Haiku with SenseME features a unique Sleep Mode for all-night comfort, and it pairs with UP by Jawbone fitness trackers for one-touch activation.

Ceiling fans haven’t changed much over the years, but now they are set for a giant leap forward, thanks to ‘smart’ fan technology. Paul Skelton reports.

Technology is no slouch. Look at the world of IT, for example – in such a relatively short time period, the world of personal computing has progressed far beyond what anyone could imagine in the 1960s or ‘70s.

Today, homes are smarter, lights are smarter, blinds are smarter… nearly every electrical device in a home can now be integrated into a larger control system, allowing residents to dramatically increase their comfort levels.

But, in this rush forward, some things have been left behind. Take the humble ceiling fan as an example.

Ever since being developed in the 1860s-1870s in the United States, very little has changed to the original design. Yes, lights have been added. As have remote controls. But, what else? Any step forward seems to be a slight improvement on an existing concept.

Until now.

Big Ass Fans – a company headquartered in Kentucky, US, and with an office in Tingalpa, Queensland – recently introduced a new range of ‘smart ceiling fans’, which use a series of sensors to adapt to the world around them.

The range is called ‘Haiku’, and the fans now come with what the company calls ‘SenseME’ technology.

“We introduced the Haiku range of residential ceiling fans in 2012. Last year, we made them ‘smart’,” public relations manager Katheran Wasson says.

“We added an onboard computer as well as temperature and humidity sensors, so anytime the room around one of our fans is heating up or cooling down it can sense the changes and, in turn, the fan will speed up or slow down.”

“It also has a learning mode. Anytime you make a manual adjustment, the fan learns and adapts and in the future it will just work.”

Katheran explains that SenseME technology is all about manipulating airflow for comfort, not just cooling.

Haiku ceiling fans with SenseME technology are built on the principle that every room is a “unique Micro Environment (ME), with dozens of factors affecting how hot or cold it feels at any given time.”

SenseME technology knows when you enter or leave a room and turns the Haiku fan on and off automatically: “The ME in SenseME is a nod to the micro environments it monitors for temperature and humidity changes, adjusting Haiku’s speed to optimise comfort.”

Haiku with SenseME technology is also the first fan controlled by a smartphone app (iOs and Android). The app can be used to set schedules for both the fan and LED light, or to select from preset control modes including ‘Gradual Awake’, which gently increases the fan’s speed and turns up the light for a more pleasant wake-up.

Approximately 20% of the population struggle with chronic sleep problems and the conditions around your bed are just as crucial to a good night’s sleep as your mattress, sheets and pillow.

Thermal comfort is strongly linked to how well we sleep. You may understand your room gets cooler at night, but the average fan doesn’t — it just keeps spinning away, making your room feel colder and colder until you wake up, freezing, at 4am.

“SenseME technology requires approximately 1W of power to operate. For the sake of comparison, the fan itself takes 2W at Speed 1 (minimum) and 30W at Speed 7 (maximum).

“The smart technology is a very minor power draw; basically negligible.”

SenseME will be available in Australia in May 2015.