An umbrella made of nothing but air
Could the umbrella go by way of the Walkman and the fax machine?
A might one day replace the traditional umbrella, pushing air through its聽cylindrical head to create a dome that redirects falling drops away from its users.听
The campaign has far surpassed its $10,000 goal, receiving 153 donations totaling more than $18,000. The air brolly creators are based in Nanjing, China and have designs for three models 鈥� one with a handle 30聽centimeters in length, one 50 centimeters, and one scalable from 50 to 80 centimeters. The lithium battery life is reported to last for up to 30 minutes. Price per unit are estimated to range from $88 to $108 each.听
A notes that the product is designed to shield one to two聽people from rain, but more people can fit under the umbrella when the rain isn鈥檛 as heavy.听
Postgraduates and Ph.D. recipients in Nanjing and Beijing have worked to improve the design聽and appearance.听
Users can control the airflow from the base of the umbrella鈥檚 cylindrical controller. Air聽will push through the chamber, bursting out at the sphere at the top of the air umbrella 鈥� and聽hitting those unfortunate enough to be outside of the umbrella鈥檚 sphere of protection. Yes, there appears to be quite a spray coming off the dome.听
Right now, the product resembles the Seattle Eye 鈥� a fitting design, as the city .
Answering questions on the Kickstarter page, developers say the machine is less loud聽than the surrounding rain and that the product itself is waterproof.听
The product can withstand heavy rains, they say, but gusts of wind are a different story.听
If wind speed climbs too high, 鈥渢he natural wind will oppress the air flow generated by the air聽umbrella and therefore greatly [decrease] the scope of sheltering.鈥� (They note that physical聽umbrellas cannot handle heavy wind, either)聽
This is not a new idea. In 2010, South Korean designer Je Sung Park floated a very similar concept, .听
And back in 2012,聽Je Sung Park and Woo Jung Kwon designed a similar product with an identical name. Though their Air Umbrella did not have adjustable length, it did struggle with battery life, as this iteration does.
The founders have kicked off the second phase of their project, which aims to improve聽the umbrella鈥檚 appearance and auxiliary function. The group aims for a September 2015 factory聽launch.
Could the air sun parasol be far behind?
