Big Ass Fans Haiku Fan

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  • 2021

  • Product
    Hardware and Building

Designed By:

Commissioned By:

Big Ass Fans

Designed In:

United States of America

Big Ass Fans’ (BAF) Haiku Fans use UV-C technology to purify air using an uplight on top of the fan motor. This product kills up to 99.9 per cent of airborne pathogens, and was specifically designed in the United States of America during COVID-19 for any indoor space where people gather. The Haiku Fan is particularly beneficial where social distancing is challenging.


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  • CHALLENGE
  • SOLUTION
  • IMPACT
  • MORE
  • The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the poor quality of indoor air, highlighted by ASHRAE's research. There hadn't been a major focus on ensuring buildings maintained adequate air quality. At the pandemic's onset, Big Ass Fans dove into past projects, including two hospitals where upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI) was used to combat tuberculosis and cholera respectively in the 150-bed Butaro District Hospital in Rwanda, lowering the risk of nosocomial infection and disease transmission and Haiti. The challenge was incorporating proven UV-C technology without direct exposure to humans while circulating enough air through the disinfection zone to effectively clean air within spaces.

  • BAF seamlessly integrated the UV-C LED fixture into their Haiku model through the use of an uplight feature. This feature ensures direct exposure to humans is avoided by allowing only the space between the top of the fan and the ceiling to be exposed to UV-C. This innovation followed extensive testing, through partnering with a military-grade testing facility in the US, to test the product on harmful pathogens, including influenza A and Sars-Cov-2, which causes COVID-19. BAF also used its SpecLab airflow modelling technology to calculate and determine how airflow moved through a space once it was cleansed.

  • UV-C technology allows users to occupy spaces in a safer manner as it reduces the risk of spreading pathogens. It's another preventative measure, alongside social distancing, mask-wearing, and ventilation, against the spread of COVID-19. Using UV-C to create clean and safe environments greatly impacts the health, comfort, well-being and productivity of people. By improving air quality, BAF reduces rates of sick leave, breaks, mistakes, and risk of workplace accidents due to reduced cognitive functions when unwell. The use of BAF over energy-intensive heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems allows for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and reduced carbon footprint.

  • Haiku with SenseME learns and predicts people's comfort preferences using a series of precise environmental sensors. This cutting-edge, smart home technology automatically increases the fan's speed when a room heats up and slows the fan when it cools down to keep temperatures steady and ensure occupants experience premium comfort. While fresh air is best, opening windows and doors isn't always practical. BAF's UV solution addresses that problem by offering a system that cleans the air without opening the door to humidity (mould growth), wildfires (unbreathable air), and other weather events that can impact on the space. UVGI is a disinfection method that uses short-wavelength UV light to kill or inactivate micro-organisms, leaving them unable to perform vital cell functions. In short, viruses such as COVID-19 cannot survive, reproduce or mutate. BAF accelerated research and development and combined this process with an existing feature, allowing them to design and launch commercially in the US within a matter of months of the pandemic. By late-April 2021, BAF had launched this new technology in Australia, following a mid-July 2020 launch in the United States. BAF has since successfully worked with thousands of companies globally.