Wearable neck fans, the kind that drape around users’ collarbones and shoot short streams of cooling air upward, have existed for the better part of two decades, but have never really taken off due to their unavoidable dork factor. But research recently published in the journal E3S Web of Conferences shows why employers may actually have a strong incentive to push these portable gadgets onto their workforce.
In testing, portable neck and face fans performed about as well as bladeless desk fans at keeping office workers cool. They weren’t quite as effective as old-school bladed fans, but they have the advantage of not blowing massive gusts of air toward nearby coworkers who might prefer a warmer temperature. Another benefit: they use considerably less energy than either desktop alternative. In an office where bosses can’t or won’t crank up the air conditioning, fashion might just take a backseat to function.
“These fans provide a way to still operate a centralized HVAC system while using less energy,” Mohamed Ouf, an engineering professor at the University of Concordia in Canada and study co-author, said in a statement.
Four fans and a summer-casual manikin
The experiment tested four devices: a neck fan, a face fan, a bladed desktop fan, and a bladeless desk fan. All four were analyzed at both low and high speeds. Evaluating comfort this way might sound subjective, so the team ironically addressed that by removing humans from the study altogether. Instead, they directed the various breezes toward a life-sized, 23-segment thermal manikin. Modeled after an average Scandinavian man, the high-tech dummy is equipped with sensors that constantly measure skin temperature, heat loss, and predict thermal comfort across different body regions. Using that data, the engineers quantified how quickly the manikin’s exterior “skin” cooled down and returned to baseline comfort. The manikin (it’s unclear if he was given a name) was dressed in “regular summer office wear.” In this case, a short-sleeve shirt, pants, and sneakers.
Researchers placed their summer-casual 9-to-5er in a test room mimicking an office cubicle and set the thermostat to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Not unbearably hot, but toasty enough to register annoyance from most people on a deadline. They then tested all of the devices on both speed settings and observed how the manikin’s sensors reacted.
The test manikin was modeled after the average Scandinavian man and wore high-tech sensors while testing four types of fan. Image: Tazia Rahman.
The neck fan performed just about as well as the bladeless fan. Even though wearables produce a comparatively small breeze directed at a localized area, the data showed that these fans provide whole-body comfort. That’s because the neck and face are particularly thermosensitive. Even though this small region accounts for just around 5.5 percent of a person’s total surface area, the team notes that it plays an outsized role in keeping cool.
Neither the neck fan nor the face wearable could match the raw power of a traditional bladed desk fan. However, they did have the added benefit of taking up less space and using less energy. Neck fans are also more targeted, meaning workers can avoid awkward situations where air unintentionally blows into a coworker’s cubicle.
Emptier offices are prime neck fan candidates
Those results may sound like a moot point for anyone working in a building with central air conditioning running by default, though the researchers explain why that expectation might not be guaranteed. Many offices, especially outside of the United States, still don’t use AC. Even those that do may see that standard changing due to the new reality of hybrid work. With fewer workers occupying large office spaces, penny-pinching owners might see less value in cooling entire floors. Looking to cut costs (and maybe conserve energy in the process), they could easily crank up the thermostat and tell those in the office to strap on a neck wearable.
So next time a coworker smiles and says, “Keep your chin up,” they might be giving advice on proper airflow for your wearable.
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The post Neck fans might look goofy, but tests show they work surprisingly well appeared first on Popular Science.
