Winning fan

An engineer from Malaysia has won Premier Farnell's Live Edge Electronic Design for the Global Environment challenge.

John Noble's winning design - called MyFan - is a ceiling fan that combines an electronically commutated motor and controller, and an aerodynamically efficient blade design that reduces fan input power by up to 66 per cent of that of a traditional ceiling fan.

It boasts auxiliary output channels that drive up to 20W of integrated LED lighting with up/down lighting modules. The motor construction is totally enclosed and is available with an IP5x environmental rating.

For his efforts, Noble received a cash prize of $50,000 as well as the support to move the design towards production.

The support package, estimated to be worth an additional $50,000, will include the services of an electronic design consultancy that will help develop the design into a prototype, and assist with legal matters, IP registration, marketing and publicity.

For its part, Premier Farnell will help to secure investment funding for the new design, which the group hopes to actively market to millions of its customers globally.

'Our congratulations go out to John, we look forward to working with him to register his design and support him through production into the market,' said Harriet Green, CEO of Premier Farnell.