Patent Grant
10820111
This application is a national stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of PCT Application No. PCT/FR2016/052962, filed on Nov. 15, 2016, which claims priority to and the benefit of French Application No. 1562261 filed on Dec. 14, 2015, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The invention belongs to the field of acoustic equipment. The invention relates to an acoustic membrane for a loudspeaker and also a loudspeaker equipped with such a membrane. More specifically, the invention targets a new acoustic membrane shape, suited in particular for implementing compact and tweeter-type loudspeakers.
In general, a loudspeaker comprises a fixed chassis and a circular acoustic membrane (or diaphragm) connected to the chassis and mechanically coupled to a winding via a cylindrical support. The winding is in particular mobile in the annular gap of a magnetic system. In practice, the magnetic system is configured for generating a magnetic field in the gap. Further, the winding is configured to receive electrical signals representative of the sound signal to be generated. Based on these received electrical signals and the magnetic field present in the gap, the winding moves in the gap thereby leading to the movement of the membrane.
In practice, each element equipping the loudspeaker is sized to allow the reproduction of sounds belonging to a preset audible frequency range. There are for example loudspeakers configured for playback of low frequencies (<150 Hz), intermediate frequencies (in the order of 150 to 2500 Hz) and high frequencies (between 200 Hz and 20 kHz); these loudspeakers are in particular known under the name of “woofer”, “midrange” and “tweeter” respectively.
In particular, the membrane generally has the shape of a cone for woofers and midrange, and in the form of a rigid or flexible dome for midrange and tweeters, with a convexity turned towards the outside of the loudspeaker.
Further, in the patent application published under EP 1,618,761, the Applicant proposed a tweeter-type loudspeaker equipped with a dome membrane positioned inversely to what is generally done, meaning that the concavity of the dome is turned towards the outside of the loudspeaker in the direction of the axis of movement of the coil or support. The cylindrical support of the winding is simply attached on the convex surface at mid-height of the dome, so as to uniformly move the entire surface of the membrane.
However, this inverted dome configuration does not allow compact loudspeaker implementation, in particular in the direction of movement of the coil. In fact, in order to guarantee a maximum excursion of the coil and therefore the membrane, the depth of the chassis in which the magnetic system and the winding are housed has to be increased. Additionally, in order to displace the self-resonant frequency of the membrane outside of the audible frequency band, and in particular to push the self-resonance frequency thereof as high as possible, the membrane must necessarily be made of rigid material, in particular beryllium. Further, this solution does not guarantee a precise positioning of the coil support relative to the center of the membrane. This solution also does not offer an optimal geometric rigidity for the point of coupling with the support of the winding. A consequence of this weakness is to considerably lower the frequency of the fundamental resonance mode and therefore limit the useful bandwidth of the tweeter.
In this context, the present invention therefore aims to improve the solution presented above.
In particular, the goal of the present invention is notably to propose an alternative acoustic membrane solution with which to implement a compact loudspeaker, in particular compact in the direction of movement of the coil.
The solution of the invention also aims to propose a solution which allows the use of flexible or rigid material for the membrane and also easy and precise positioning of the coil support on the membrane.
Thus the subject of the invention is a circular acoustic membrane having an upper surface and an opposite lower surface. This membrane is therefore intended to be coupled, at the lower surface thereof, to a mobile winding via a support.
According to the invention, the membrane has a concentric annular fold delimiting in the membrane a circular central portion and an annular peripheral portion, where the central portion has a concavity turned towards the upper surface of the membrane. Further, the internal edge of the fold is carried by the lower surface and comprises or forms an attachment surface intended for coupling with the support of the coil.
Thus, the acoustic membrane of the invention has a substantially M-shaped profile. More specifically, the acoustic membrane is provided with an annular fold substantially centered on the center of the membrane, and also two portions on either side of this annular fold. The portion of the membrane inside the annular fold is called the central portion and has a nonzero diameter and a concavity intended to be turned towards the outside of the loudspeaker. The portion of the membrane outside of the annular fold is called the annular portion and has a free outer edge intended to be fixed to a chassis of a loudspeaker generally via a suspension. In practice, this annular portion can also have a concavity intended to be turned towards the outside of the loudspeaker. The internal edge of the fold is in particular intended to be in contact with the support for the winding.
First, such a configuration makes precise and accurate positioning of the coil support on the membrane easier because this position is identified on the membrane by the fold thus formed.
Next, the specific positioning of the coil support on the membrane has a very favorable effect on the resonance phenomenon. In fact, conventionally, the upper part of the coil support, meaning the part in contact with the membrane, participates in the appearance of undesired deformations of the membrane which can lead to distortion of the audio signal. With the geometry of the membrane of the invention, the upper part of the coil support is constrained for avoiding an incoherent deformation of the membrane in a given audible frequency range, and therefore increasing the breakup frequency of the membrane.
Further, the barycenter of the membrane is made closer to the plane of adhesion of the suspension. With this configuration, the appearance of nonlinear oscillatory movements of the surface of the membrane is reduced and therefore so is the risk of rocking (usually designated by the name “rocking mode”) of the membrane which could lead to mechanical collisions of the coil against the walls of the gap. It is then possible to attach the membrane to the loudspeaker chassis through less rigid suspensions.
In practice, the fold and also the two portions of the membrane can be obtained by forming a single sheet of material. The fold can also result from assembly of two distinct portions of identical or different materials.
Additionally, it is possible to use materials described as rigid in the domain of tweeter or midrange type loudspeakers, for example aluminum or Kevlar™ materials, which have in particular the advantage of having a high elastic modulus, in particular over 70 GPa. It is also possible to use materials described as flexible, for example paper or silk, having in particular an elastic modulus under 1 GPa. Further, it is possible to consider a central portion of rigid material and an annular portion of flexible material. Of course, the inverse is also possible: specifically an annular portion of rigid material and a central portion of flexible material.
