Patent Grant
10645498
This application claims priority to Austrian Patent Application No. A50411/2017, filed on May 15, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
The invention relates to an electrodynamic acoustic transducer, which comprises a housing, a membrane and a coil arrangement attached to the membrane, wherein the coil arrangement comprises a plurality of coils each having two terminals being static in relation to the housing. At least one pair of coils is serially connected and has one terminal in common. The remaining terminals are individual terminals. Furthermore, the transducer comprises a magnet system being designed to generate a magnetic field transverse to a longitudinal direction of a wound wire of the coil arrangement. Finally, the transducer comprises connecting wires connecting the coils at connecting points, which are between the connecting wires and the coils, with the terminals.
An electrodynamic acoustic transducer of the kind above generally is known. In this context US 2014/321690 A1 discloses a speaker with two coils stacked above another switched in series. Accordingly, the coils have one terminal in common, and the coil arrangement is connected to three terminals by means of three connecting wires.
A drawback of prior art transducers is that the connecting wires are difficult to handle, in particular if they are very thin as this counts for micro transducers, which for example are built-in into phones and other kind of mobile devices. Accordingly, manufacturing is technically complicated and makes the transducer more expensive. In addition, connecting wires, which can be seen as springs, influence and hinder the movement of the membrane. For example, the membrane does not just move piston-like, but also rocks respectively tumbles, which is caused by undesired but unavoidable asymmetries of the speaker. Usually, the connecting wires are comparably long and often shaped like a loop so as to provide a low spring constant, thus keeping the influence of the connecting wires on the movement of the membrane low. Although said influence may be reduced in the presented way, it does not disappear.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art and to provide an improved electrodynamic acoustic transducer. Particularly, the influence of the connecting wires on a movement of the membrane shall be reduced in comparison to prior art transducer designs.
The inventive problem is solved by a transducer as defined in the opening paragraph, wherein a conductive layer or path attached to the membrane electrically connects the coils and the common terminal. Particularly, the conductive layer or path connects a common connecting point between the coils and the common terminal.
In this way, a dedicated connecting wire from a common connecting point between the coils to the common terminal, as it is used in prior art designs, can be omitted. Instead, a conductive layer or path on the membrane is used for this reason. Accordingly, the influence of the connecting wires on a movement of the membrane is reduced in comparison to prior art transducer designs. However, a short piece of wire may be used to connect the common connecting point between the coils with the conductive layer or path. Said wire particularly may be a section of the coil wire of one of the coils or both coils at the common connecting point. Both coils may be electrically connected directly at the conductive layer or path or at a distance of the conductive layer or path. Accordingly, in the latter case, a separate, short piece of wire, a short section of the coil wire of one of the coils or short sections of the coil wires of both coils may connect the common connecting point with the conductive layer or path.
Advantage is taken of the fact that just comparably low currents (e.g. for controlling tasks) flow out of or into the common terminal in usual applications, whereas comparably high currents (e.g. caused by an audio signal) can flow from a first coil to a second coil via the common connecting point arranged on the moving part of the speaker. In particular, the resistance of the conductive layer or path is higher than the real value of the impedance of each of the coils, which the conductive layer or path is connected to. Accordingly, the conductive layer or path can be made comparably thin thus hardly deteriorating the membrane characteristics.
In particular, the conductive layer or path may comprise or consist of a conductive adhesive, glue and/or paint attached to the membrane and/or a metallic foil attached to the membrane. Accordingly, the invention can be applied to existing designs easily by simply attaching the conductive layer or path to an existing membrane.
Generally, mounting the coils to each other may be done by means of an adhesive or glue. The coil arrangement may have the shape of a polygon (e.g. of a rectangle or a square) or may be round (e.g. oval or even circular). Moreover, the coil arrangement may comprise two or more coils. The coils of the coil arrangement can be wound in the same direction or in opposite directions.
Particularly, the coil arrangement can comprise coils (in particular two coils), which are identical in shape and which are mounted to each other head first. Using identical coils allows for manufacturing the coil arrangement in a very economic way.
Further details and advantages of an audio transducer of the disclosed kind will become apparent in the following description and the accompanying drawings.
In an advantageous embodiment of the transducer, the individual connecting points between the connecting wires and the coils and/or the common connecting points are symmetrically arranged on the coil arrangement. In this way, the influence of the connecting wires on the rocking/tumbling movement of the membrane can even be more reduced. Forces acting on the membrane caused by the connecting wires are symmetric and do not cause a rocking/tumbling movement of the membrane. So, the influence of the connecting wires on the rocking/tumbling movement of the membrane is practically zero in this case.
