Improving the Design of Ceiling Fans

Ceiling fans seem to attract dust from the air. Even a little trace of oil in the air due to cooking in the kitchen causes the dust on the fans in all rooms to become a thick greasy deposit. The dust deposits seem to form mainly on the upper surfaces, and leading edges of the fan blades. A lot of time gets wasted cleaning fan blades. In addition, cleaning fans is a risky operation as people climb on plastic chairs and flimsy stools. Visit this newspaper report for an example of a death from a fall. 

https://www.ahmedabadmirror.com/woman-falls-to-her-death-while-cleaning-ceiling-fan/58565865.html

We believe that fan makers should do adequate R&D to reduce the need for cleaning ceiling fan blades. Making fan blades very smooth is one way to reduce grime collection. Preventing the build-up of static electrical charges is another. Do fan blades need painting? Perhaps blades made of stainless steel would be worth testing. They should not need painting.

High-end cameras use a technique to get dust off the sensors. When you switch off the camera, the sensor vibrates for a short time to shake off the dust. We should consider using this technique with fans. It is worth trying aerodynamic techniques which will make the fans self-cleaning to some extent.

K Chandrasekar and Srinivasan Ramani
Chandrasekar is a wildlife expert and a wildlife photographer.