airwrap
While Supersonic was being launched, the design and research teams were already exploring new ideas with the v9 digital motor. We wanted to create a product that could create the perfect curl by using the ‘Coanda effect’. This effect felt like a magic trick as the curved air attracts and wraps the hair to the surface of the barrel. Other competitors have to use extreme heat and clamp the hair which causes excessive damage.
The Challenge
One of the less glamourous design challenges was a specific risk from the power-cord ‘knotting’ and splitting, when the user wrapped their hair around the barrel. I was briefed to work with upstream concept design engineers to design test methods that would find the most suitable swivel assembly that would allow the product to rotate 360 degrees, at any angle and any direction, without losing power. We also had the joy of dodging all the patents that other manufacturers had filed over the years.
The first step was to test competitor devices and understand which swivel contacts performed the best under extreme circumstances. We found that copper contacts coating in white gold were the best conductor and performed the best over long periods of time.
There were many design options on the table and one of the favourites was the ‘ball and socket’ idea as it as was the most compact concept, although it relied heavily on the spring providing enough push force. This design option failed the hair ingress testing as the spring became clogged over time, with the machine suffering intermittent power.
The final solution uses a dual slip ring concept providing an abundance of contact surface area for users that have a lot of heavy, long, thick, wet hair. This design was eventually patented by Dyson, and another notable success for the Hair Care engineering team.
