Evolution of the Automatic Hand Dryer in India

Posted by Mitsubishi Electric on November 13th, 2019

When one speaks of hand dryers, the first thing to know is that there are two main types - the basic dryer wherein there is a push-button to start the drying process and the automatic hand dryer where you just have to place your hand below the dryer and the process starts. It was in the year 1993 that Mitsubishi Electric invented the automatic dryer which the world came to know as the ‘forced-air’ hand dryer. These dryers come with a jet-blow technology that dries the water off rather than just evaporating it. They have gained immense popularity and are utilised in many hotels, restaurants, shopping malls, public bathrooms, and other such facilities.

In fact, nowadays, even corporate offices and residential buildings have started providing automatic hand dryers in bathrooms. Whether it is the basic hand dryer or the automatic one, they are any day better than using paper towels. In a survey, it has been found that an average 4-5 storeyed building uses almost 2,10,000 paper towels per month. If you consider even 5 such buildings, could you calculate the number of trees that will have to be cut down to produce these paper towels? This is one of the reasons why people opt for the automatic hand dryer in India as well as in other countries across the globe.

Working of the Automatic Hand Dryer

As mentioned before, these automatic dryers have no push-button for initiating the drying process. They are designed with infrared motion sensors that detect your wet hands (signal) when placed under the vent of the dryer. The signal helps in controlling the operation of turning on the heating circuit relay and the blow circuit relay. The hot air released from the vent helps evaporate the water, leaving your hand completely dry. Once the signal detected by the infrared motion sensor disappears, the contact is released, breaking the relay circuits and stopping the operation.

Benefits of the Automatic Hand Dryer

Apart from being an eco-friendly electrical device, automatic hand dryers offer many other benefits, some of which have been explained below:

1. Speed – These hand dryers are designed to provide fast drying. The minimum time you will require to finish this drying process is about 10 seconds. At most, the time might extend up to 30 seconds, but not more than that.
2. Noise – The basic type of hand dryers was known to be a little noisy in operation. However, automatic dryers have solved this problem by reducing the operational noise to a minimum.
3. Cost – These might be costlier than a box of tissue paper but only as a one-time investment. In the long run, automatic hand dryers help save on the overall costs. Even compared to the basic hand dryers, they have low power consumption and an easier maintenance process.

Apart from these, automatic dryers also help maintain the cleanliness of the bathroom and help reduce paper consumption as well. The utilisation of automatic hand dryers in India and other countries is a revolutionary practice that not only goes a long way in cost-cutting but is also better for the environment.