In particular, the individual connecting points between the connecting wires and the coils are and/or the common connecting points symmetrically arranged on the coil arrangement
a) seen in a direction perpendicular to a plane encompassed by a wound wire respectively by a wire loop and/or
b) with respect to a height extension perpendicular to a plane encompassed by a wound wire respectively by a wire loop.
In case a) the coil arrangement is viewed in the direction of a loop axis respectively in a direction, in which the wound wire appears as a loop or as loops. In this view, the individual connecting points between the connecting wires and the coils and/or the common connecting points are symmetrically arranged around the coil arrangement. This is a first approach of symmetry of the individual/common connecting points.
The “loop axis” is perpendicular to a plane encompassed by the wound wire respectively a wire loop. In other words, the loop axis is the axis, around which the coil has to be rotated to wind the coil.
In case b) the individual/common connecting points are beneficially arranged in the same plane (which is encompassed by the wound wire respectively a wire loop of the coil arrangement) and in particular in the mid of a height extension of the coil arrangement. However, the individual/common connecting points may also be arranged in different planes or at different heights to obtain symmetry. For example, a first pair of two individual/common connecting points may be arranged opposite to each other on a first height or level, whereas a second pair of two individual/common connecting points may be arranged opposite to each other on a second height or level. This case b) is a second approach of symmetry of the individual/common connecting points, which can be used alone or in combination with the first approach (case a) of symmetry.
Beneficially, individual/common connecting points may be arranged in a bonding plane of two coils. In this way, manufacturing the coil arrangement is comparably easy. In case of an even number of coils (e.g. two coils), the individual/common connecting points may be arranged in the mid of a height extension of the coil arrangement. If two identical coils are mounted to each other head first, symmetry with regards to the height extension of the coil arrangement can be obtained easily.
The advantage of a conductive layer or path attached to the membrane electrically connecting the coils and the common terminal turns out to be particularly advantageous in the context of symmetric individual connecting points. This especially counts for cases where an odd/even number of terminals is needed for a polygon-shaped coil with an even/odd number of corners/sides. An illustrative example is a rectangular or square coil arrangement with three terminals. Symmetry can be obtained with two symmetrically arranged connecting wires for two “outer” individual terminals and a conductive layer for the common terminal.
Beneficially, also the individual terminals and/or common terminals are symmetrically arranged around the coil arrangement thus further improving the performance of the transducer by avoiding rocking/tumbling of the membrane. Similar to the individual/common connecting points, also the terminals can be symmetrically arranged a) seen in a direction perpendicular to a plane encompassed by a wound wire respectively by a wire loop and/or b) with respect to a height extension perpendicular to a plane encompassed by a wound wire respectively by a wire loop.
To even further improve the performance of the transducer, the connecting wires may be symmetrically arranged around the coil arrangement and/or may be substantially identical in shape.
In yet another beneficial embodiment of the proposed transducer, multiple connecting wires connect a polygonal coil arrangement at its corners. For example, this embodiment provides perfect symmetry for rectangular coil arrangements. Alternatively or in addition, it is very advantageous, if a connection between the conductive layer or path and the coils respectively a common connection point is arranged in a corner of a polygonal coil arrangement, in particular of a rectangular coil arrangement. In view of polygonal coil designs, the magnet system often comprises a number of separate, rod-shaped magnets (respectively magnets shaped like a cuboid) instead of a single ring-shaped magnet. Accordingly, the magnetic field is concentrated on the longitudinal sides of the polygon and is relatively weak in its corners. That is the reason why an individual connection point and/or a common connection point in the corner has nearly no influence on the performance of the transducer. As said, this particularly counts for a magnet system with rod-shaped magnets, but—of course in an alleviated way—also for ring-shaped magnets. Alternatively, multiple connecting wires may connect the coil arrangement at the center of its longitudinal sides what leads to perfect symmetry as well.
These and other aspects, features, details, utilities, and advantages of the invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings, wherein the drawings illustrate features in accordance with exemplary embodiments of the invention, and wherein:
Like reference numbers refer to like or equivalent parts in the several views.
Various embodiments are described herein to various apparatuses. Numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the overall structure, function, manufacture, and use of the embodiments as described in the specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings. It will be understood by those skilled in the art, however, that the embodiments may be practiced without such specific details. In other instances, well-known operations, components, and elements have not been described in detail so as not to obscure the embodiments described in the specification. Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the embodiments described and illustrated herein are non-limiting examples, and thus it can be appreciated that the specific structural and functional details disclosed herein may be representative and do not necessarily limit the scope of the embodiments, the scope of which is defined solely by the appended claims.
