Infrared heat lamps are comparatively new, or at least comparatively innovative when it comes to affordability and domestic product applications.
An infrared lamp uses infrared rays to radiate heat onto any physical surface that falls within its path.
Put simply, the infrared rays heat up any object onto which they fall, but they “do not” heat up the medium through which they pass, primarily the air.
This creates an interesting dilemma in that most situations that require artificial warmth also requires the raising of the surrounding air temperature, something that infrared lamp heating devices do not achieve.
For this reason, using an infrared heat lamp as a garden, patio or camping heater will have questionable results as the heat will only be enjoyed by those in the glare of the heater. There are however certain products where this unusual kind of “radiated only” heat can be of a big advantage.
A great example of how this technology can work in an extemporary way is the domestic sauna.
Home saunas are often located in a disused room in a house and, although a window will normally be present, no special ventilation will be available.
The problem with home saunas is that, in order to heat up the body of the sauna taker, they require high temperatures. When these temperatures are generated by conventional heaters they often come hand in hand with high humidity. (The hotter the air, the easier it is for it to take in water vapour.)
Naturally, this is not desirable in a house and it can lead to damp and a wet “after atmosphere” along with other undesirable conditions.
This is where an infrared heat lamp can come into its own. This kind of heater will quickly make the skin of the human body hot and sweaty (a sauna requirement), but without increasing the sauna’s air temperature or humidity.
In effect, it tricks the body into thinking that the air is hot by raising the temperature of the skin.
These infra red sauna heaters have become very popular and can now be purchased as a component included in a domestic sauna kit.
As previously mentioned, the other main infrared heat lamp application is the patio heater. In this situation these heat lamps do have some limitations, but they offer cheap running cost and require nothing more than the flicking of a switch to get them working.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Monday, January 19, 2009
Robotic vacuum cleaners
How new and innovative a robotic vacuum cleaner is will depend on where you live.
If you reside in North America, then products like those in the iRobot range have been widely available and very cheap (i.e. sub $99) for some time. However, in the UK and Europe these products have a much lower profile and, until very recently, a much higher price tag too.
Most robotic vacuum cleaners are circular and disc like in appearance and no more than 6 inches high, however their cleaning credentials are very good.
A robotic vacuum cleaner works by using sensors to detect walls, drops (e.g. a stair well) and other obstructions and creates an invisible ground plan of the room that it cleans.
All that the robotic vacuum cleaner’s owner needs to do is to switch it on, in the room requiring cleaning, and then leave it to do its work. The cleaner starts off by mapping out the geometry of the room, following which it systematically vacuums every uncovered inch of the floor space.
There are of course some restrictions to these home help devices.
Firstly, they are not able to clean tightly against a wall or vertical barrier, but then again neither can a regular vacuum cleaner. They are also slow and methodical and this results from their need to map out the area that they clean.
Even so, robotic vacuum cleaners are highly effective. They are proven to clean 99% of the available floor space (and this is actually a higher percentage than most humans achieve) and they do so whilst you get on with other tasks, or even leave the house.
Once the job is completed, the cleaner turns itself off and waits for its bag-less dirt and dust repository to be emptied.
At the top end of the range, but still very affordable, robotic cleaners are capable of connecting themselves to a special recharge port that is plugged into a main electricity socket and they will also adapt to clean different surfaces from carpet to hard floors.
As previously mentioned, the big name in robotic cleaners of this type is iRobot and you can look at some of their products at http://store.irobot.com/corp/index.jsp, where you will spot their quirky names like Roomba and Scooba.
I personally do not own a robotic vacuum cleaner, however some very good friends of mine do and they continually extol its virtues and talk about it as if it (iRobot Roomba) were a family pet. Needless to say, their home is always spotless and they have plenty of additional free time for other more pleasurable activities.
If you reside in North America, then products like those in the iRobot range have been widely available and very cheap (i.e. sub $99) for some time. However, in the UK and Europe these products have a much lower profile and, until very recently, a much higher price tag too.
Most robotic vacuum cleaners are circular and disc like in appearance and no more than 6 inches high, however their cleaning credentials are very good.
A robotic vacuum cleaner works by using sensors to detect walls, drops (e.g. a stair well) and other obstructions and creates an invisible ground plan of the room that it cleans.
All that the robotic vacuum cleaner’s owner needs to do is to switch it on, in the room requiring cleaning, and then leave it to do its work. The cleaner starts off by mapping out the geometry of the room, following which it systematically vacuums every uncovered inch of the floor space.
There are of course some restrictions to these home help devices.
Firstly, they are not able to clean tightly against a wall or vertical barrier, but then again neither can a regular vacuum cleaner. They are also slow and methodical and this results from their need to map out the area that they clean.
Even so, robotic vacuum cleaners are highly effective. They are proven to clean 99% of the available floor space (and this is actually a higher percentage than most humans achieve) and they do so whilst you get on with other tasks, or even leave the house.
Once the job is completed, the cleaner turns itself off and waits for its bag-less dirt and dust repository to be emptied.
At the top end of the range, but still very affordable, robotic cleaners are capable of connecting themselves to a special recharge port that is plugged into a main electricity socket and they will also adapt to clean different surfaces from carpet to hard floors.
As previously mentioned, the big name in robotic cleaners of this type is iRobot and you can look at some of their products at http://store.irobot.com/corp/index.jsp, where you will spot their quirky names like Roomba and Scooba.
I personally do not own a robotic vacuum cleaner, however some very good friends of mine do and they continually extol its virtues and talk about it as if it (iRobot Roomba) were a family pet. Needless to say, their home is always spotless and they have plenty of additional free time for other more pleasurable activities.
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