Product Evaluation: A Hairdryer Essay -- Papers

Product Evaluation: A Hairdryer Introduction. I am a 4th year student in St Patrick's Grammar school Downpatrick studying technology and design for my GCSE. I must do two focused tasks, my first task is a product evaluation, for this task I will be evaluating a hairdryer manufactured by Vidal Sassoon. Justification. I picked this appliance because: Ã…Â ¸ It is a commonly used household object. Ã…Â ¸ I have this appliance in my house so I can look at it whilst testing it against my specification. Ã…Â ¸ It is a unisex appliance used by all age groups. Ã…Â ¸ I am interested to find out how this appliance actually works. Ã…Â ¸ It fit's the criteria which is: It must have an element of control. It must have a power source. It must be a technological product. Safety. Plastic is used to make the casing of the hairdryer. Plastic is an excellent insulator which does not conduct electricity, heat and is also waterproof. It will not reshape with high temperatures. The electric element which is housed well inside the hairdryer does not come in contact with wet hair. An additional feature of this hairdryer is that it has an automatic safety cut-off facility. If there is any danger to the user or if it heats up above a certain temperature the trip switch located in the electric meter box switches. There are square shaped grids at both ends of the appliance. These grids prevent hair from the user getting sucked inside the appliance. The grids also prevent dust from getting into the appliance and onto the element. The cable connected to the rear of the handle is well insulated. It is also quite flexible, which help... ...ed into shape. The heating element has to conduct electricity and heat, so it will be made of a suitable metal. This metal element/core, has to be able to be worked into complex shapes. So obviously it is going to be a light gauge metal and the beat conductor of electricity and heat. Through science, I know that copper is the best conductor of electricity, but the disadvantage is that it tends to be expensive. Aesthetics. The overall colour scheme is silver at the nozzle and maroon at the handle. The buttons and wiring are black. The plastic has a shiny high quality finish, it gets this from the compression moulding and the properties of the plastic. The metallic material on the nozzle also has a high quality finish. The shape of the hairdryer is like a hand gun. All the edges on the hairdryer are curved.