot of lines of software code that need to be written).
July 9, 2008 – Does CFM Matter?
We coined the term optimal CFM – Complete Facility Movement of Air, in part to address the market challenge of larger fans having listed big CFM numbers. There are apparently several ways to derive and report a CFM number. It is a means for some to compare fan to fan performance, kind of like horsepower. In reality, to continue the analogy, most folks don’t need, nor use, all the horsepower they may be buying. Especially with current fuel prices. I, like many others with expertise in the HVLS fan business, would argue the same is true for big fans. But, we also got a little smarter – well we got smarter people – and realized that, though there may be other factors, the core variables in a fan’s CFM involve size, speed, and pitch. Using a little math (including calculus!) we realized our MIT calculations put our Next Generation HVLS fans higher on the comparative CFM scale (as we calculate apples to apples, not necessarily what is reported by others) to support what was obvious through observation. We now hold our heads up high on the CFM discussion. But there really is a lot more that matters about a fan than just CFM. Like our version of optimal CFM...
April 17, 2008 – What goes up should come down...
At least when it comes to hot air in the winter. So we are adamant that having the flexibility of blowing the air up helps achieve heat de-tratification more effectively. Rather than trying to pull stacked air down from more than 5 feet or so above a one-directional, fixed pitch fan, pushing all the air up there helps mix it better and bring it down to the floor. And it does it with less evaporative cooling air movement at the floor during a time when you don’t want a cooling breeze. Feel the heat. Save the cost. Move the air up. Then bring it down. We purposely designed our fan so you can do that.
January 31, 2008 – Pictures of My Baby
I promise I won’t give up my day job for filmmaking. But after all the designs, the prototypes, the testing, the tweaking, and the time and number of times it takes to do it right, I am like a proud father wanting to show off pictures of my baby. The images may be rough. The dialogue needs better scripting. And I sure as heck need to stop using “ah” so often. But there is my baby doing what it is meant to do. Only better than I could have ever imagined (and that comes not from bias, but from experience). Oh sure, there is some growing up to do. And the first few steps may seem a bit rocky. But I know my baby will make the world a better place! I am one proud papa.
October 30, 2007 – Building A Better Mousetrap Takes Patience
My mother was right: “patience is a virtue, possess it if you can”. Trying to tell engineers that a bolt is just a bolt gets me a lesson in all sorts of stuff about design and development – more than I possibly could have imagined. Put a screwdriver in my hands and I am going to break whatever it is I am trying to fix. Thankfully Joe and his team know what they are doing. We have worked hard to get our fans right before we start shipping too many. As they start coming out of production I know it will have been worth the wait. But boy do I wish it was done yesterday. I guess I need to learn to do what our fans do in hot weather – chill.
August 14, 2007 – Go Green Right Away
When I attend energy conferences I often tell people that HVLS fans can save more energy immediately than most other products, practices, or ideas at the conference. Instead of several years, or even decades, before one sees payback with big and costly solutions like wind, solar, and co-generation, AirMotion HVLS fans can start saving energy and related costs immediately. And they pay back in such short time. So I say, don’t waste time or money, go green right away. It’s easy with these big fans. Employees, coworkers, stakeholders, and customers will be glad you did.
June 27, 2007 – Why AirMotion fans make (dollars and) sense.
As a former bean counter, I always found financial analysis, done well, to provide convincing support for a stated position. When it comes to moving and mixing massive amounts of air with AirMotion HVLS fans, it can easily be shown that, besides the benefits in comfort, there are productivity increases and, much more importantly, cost savings from energy efficiency, energy savings, and reduction of wasted energy.
Do the math, and one can quickly realize one is leaving money on the table (and in their utility company’s pockets) if one doesn’t invest in these fans. The money is real, it is significant, and it can mean a competitive advantage in one’s cost structure.
Payback is quick. ROI is high. And the best one, the savings means real NPV – net present value – buy a fan and make money on it from the savings.
Besides, people at all levels of an organization, from the CEO and CFO looking at P&L’s to folks working on the floor whose facility environment is improved beyond anything they could possibly imagine (they come to love these fans), will think you are the hero of the day.
It really is a no-brainer. Talk to AirMotion (or the other guys) and find out how you could be missing the boat and how best to get folks in your organization on board. The numbers will help tell the story.
June 27, 2007 - Why bigger isn’t always better, especially to a fire marshal and insurance underwriter.
I am excited to be launching AirMotion Sciences, Inc. and its AltAir™ line of HVLS (High Volume – Low Speed) fans. I have had the good fortune of spending time learning the industry, the product, and related opportunities and pitfalls at one of the other guys. Some of my good friends that I hired and trained are still with them, putting food on their tables. I am happy for them.
When I was building the other business, I had a lot of questions and concerns. One of the simple ones was just the strobe effect created by the big fan blades spinning underneath lights. We stayed mostly silent on that issue, but I would venture a guess that 1 out of 20 people find the strobe effect annoying (I am one of those 20). Well, I know when I have something bothering me it is a distraction, so my productivity goes down. I have to believe this plays a factor with others out there.
More importantly, I also have to believe it is just a matter of time before fire marshals and insurance underwriters get smart and get concerned about the big blades obstructing sprinkler heads. It is a potential safety hazard that hasn’t been focused on much yet.
Now, I once wrote an article published in F&M Magazine titled Bigger is Better (January 2005). I don’t think that I would use the same headline today.
As a result, we have designed and built the AirMotion AltAir™ HVLS fans to fit within common lighting and sprinkler head spacing. We move lots of air with our fans. Thanks to our unique VPT™ (Variable Pitch Technology), they don’t necessarily need to be so big to effectively harness the laws of physics to create comfortable and productive environments while saving lots of energy. It is that simple.
