Publication: Evaluation of micro-perforated panel on hair dryer
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Date
2024-07-01
Authors
Tan Hui Ni
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Abstract
As user expectations for experience and quality continue to rise, hair dryer noise is an unpleasant sound that has to be minimized. In this project, a Philips 3000 Series Hair Dryer BHD360 with a 2100 W motor is used to evaluate the acoustic performance of the micro-perforated panel (MPP) in reducing the hair dryer noise. First, the overall sound power level (SWL) of the hair dryer is measured using eight microphones with a hemisphere array. Microflown Scan and Paint Technology is then used to identify the noise source of the hair dryer. Based on the noise source, which is the air inlet of the hair dryer, two MPP designs, MPP 1 and MPP 2, are created to be applied at the hair dryer air inlet. The sound absorption coefficient (SAC) simulation is further performed to determine the optimum MPP parameters for each of the MPP designs. The impedance tube experiment is conducted to validate the SAC model based on the simulation. The MPP parameters of MPP 2 were chosen for the experiment due to their ease of fabrication. The results obtained showed similar trends to the simulation results, thereby confirming the validity of the simulation. The MPPs with optimum parameters are fabricated using a 3D printing-based fused deposition method (FDM) process. The SWL measurement is then repeated on the hair dryer with MPPs to compare the effectiveness of the MPP designs in reducing hair dryer noise. Results obtained show that MPP 1 has reduced hair dryer noise by 2.15 dBA, whereas MPP 2 reduces hair dryer noise by 1.28 dBA. As a conclusion, MPP can be used to reduce hair dryer noise, and MPP 1 is the preferred design for reducing noise in the hair dryer.