BALTIMORE — Whether you live in a neighborhood or an apartment complex, it's hard to escape the uncomfortable sounds of yard work.
Four seniors at Johns Hopkins University, with support from Stanley Black & Decker, had the task of quieting a leaf blower without reducing its power.
But Andrew Palacio says it wasn't easy.
"Some of them succeeded, some of them failed. That's just what the engineering process is all about, but with that, we eventually came across the final prototype that we have today," said Palacio.
It took the seniors the entire school year to create the final prototype.
Michael Chacon says he felt empowered by the journey, even though it was difficult.
"You know a lot of times through life failure is not really seen as a good thing, but it really pushes you one step closer to the solution, and just learning how to appreciate that was really, really important," said Chacon.
The students' improved leaf blower drops the overall noise level by nearly 40%.
"Air is coming in through the back to the fan and down the leaf blower. Some of the air is going to be going through the helical channels, so we designed it to target a specific frequency to create destructive interference as it exits and re-combines with the airflow going through the center," said Madison Morrison.
In other words, "We kind of just shifted the sound wave such that the peaks canceled out and we got less noise out of it," said Leen Alfaoury.
With the device, the high-pitched sound you hear from a leaf blower is no more.
Palacio says this project was one of his favorites because he and his classmates were creating a product and not just an idea.
"In school, they teach you a lot of theory, which is super important a lot of math as well, and all those things are great and needed to be an engineer but ultimately, you also need to be able to work with your hands and physically get them dirty some times to try new things," said Palacio.
The students used 3D printing to make each prototype, which Chacon says was a huge help.
He says the research was faster since they could make each design in less than a day and test it out immediately.
"To see that one thing that we developed on computer software is now physically in our hands is it's really beautiful kind of feeling that is very rewarding," said Chacon.
Stanley Black & Decker will now manufacture this device, and they plan to have it in stores in two years.
