How To Design A Hair Dryer

In our daily beauty care routines, hair dryers are indispensable tools. Thanks to innovative designs by designers, modern hair dryers have evolved from simple functional products into fashionable, personalized beauty accessories. From streamlined curves to stylish color combinations, they not only make the styling process more enjoyable but also enhance user experience. This article will focus on hair dryer design, sharing the processes followed by industrial designers and structural designers when designing hair dryers. We will also showcase various creative new concept hair dryer designs.

Note: Most of the physical images or renderings of hair dryers in this article are from the web. If your rights have been infringed, please contact us at wide1973@nbwide.com to notify us to remove the images.

Hair Dryer Design Steps

First, the appearance design needs to be completed by industrial designers, who can use Rhino or Creo/Pro-E. Generally speaking, 90% of products on the market can be directly modeled using Creo/Pro-E to achieve seamless production integration. Then, structural engineers complete the internal structure based on the model.

From a functional perspective, hair dryers need to blow cold and hot air, and have a switch to control speed settings. Therefore, it typically requires a motor, fan blades, heating coils, and speed setting toggle switches. The hair dryer handle has a folding function, so a pivot structure is needed in the folding section to connect the handle and housing. The main materials for hair dryer housings are ABS, transparent PC, ABS+PC, etc.

01. Modeling

Need high-quality Rhino modeling, avoiding simple surfaces, broken surfaces, and oversized surfaces. For those unfamiliar with Rhino, using CREO/Pro-E to model hair dryers ensures seamless structural integration. The model in this example was built using Pro/E.

02. Save Model

Save the model separately and split the housing according to color and function based on the rendering.

03. Assembly Mode

Assemble the split housing in assembly mode to facilitate the design of internal structures.

04. Standard Component Selection

There are two standard components that need to be selected in cooperation with hardware engineers: motor and toggle switch. The motor should be selected according to product power, and the toggle switch should be selected according to speed settings. After selection, establish component models according to assembly structure design specifications.

05. Build Brackets

According to the internal space of the housing, create fixing brackets for the motor and heating coils

06. Design Fan Wheel

Design the fan wheel according to the inner diameter of the motor bracket housing.

07. Assemble Components

Assemble the motor and impeller to the bracket, and design a fixing structure to secure the motor in the housing and fix the impeller to the motor head to achieve power transmission.

08. Hair Dryer Heating Elements Coil Bracket

According to the internal space of the heating coil housing, design a fixing bracket for the heating coil to secure the heating coil and provide heat source.

09. Air Duct Mesh

Design iron mesh for the air duct outlet to prevent foreign objects from entering the heating coil, causing malfunctions or safety issues.

10. Snap-fit Components

Use snap-fit structures to assemble the heating coil housing and motor bracket as an integrated component.

11. Internal Components

Assemble the internal heating coil components into the housing, securing them with internal ribs and clips of the hair dryer.

12. Rear Cover

Add a full metal filter mesh to the rear cover to prevent foreign object suction. Design a snap structure to secure the rear cover to the housing.

13. Toggle Switch Components

Install the toggle switch into the handle, design ribs and slots to secure the switch within the handle housing.

14. Button Design

In assembly mode, design push hooks for sliding buttons to ensure their stroke matches the toggle switch. Also, design grooves on the buttons to hook onto the toggle switch keys.

15. Heating Protection Cable Protector

To prevent cable breakage at the connection between handle and housing, a cable protector needs to be designed.

16. Folding Design

For portability and storage convenience, hair dryers are typically designed to be foldable. This requires designing a hinge mechanism between the handle and main body.

17. Final Assembly

Assemble all components together to form the complete hair dryer product.