Hairdryers are a popular household appliance used by both men and women simply because no one likes to walk around with wet hair. The hairdryer has two main purposes. The first is to evaporate all the water from your hair, and the second is to use the hairdryer as a styling product to push the hair into position while creating volume. People with longer hair almost have to use a hairdryer if they don’t want their hair being weighed down for over an hour by excess moisture.
Working principle
When a hairdryer is connected to a power socket and switched on, the electricity powers a heating element and an electric motor, which operates a fan in the dryer. The heating element converts the electrical energy into heat of up to corresponding Watts. This process is known as resistive heating and is used in other household appliances, like the electric kettle and toaster.
The physical components of the hairdryer that help to get rid of water from your hair are the electric fan and the heating component. Both of which are located inside the hairdryer. Room temperature air comes into the hairdryer through the vents. The air then passes a nichrome wire which is used as the heating element. Nichrome is an alloy that is combined with both nickel and chromium. The nichrome wire acts as a resistor of the electric energy, which in turn creates the heat that the room temperature air passes through to become hot enough to get the moisture out of your hair. The hot air is then blown out the end of the barrel and onto your hair.
Hairdryers often have a ceramic or polymer frame and casing. Polymers are lightweight plastic materials with a limitless range of colours and significant degrees of strength. They are also good thermal and electrical insulators. They protect the internal components of the hairdryer and users from burns and electric shock. Polymer casing also allows for injection moulding; a fast manufacturing process used to produce large numbers of identical items of plastic with compartments that interlock with snap-fasteners for easy assembly.