Patent Application
20120076328
Various embodiments relate to acoustic reflectors.
Many outdoor and indoor public areas utilize speakers, speaker systems or public address systems for reproducing sound in these areas. These areas may include city streets, parks, residential neighborhoods, office buildings, campus areas, exterior walkways, shopping malls, casinos, atriums, and the like. These areas typically utilize speakers or speaker systems that are mounted to existing building structures, structural poles, or the like. Much effort is employed in installation of these systems and protecting these speaker systems from vandalism, wind load and/or the weather. Also, efforts have been directed towards protecting the associated wires or cables provided to these speaker systems. The prior art provides a plurality of methods and apparatuses for mounting speakers and speaker systems in public areas. The prior art also provides apparatuses for protecting these speakers from the elements. Further, the prior art has offered solutions for concealing speakers systems in public areas. Two prior art examples include Harwood U.S. Pat. No. 6,769,509 B2; and Harwood U.S. Pat. No. 7,219,873 B2.
According to at least one embodiment, a speaker assembly is provided with a speaker and a reflector spaced apart from the speaker. The reflector faces the speaker. The reflector has a central region and a plurality of circumferentially spaced lobes. Each lobe extends radially outward from the central region for reflecting acoustic vibrations from the speaker radially outboard from the reflector. Gaps are provided between the lobes for permitting acoustic vibrations to pass through the gaps.
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale; some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention.
Referring now to
Prior art speaker assemblies that focus a single speaker directly downward provide an uneven range of coverage. The speaker assembly 14 utilizes a reflector 18 for transmitting the acoustic vibrations with even distribution.
Referring now to
A series of support arms 32 extend from the speaker housing 20 and support the speaker housing 20 above the reflector 18. The support arms 32 may also support an adaptor 34 for mounting the media assembly 10 upon the structural pole 16. Alternatively, the top adaptor 30 may be employed for supporting the media assembly 10 upon a structural support, and therefore, the lower adaptor 34 may be employed for supporting a luminaire or some other media component.
The annular recesses 42, 44 are employed for directing incidental sound waves in this region radially outward from the peak 40. Thus, the annular recesses 42, 44 provide a perimeter for the reflective surface of the peak 40. Midrange to high frequency vibrations reflect off the annular recesses 42, 44 and out of the speaker assembly 14. The annular recesses 42, 44 are contoured to direct the midrange to high frequency vibrations such that these frequencies avoid the speaker 22. The midrange and high frequency vibrations are in the range of 1,500 Hz to 20 kHz. Some of the low frequency vibrations also reflect off the peak 40 and out of the speaker assembly 14. Therefore, some of the low frequency vibrations are reflected into the speaker 22; while reflection of midrange to high frequencies into the speaker 22 is eliminated. The speaker 22 produces frequencies that are full range. Low frequency vibrations are enhanced by the peak 40 of the reflector 18, while all frequencies are affected and all frequencies have enhanced distribution due to the reflector 18.
Direct application of a cone speaker results in uneven sound distribution. In order to optimize efficiency for all frequencies, the dome 38 extends toward the speaker 22 to provide uniform distribution of the frequencies out of the speaker assembly 14. Additionally, the low frequencies are reflected back to the speaker 22. Air that is moved by the speaker 22 is reflected off the peak 40 of the dome 38 and back to the speaker 22. The reflected frequencies and air pressure amplify the back pressure of the speaker 22, thereby tuning the speaker 22. Additionally, by amplifying the back pressure of the speaker 22, a smaller resonating chamber 28 is permitted in comparison to resonating chambers that are sized for a speaker that does not have amplified back pressure. By reducing the size of the resonating chamber 28, the size of the speaker housing 20 is also reduced thereby minimizing the packaging required for concealing the speaker 22 and avoiding any drawback to the appearance of the overall luminaire 12 the and speaker assembly 14.
The dome 38 is generally hemispherically shaped. The peak 40 has a radius (2.25 inches, for example) greater than a height (1.84 inches, for example) of the reflector 18. An outboard region 46 of the dome 38 is utilized for reflecting sound waves away from the reflector, such as the low frequency sound waves of group II illustrated in
The reflector 18 also includes a series of lobes 48 each extending radially outward from the dome 38. The lobes 48 are circumferentially spaced and have a generally flat acoustically reflective surface for reflecting the high frequency sound waves of group II. The lobes 48 are provided interstitially about the perimeter of the dome 38 thereby providing gaps 50 between each sequential pair of lobes 48. The spacing of the lobes 48 and gaps 50 balances a distribution of the high frequency sound waves directed near the base of the support pole 16 and reflected away from the reflector 18. The gaps 50 permit the high frequency sound waves of group IV to pass between the lobes 48 to be conveyed to the underlying support surface 36. Thus, the lobe 48 and gaps 50 permit a balanced distribution of sound waves near the base of the pole 16 and away from the base of the pole 16.
In the depicted embodiment, the lobes 48 each have a uniform angular thickness that is equivalent to the angular spacing of the lobes 48 for an even distribution of the high frequency sound waves. Of course, the invention contemplates any variation of angular thickness of lobes 48 and angular spacing of the gaps 50 to control the distribution of the high frequency sound waves. Although the gaps 50 are illustrated between the lobes 48, the invention contemplates that the reflective surface of the lobes 48 may be provided circumferentially around the dome 38 with apertures formed therethrough for permitting the high frequency sound waves to pass. Although a radial array of four lobes 48 and four gaps 50 is illustrated, the invention contemplates any arrangement or array of lobes 48 and gaps 50.
Referring again to
Referring again to
With reference again to
The invention contemplates that the media assembly 10, may incorporate a variety of additional features beyond audio and lighting. For example, sensors may be employed to measure temperature, moisture, air quality, radiation, wind velocity and the like. Cameras may be utilized for surveillance or for live monitoring of the applicable thoroughfare. The media assembly 10 may also include receivers and/or transmitters, such as radio frequency or infrared, for analysis and/or on-site monitoring. Power and data interfaces or receptacles may be provided in the media assemblies for additional lighting (such as temporary or holiday lighting), signage, decorations, or the like. Each of these additional components may be oriented in the housings of the media assembly 10. The various features of the media assembly 10 may be controlled by the known techniques, such as those disclosed in Harwood U.S. Pat. No. 7,630,776 B2, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
The media assembly 10 may be locally powered, self powered (such as solar or wind powered), or may be powered from a central amplifier. The reflector 18 may be opaque or translucent for illumination. The reflector 18 may be molded from an acrylic or formed from another acoustically reflective material. Although the speaker assembly 14 is illustrated between the luminaire 12 and the reflector 18, the invention contemplates various arrangements of the luminaire 12 speaker assembly 14 and reflector 18. The media assembly 10 may be utilized as an original installation, or may be utilized for retrofitting existing structural pole 16 for adding speaker assemblies 14.
While various embodiments are described above, it is not intended that these embodiments describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Additionally, the features of various implementing embodiments may be combined to form further embodiments of the invention.
