Abstract
The current study investigates the flow performance and sound quality for a standard and an alternative compressor design for use in a Dyson desk fan. The alternative compressor has an uneven blade spacing to spread the associated energy of a single blade passing frequency to several frequencies in order to improve sound quality. The flow performance and acoustic signature for the two designs are compared both as a standalone compressor and installed in product. A dedicated sound preference model was developed to objectively evaluate the acoustic signature of both designs. This methodology can be used to help optimise compressor design in terms of user preference.