Dyson may be best known for its vacuum cleaners but it hasn’t stop the British tech company from dabbling in other areas – and successfully at that. First came its Airblade hand dryer, then the bladeless fan and now a bathroom faucet that also dries hands.

Dyson’s Airblade Tap hand dryer looks like a regular faucet but it combines hand washing and drying in a futuristic tap. Underneath the stainless steel façade is a V4 engine, which was seven years in the making. The 1,400-watt motor is considered one of the world’s smallest and the only hand dryer motor powerful enough to draw in 28 litres of air a second.

Operating the faucet is simple enough. The user places their hands under the faucet’s nozzle, which breaks an infrared beam that triggers a stream of lukewarm water. Once hand-washing is complete, the user moves their hands underneath the faucet’s two “handle bars,” where breaking a second infrared beam sets off a blast of air that dries hands at the sink in 14 seconds.

Besides its quick drying time – most dryers can take up to 43 seconds to dry hands – Dyson’s Airblade Tap boasts a number of other desirable features:

• Users don’t have to traipse to a separate hand dryer after washing hands. This prevents water from being splashed on the floor, which can create problems in the restroom.
• It is equipped with a HEPA filter, which removes 99.9 per cent of all bacteria from restroom air – the same air that’s used to dry hands.
• It costs up to 69 per cent less to run per year than other hand dryers, and up to 97 per cent less than to restock and dispose of paper towels, lowering operating costs for facility managers.
• It produces at least 73 per cent less carbon dioxide than some other hand dryers and up to 69 per cent less than recycled paper towels.