Reference throughout the specification to “various embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “one embodiment,” or “an embodiment,” or the like, means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in various embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” “in one embodiment,” or “in an embodiment,” or the like, in places throughout the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. Thus, the particular features, structures, or characteristics illustrated or described in connection with one embodiment may be combined, in whole or in part, with the features, structures, or characteristics of one or more other embodiments without limitation given that such combination is not illogical or non-functional.
It must be noted that, as used in this specification and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” include plural referents unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.
The terms “first,” “second,” and the like in the description and in the claims, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms “include,” “have,” and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is not necessarily limited to those elements, but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.
All directional references (e.g., “plus”, “minus”, “upper”, “lower”, “upward”, “downward”, “left”, “right”, “leftward”, “rightward”, “front”, “rear”, “top”, “bottom”, “over”, “under”, “above”, “below”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “clockwise”, and “counterclockwise”) are only used for identification purposes to aid the reader's understanding of the present disclosure, and do not create limitations, particularly as to the position, orientation, or use of the any aspect of the disclosure. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in other orientations than those illustrated or otherwise described herein.
As used herein, the phrased “configured to,” “configured for,” and similar phrases indicate that the subject device, apparatus, or system is designed and/or constructed (e.g., through appropriate hardware, software, and/or components) to fulfill one or more specific object purposes, not that the subject device, apparatus, or system is merely capable of performing the object purpose.
Joinder references (e.g., “attached”, “coupled”, “connected”, and the like) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediate members between a connection of elements and relative movement between elements. As such, joinder references do not necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and in fixed relation to each other. It is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative only and not limiting. Changes in detail or structure may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
All numbers expressing measurements and so forth used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about”, which particularly means a deviation of ±10% from a reference value.
Furthermore, the transducer 1a comprises a magnet system with a magnet 9, a pot plate 10 and a top plate 11. The magnet system generates a magnetic field B transverse to a longitudinal direction of a wound wire of the coil arrangement 6a.
The first coil 7 and the second coil 8 are electrically switched in series. Accordingly, the first coil 7 has an individual terminal T7 being static in relation to the housing 2. Similarly, the second coil 8 has an individual terminal T8 being static in relation to the housing 2. A connecting wire 12 connects the terminal T7 and the first coil 7 at an individual connecting point C7, and a connecting wire 13 connects the terminal T8 and the second coil 8 at an individual connecting point C8.
Furthermore, the first coil 7 and the second coil 8 have a common terminal T78. A conductive path 14a, which is attached to the membrane 3 and which is electrically connected to the common connecting point C78 of the coils 7, 8, is used for this reason.
Concretely, a short piece of wire 15 connects the common connecting point C78 of the coils 7, 8 and the conductive path 14a. On the outer, fixed part of the membrane 3 respectively conductive path 14a, the common terminal T78 is arranged. The conductive path 14a may comprise or consist of a conductive adhesive, glue and/or paint attached to the membrane 3 and/or a metallic foil attached to the membrane 3.
The common connecting point C78 is arranged directly at the moving coils 7, 8. Beneficially, the connection at the moving coils 7, 8 is made with low ohmic resistance.
By means of the conductive path 14a, 14b the number of connecting wires and thus their influence on a movement of the membrane 3 can be reduced. The conductive path 14a, 14b has nearly no influence on a rocking or tumbling tendency of the coil arrangement 6a. However, to further improve symmetry, a further conductive path 14c may be arranged vis-a-vis of the first conductive path 14a or 14b as this is shown in
A further possibility to connect more than one common connecting point C78 in case of more than two coils 7, 8 switched in series is to arrange different conductive paths or layers on top of each other and/or on different sides of the membrane 3. In this context,
It should be noted that
In the examples hereinbefore, the conductive paths or layers 14a . . . 14g are attached to the outside of the membrane 3. However, this is not the only possibility. Instead, the conductive paths or layers 14a . . . 14g may also be arranged within the membrane 3. That means that the membrane 3 may have different layers, wherein some are conductive (e.g. metallic foils) and some are insulating like it is the case in a multilayer circuit board. Especially, if a high number of common connecting points C78 are to be connected, the membrane 3 may have the acoustic function on the one hand, and the function of a circuit board (including vias 16 as the case may be) on the other hand.
The individual connecting points C7, C8 are symmetrically arranged around the coil arrangement 6a, in particular with respect to the main axes x and y of the rectangular coil arrangement 6a.
In a preferred embodiment, also the terminals T7, T8 are symmetrically arranged around the coil arrangement 6a as is shown in
Generally, the individual connecting points C7, C8 between the connecting wires 12, 13 and the coils 7, 8 may be symmetrically arranged on the coil arrangement 6a seen in the loop axis z respectively in a direction perpendicular to a plane encompassed by a wound wire respectively by a wire loop (case a). In this view, the wound wires of the coils 7, 8 appear as loops. This first approach of symmetry was discussed above.
