About Our Project

The work done in this project was aimed at creating repeatable and measurable design improvements to a centrifugal type hairdryer. This is where the air is ejected perpendicular to the intake. This specific hair dryer used was a Bio Ionic Whisper Light and is rated as one of the quietest hair dryers on the market. Its baseline noise measurement was measured at 73.1 dBA. After extensive measurements of the device and through isolating certain components, it was determined that fan speed and the intake baffles are the two key factors in controlling the noise of the hairdryer. Our team aimed to improve the fan system to allow for motor speed reductions and also redesign of the intake baffles to increase the noise suppression on the motor.

The redesigned fans were prototyped using a selective laser sintering method of 3D printing, this produces tight tolerances and an almost replicated product. When the fan was tested in the hair dryer it experienced large vibrations due to an unbalance of the center of mass and this thwarted any attempt to test the noise output from the fan design changes. The imbalance was attempted to be removed by using a prop balancer to balance the center of mass on the printed fan. As for the intake baffle they were designed to change the intake of the hairdryer from the side to the back. It also provided extra sound suppression to the fan and reduced the noise at the side of the fan by 2 dBA and reduced the noise in the front by 1 dBA.

Project Photos

Figure 1: The basic components of a hairdryer.

Figure 3: Setups to determine flow performance.

Figure 5: Noise contributions from hairdryer components.

Figure 7: Velocity profile comparision between two hairdryers.

Figure 9: 3D printed chevron nozzle.

Figure 11: 3D printed baffles CAD model.

Figure 13: propellor balancer used to statically balance 3D printed fans.

Figure 2: The BioIonic Whisper Light, hairdryer used for testing.

Figure 4: Noise testing setup.

Figure 6: How the fan attaches to the motor.

Figure 8: Frequncy Spectrum of recorded noise signal with and without A-weighting.

Figure 10: CAD design of fan for Whisper hairdryer.

Figure 12: 3D printed baffles.

Figure 14: Project budget breakdown.

MEET OUR TEAM

Team Leader
maj12b@my.fsu.edu

Mark Johnson

Mark is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student from Fort Walton Beach. He served in the US Airforce for 6 years as C-17 Airdrop Instructor Loadmaster and wants to apply the tools learned the military to a future career in Mechanical Engineering. His area of interests inlcude dynamics and wants to start a business in designing and creating new and improved versions of old mechanical designs for entertainment.

Financial and Web Design
pav11b@my.fsu.edu

Peter Van Brussel

Peter is a Senior Mechanical Engineering student from Pensacola, FL. He has interests in the topics of fluid dynamics and renewable energy. He is part of the Florida State University's BS-MS program and also a member of the university's nationaly ranked ulitmate frisbee team.

Design
sme13b@my.fsu.edu

Shawn Eckert

Shawn is a senior in Mechanical Engineering completing his final year. He is from a small town known as Crestview and transferred to FSU in the fall of 2013. He specializes in mechanical work and analysis/simulation. Shawn is a brother of the Phi Delta chapter of Theta Tau. He would like to pursue a career in National Security for a defense contractor. He is also interested in pursuing an MBA after gaining experience in the workforce.

Design
kth13c@my.fsu.edu

Kiet Ho

Kiet is from Florida and a senior in Mechanical Engineering. He is interested in the materials field in engineering and also going into research and development for new methods to enhance productivity. He was a FGLSAMP robotic technician under Dr. Collins Adetu in 2013 and worked on constructing robots with various sensors.