Hair wrapped around the brush bar is one of the least glamorous parts of owning a vacuum cleaner, and Dyson says its latest cordless machine is designed to end it. The V16 Piston Animal has a new cleaner head with two cone-shaped brush bars that push hair up to 25 inches long straight into the bin. The vacuum also detects the type of floor and adjusts its suction and brush bar speed to match. In Dyson’s ‘How India Cleans’ study, 51.6 per cent of Indians said spaces under beds and furniture are often left uncleaned. Tim Hare, design and development engineer, floor care, at Dyson, spoke to The Telegraph about the thinking behind the machine.
What was the biggest engineering problem you wanted to solve with the V16 that previous Dyson cordless vacuums couldn’t?
At Dyson, we always want to solve people’s frustrations with real engineering solutions. With the V16 Piston, we focused on three key frustrations. First, switching cleaner heads between different floor types. Second, messy and incomplete bin emptying. And third, hair — including even the longest hair, getting picked up without tangling. The leap with this machine is about more than just suction power. It is our most intelligent machine, constantly adapting to the needs of home cleaning. The V16 features a brand-new 900-watt Dyson Hyperdymium motor, delivering315 Air Watts of suction. It also has the All-Floors Cone Sensed cleaner head, a Clean Compactor bin, Dynamic Cyclone technology, full HEPA filtration and intelligent sensing. The intelligent sensing means the machine can use power when it is needed, while remaining efficient when it isn’t, helping to deliver longer runtime.
How did you balance the V16’s 900-watt motor and 350 Air Watts of suction with the need to keep the machine lightweight and practical for everyday use?
Not only is this our most powerful motor, but we also had to focus on its efficiency.The V16 has a brand-new Dyson Hyperdymium 900-watt motor, delivering 350 Air Watts of suction, more than any Dyson predecessor product to date. The key engineering challenge was improving the efficiency of the motor rather than simply adding more power. To achieve this, we rotated the motor 180 degrees and changed the entire air path to ensure we were getting the most Air Watts for every watt of electrical power being input. Another key focus was making the motor light and power-dense. The motor itself weighs only 120 grams. This means we can add significant performance without making the machine too heavy. The complete V16 weighs 3.5 kilograms. We focused on balancing and tuning the motor, airflow and weight distribution to deliver the best performance while ensuring the machine remains practical for everyday situations.
How does the All-Floors Cone Sensed cleaner head work differently from a conventional brush-bar design, particularly when dealing with long hair and pet hair?
The challenge of cleaning hard floors and carpets is very different. Traditionally, cleaner heads have been designed for a specific floor type. The All-Floors Sensed cleaner head is specifically designed for both carpets and hard floors and is able to move seamlessly between them. We have automatic sensing technology in the cleaner head that identifies which surface it is on and automatically adjusts the suction power and brush-bar speed to deliver optimum performance on both surfaces.
One of its key features is its two conical brush bars, which eject even the longest hair. We tested the system with hair up to 25 inches long. The hair migrates down the conical brush bar and is ejected and sucked into the bin, instead of becoming caught around the tool as can happen with traditional systems. The cleaner head uses nylon bristle strips with two different types of bristles: one designed for carpets to provide deep cleaning into the pile, and softer nylon for hard floors to polish the surface while picking up fine dust and debris. So the key is that it isn’t just the shape of the brush bar that delivers anti-tangle performance. The important innovation is that it is an all-floors design, which makes it more convenient to move between different surfaces. We also have our dust illumination technology, which helps illuminate even invisible dust that customers might otherwise miss.
How do Dynamic Cyclones contribute to the V16’s ability to capture fine dust and particles, and what makes their design different from earlier Dyson cyclone systems?
The key with the V16 Piston was balancing efficiency with raw power.The Dynamic Cyclones consist of 11 individual cyclones designed to provide efficient dust separation. What is new on this machine is that we can actively control which of those cyclones are operating. In Boost mode, all 11 cyclones are activated. This provides maximum airflow, maximum power and maximum Air Watts for deeper cleaning.
In Eco mode, we want to achieve the longest possible runtime and maximum efficiency. The machine therefore switches off some of the individual cyclone cones. This reduces airflow and increases efficiency, helping to deliver longer runtime. So the system gives you the best of both worlds: maximum power when you need it and high efficiency when you want longer runtime.
Tim Hare, design and development engineer, floor care, Dyson
How do you define “deep cleaning” from an engineering perspective, and what measurements does Dyson use to determine whether a vacuum is genuinely cleaning more effectively?
Deep cleaning is about more than raw suction power. It is also about the technology in the cleaner head, which needs to effectively remove deeply embedded dust from carpets as well as fine, invisible dust that customers cannot see, such as skin cells and dust mites. Different surfaces require very different technologies and approaches.
On hard floors, you need a softer, more polishing effect to remove the fine layer of dust and debris. On carpets, you need stiff agitation of the fibres combined with higher suction power to lift material that is deeply embedded within the pile. With the V16, we wanted the machine to intelligently adapt to ensure you get a deep clean. It changes its settings depending on the surface to deliver the appropriate cleaning approach.
We also have dust-sensing technology. This acoustically measures the dust passing through the machine. When it detects an increase in even the finest micron-level dust, it increases the suction to ensure that the dust is picked up. Another important point is that not all dust is visible to the naked eye. Through our research, we have found that even when a surface appears clean, invisible particles such as pollen and dust mites may remain. The key is therefore to design a machine that is properly sealed and has the right cleaner-head technology for different floor types, allowing it to pick up those particles effectively.
With cordless vacuum technology becoming increasingly powerful, where do you see the biggest engineering challenge for the next generation — motor efficiency, battery technology, cleaning intelligence or something else?
I think the key is that a good vacuum cleaner is about more than raw suction power. It is about balancing all of those elements.The main focus we are pushing towards now is smarter machines with more sensing and more data, allowing them to intelligently adapt. That includes sensing the level of dirt, sensing the surface the machine is operating on and sensing the suction power, so the machine can optimise itself for everyday use. For consumers, all of that intelligent sensing and the algorithms behind it can mean longer runtime, suction power when and where it is needed, and a machine that understands when and how much dirt it is picking up.