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Is this the ideal home air conditioner?

korean product designer outlines air conditioner airtree
Image used with permission by copyright holder
The heat of August is upon us, and if you’re trying to save up some money for that end-of-summer vacation, revving up the air conditioner at full blast might not be a preferable option.

Meeting somewhere in the middle has translated to cheap bedside fans, or room coolers that end up being either less effective or more expensive than you originally planned. But Korean product designer Euikyun Koh has a solution in his innovative “Air-Tree,” a modern and minimalist air conditioner that spreads cold air through your home in a panoramic 360 degrees.

But this isn’t just your average rotating fan: The air spreads all the way through your home and efficiently decreases the temperature.

To use the air conditioner, Koh explains on his Behance page, adjust the height of the wooden board on top of the unit. As you pull up the board, the “wind power” increases as you raise the height of the board. Likewise, it’ll decrease as you push the board back down.

When the user wants to use the Air-Tree for personal cooling, they simply have to remove a touch-based remote control from the body of the unit. After the remote is removed, the Air-Tree’s body turns itself to send cool air in the user’s direction.

Koh also details the innards of the device via a useful graphic, which shows an evaporator for heat absorption, a suction fan to pull warm air inside the unit, an emission fan to send out the cool air, an expansion valve to control the outgoing air pressure, a water escape pipe, and an evaporator pipe.

And of course, judging by the attractive look of the Air-Tree, the unit could easily serve as a makeshift coffee or end-table when not in use.

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