Wearable fans nearly match some desk fans in manikin lab test

A small fan points at a face instead of filling an office with moving air. In Concordia's controlled test, wearable face and neck fans brought thermal comfort back into the neutral range and closely matched the bladeless fan and a low-speed bladed fan—without taking up desk space or sending unwanted drafts toward coworkers.

The researchers compared four devices: a face fan, a neck fan, and both bladed and bladeless desk fans. The test took place in an office set to 25°C (77°F), using a 23-segment anatomical manikin designed to simulate how the human body regulates heat. It measured skin temperature, heat loss and overall thermal comfort while the fans ran at different speeds.

The body does not need to be cooled uniformly. The face and neck make up about 5.5% of the body's surface, but they are particularly sensitive to temperature. Directing air there produced nearly the same improvement in overall comfort as desktop fans. The face fan delivered the strongest local effect, increasing heat loss from the face by as much as seven watts.

The bladed desk fan still cooled most strongly. But the wearable devices closely matched the bladeless fan and delivered comfort comparable to a low-speed bladed fan. That distinction matters: the result is not that a tiny wearable fan outperforms every desk fan, but that it can provide a similar comfort effect with a more targeted airflow.

So what changes, concretely? In a large office occupied by only a few people, especially under hybrid work arrangements, wearable cooling could let a centralized HVAC system continue operating while reducing reliance on broader personal airflow. The study points to a practical option for workers who want cooling without disturbing nearby colleagues, but it tested a manikin in a controlled room rather than people in a working office, and it did not report a measured energy reduction.