Thus, in one variant, the central portion and the annular portion are of different materials.
In this scenario, the method can consist of forming the central portion and the annular portion separately, and then assembling the peripheral edge of the central portion directly with the internal edge of the annular portion. The assembly can result from a conventional adhering method.
The annular fold thus formed has overall an opening angle substantially less than 180°, for example between 130° and 150°.
In one embodiment, the opening angle of the fold can be an acute angle. In other words, the fold can be such that the tangent to the lower surface of the central portion at a point located on the edge of the fold and the tangent to the lower surface of the annular portion at the same point form an acute angle between them.
In another embodiment, the opening angle of the fold can be such that:
The main axis of symmetry of the membrane is in particular the radial axis of symmetry of the membrane and is generally substantially parallel to the direction of movement of the coil or to the main axis of the support.
In practice, the various dimensions of the membrane, such as for example the opening angle of the fold, the radius of curvature or the surface area of each of the central and annular portions, are in particular determined depending on the desired response curve and the material(s) constituting the membrane.
For example:
Of course, the respective radii of curvature of the central and annular portions can be slightly different in order to optimize the two fundamental resonances of the membrane. It is for example possible to conceive of a difference in the order of 0.5 mm.
The subject of the invention is also a loudspeaker, for example tweeter-type, comprising:
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description provided below, which is for reference only and is in no way limiting, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Please note that in these figures, the same references designate identical or analogous elements and the various structures are not to scale. Further, for reasons of clarity, only elements indispensable to the understanding of the invention are shown on these figures.
As can be seen, the acoustic membrane 1 shown in
In particular, the acoustic membrane 1 is circular and has in particular a lower surface 10 and an opposite upper surface 11. In this membrane 1, an angular area can be seen in the form of an annular fold 12 which defines a central portion 13 and an annular portion 14 of the membrane 1. The annular fold 12 is centered on the center of the circular membrane and the internal edge 120 of the fold 12 is in particular carried by the lower surface 10 of the membrane 1. In particular, the opening angle of the fold 12 is such that the central portion 13 and the annular portion 14 are curved, with a concavity turned in a direction opposite to that of the opening angle of the fold 12. The radius of curvature of the central portion is preferably close to that of the annular portion. However, these two radii of curvature can also be different in order to adapt the fundamental resonant frequency of the central portion and that of the annular portion to the desired performance.
This membrane can be obtained by shaping a single sheet of single-layer or multilayer type material, but could also result from an assembly, for example by adhering, of two distinct preformed pieces. With the assembly, a membrane having central and annular portions of different materials, suited to the desired response curve, can be achieved. Thus, the central portion can be of a material described as rigid and the annular portion of a material described as flexible. For example, the following combinations can be considered: Aluminum-Silk, Aluminum-Mylar™, and Aluminum-Paper.
As shown in
Thus, on either side of the coil support, the membrane forms acute angles relative to the coil support cylinder. In particular, the tangent to the lower surface 10 of the central portion 13 at a point located on the edge of the fold 12 and the coil support at this same point form an acute angle α1 therebetween. Similarly, the tangent to the lower surface 10 of the annular portion 14 at the same point and the coil support at the same point form a second acute angle α2 therebetween. For example, the two angles α1 and α2 can be equal or different and can be modulated depending on the desired frequency response. Generally, for one material, as the angles become more acute the more the rigidity of the membrane increases and the higher the self-resonance frequency of the membrane becomes.
In practice, the geometry of the membrane and the material(s) used have an influence on the acoustical and mechanical behavior of the membrane. Because of this, the various dimensions of the membrane can be set depending in particular on the desired response curve and on the material(s) used for the membrane.
The dimensions of the membrane according to four variants adapted in particular for implementation of a tweeter are given below as nonlimiting examples.
The following are defined for these four variants:
In the first variant, the membrane is made from Kevlar™ and is intended to be coupled with a 20 mm diameter coil support. In this first variant, the membrane preferably has the following dimensions:
In the second variant, the membrane is made from Kevlar™ and is intended to be coupled with a 25 mm diameter coil support. In this second variant, the membrane preferably has the following dimensions:
In the third variant, the membrane is made from aluminum and is intended to be coupled with a 20 mm diameter coil support. In this third variant, the membrane preferably has the following dimensions:
In the fourth variant, the membrane has a central portion of aluminum and an annular portion of Mylar™, and is intended to be coupled with a 25 mm diameter coil support. In this fourth variant, the membrane preferably has the following dimensions:
A loudspeaker equipped with an acoustic membrane described above is shown in
Because of the specific geometry of the invention, a membrane with better acoustic performance than existing membranes can be proposed. In particular, with the solution of the invention, it is possible to:
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 62261 | Dec 2015 | FR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/FR2016/052962 | 11/15/2016 | WO | 00 |
| Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| WO2017/103360 | 6/22/2017 | WO | A |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4590332 | Delbuck | May 1986 | A |
| 6490363 | Liu | Dec 2002 | B1 |
| 10694279 | Danovi | Jun 2020 | B1 |
| 20040170297 | Hikichi | Sep 2004 | A1 |
| 20070009133 | Gerkinsmeyer | Jan 2007 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 1618761 | Jan 2006 | EP |
| WO-2005015950 | Feb 2005 | WO |
| Entry |
|---|
| European Patent Office, International Search Report for Corresponding International Application No. PCT/FR2016/052962, dated Feb. 20, 2017 (2 pgs.). |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20200053474 A1 | Feb 2020 | US |