However, alternatively or in addition a second approach of symmetry of the individual connecting points C7, C8 may be applied to the transducer 1a. According to this approach, the individual connecting points C7, C8 between the connecting wires 12, 13 and the coils 7, 8 are symmetrically arranged on the coil arrangement 6a with respect to a height extension perpendicular to a plane encompassed by a wound wire respectively by a wire loop (case b). In particular, the individual connecting points C7, C8 may be arranged in the mid of a height extension of the coil arrangement 6a as this is the case in
The individual connecting points C7, C8 beneficially may be arranged in a bonding plane of two coils 7, 8, which is the case in the example shown in
In a very advantageous embodiment, the coil arrangement 6a comprises (two) coils 7, 8, which are identical in shape and which are mounted to each other head first. Using identical coils 7, 8 allows for manufacturing the coil arrangement 6a in a very economic way. Because the coils 7, 8 are mounted to each other head first, symmetry with regards to the height extension of the coil arrangement 6a is obtained in a very easy way.
In the above examples, symmetry was disclosed with regards the individual connecting points C7, C8. Additionally or alternatively, the technical disclosure related to symmetry of individual connecting points C7, C8 can also applied to the common connecting points C78. Accordingly, symmetry can be obtained for individual connecting points C7, C8 and/or common connecting points C78.
In view of polygonal coil designs, often a number of separate, rod-shaped magnets 9 (respectively magnets 9 shaped like a cuboid) instead of a single ring-shaped magnet 9 are used. Accordingly, the magnetic field is concentrated on the longitudinal sides of the polygon and is relatively weak in its corners. That is the reason why an individual connection point C7a, C7b, C8a, C8b and/or a common connection point C78 in the corner has nearly no influence on the performance of the transducer 1a . . . 1c.
Generally, the effect of the magnetic stray field on the wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b is different than on the conductive paths 14a . . . 14e because of the different current levels and/or impedances. On the one hand, different current levels lead to different forces acting on the membrane 3 caused by the different currents flowing through the wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b respectively through the conductive paths 14a . . . 14e. On the other hand, different voltages are induced into the wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b respectively into the conductive paths 14a . . . 14e based on their different impedances. Since the strayfield is lower in the corner regions, as said it is beneficial to use these corner regions for any of the connection types between the coils 7,8 and the non-moving parts of the transducer 1a . . . 1c, i.e. for the wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b and/or the conductive paths 14a . . . 14e. Moreover, it is easier to connect the wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b respectively the conductive paths 14a . . . 14e in a region, where no magnets 9 are, for mechanical reasons.
In view of the coil arrangement 6d and arrangement 6e, conductive paths 14a and 14c as shown in
In
It should be noted that although the examples depicted in the
It should also be noted, that the coils 7, 8 may be wound in the same directions or in opposite directions.
Furthermore, the invention does not just relate to two coils 7, 8, but to any number of coils 7, 8.
Additionally, it should be noted that although symmetric design of individual connecting points C7, C8, C7a, C8a, C7b, C8b, common connecting points C78, terminals T7, T8, T7a, T8a, T7b, T8b, T78 and connecting wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b is advantageous, one may also deviate from a strict symmetric design. For example, the terminals T7, T8, T7a, T8a, T7b, T8b, T78 may be arranged in a different manner to provide a particular electrical interface. Furthermore, the shape of the connecting wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b may be different. Nevertheless, the influence of the connecting wires 12, 13, 12a, 13a, 12b, 13b on the movement of the membrane 3 may still be substantially symmetric by choosing an adequate design.
It should be noted that the invention is not limited to the above mentioned embodiments and exemplary working examples. Further developments, modifications and combinations are also within the scope of the patent claims and are placed in the possession of the person skilled in the art from the above disclosure. Accordingly, the techniques and structures described and illustrated herein should be understood to be illustrative and exemplary, and not limiting upon the scope of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims, including known equivalents and unforeseeable equivalents at the time of filing of this application. Although numerous embodiments of this invention have been described above with a certain degree of particularity, those skilled in the art could make numerous alterations to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of this disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| A 50411/2017 | May 2017 | AT | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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| 20160007121 | Hung | Jan 2016 | A1 |
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| Number | Date | Country |
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| 201947435 | Aug 2011 | CN |
| 102015201919 | Aug 2016 | DE |
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| Entry |
|---|
| First Office Action for counterpart Austrian Patent Application A50411/2017 dated May 15, 2017. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180332398 A1 | Nov 2018 | US |
