After Alexa, you can now talk to your smart fan to control cooling

The intelligent appliances sense the temperature and humidity and adjust the speed accordingly

The big bulky landline phones been all but replaced by powerful computers nestled inside our pockets. However very little has been achieved when it comes to innovations to create smart fans for producing airflow for cooling.

But Havells, a fast-moving electrical goods company which has its roots in a small shop set up by Qimat Rai Gupta in the Old Delhi area in 1958, is trying to change this. This firm has developed the country's first intelligent Fan — Carnesia-I — with smart mode. The fan is enabled with the Internet of Things, a technology where devices communicate with each other intelligently, to add convenience and comfort to consumer’s fast-paced life.

The smart fan range is compatible with voice-enabled devices such as Alexa and Google Home and can be operated with a mobile application. The Carnesia-I comes with multi-user mode which enables access to operate a single fan by many users. The ‘smart mode’ senses the temperature and humidity in the room while adjusting the fan speed accordingly. Apart from this, the fan also offers new auto modes like ‘sleep’ and ‘breeze’ for night comfort and natural breeze effect. Other features include five-level speed control, timer setting and automatic on and off.

“It is an intelligent fan that can sense temperature and humidity in the room and offer the right speed for enhanced comfort to the users,” said Ravindra Singh Negi, president, electrical consumer durables, Havells India Limited. “You can also control the fan from a remote, app, or voice-enabled devices such as Alexa and Google. For example, you can just say ‘hey Google speed up the fan’ to increase the speed,” said Negi whose company developed the innovation based on a lot of consumer research.

Havells has one of the most modern manufacturing plants for fans in Haridwar, Uttarakhand. There, all categories of fans including ceiling, table, wall-mounted, exhaust and pedestal are manufactured under one roof. The current production capacity of the plant is more than 10 million fans annually. The plant is equipped with technologies such as automated CNC (computerised numerical control) machines for end covers, computerised conveyor assembly line and testing facilities. 

India’s organised fan market is currently pegged at Rs 8000 crore. Havells entered the fans segment in 2003 and has now emerged as one of the fastest-growing and among top players in the country. The company is currently present in the premium and super-premium categories and offers a choice of over 250 SKU’s (stock keeping unit) of high performance, decorative and energy-saving fans. The company said it has also started making its presence felt in the international markets in the fan’s category.

Havells is not the only company betting big on making the fans intelligent. Among them are also few startups in the country which are trying to bring innovation in this space. One such startup is Mumbai-headquartered appliances startup Atomberg Technologies which is in the business of manufacturing energy-efficient and smart ceiling fans named ‘Gorilla’. The firm has already launched Renesa Smart Plus wi-fi enabled fans on Amazon which can be controlled through an app, Google Home and Alexa. 

Pioneers of BLDC (brushless DC motors) technology in India, Gorilla fans are designed to save up to 65 per cent electricity by consuming 28W power compared to an ordinary fan which consumes 75-80 watts power. A household in India can save up to Rs 2000 per year per fan using these machines. These fans also come with a smart remote with a timer and sleep features. 

The company was co-founded by IIT-Bombay graduates Manoj Meena and Sibabrata Das in 2012. Prior experience in BLDC technology led them to enter into the ceiling fans industry in 2015. 

Last September, Atomberg raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by A91 Partners. Early last year, it also raised an undisclosed amount from the family office of two-wheeler giant Hero Group’s Suman Kant Munjal. The firm counts Indian Railway, Bharat Electronics and Tata among its clients.