Patent Application
20250126411
The present invention relates generally to audio speaker drivers, and particularly to a speaker driver assembly that has a novel construction of the spider and surround.
Speaker drivers are electro-acoustic converters, which accept electric signals and convert them into sound waves. A conventional speaker driver has a magnetic circuit provided in a frame or chassis, covered by a diaphragm. A voice coil is movably disposed within a gap in the magnetic circuit, wherein the edge of the voice coil is attached to the diaphragm. The term “speaker driver” encompasses drivers over a complete range of all frequencies, including a woofer and subwoofer covering the low frequency ranges, and a midbass, midrange, tweeter covering high-frequency ranges.
In the speaker driver, electrical impulses are produced that alternate from positive to negative voltages and create an electromagnet when they reach a voice coil (a spool of wire) inside the speaker. The voice coil is suspended between pole pieces of a permanent magnet motor structure. This voice coil is attached to a diaphragm or membrane, which is typically a cone or moving mass assembly mounted to a frame that is fixed to the motor structure. The voice coil reciprocates (i.e., moves the membrane back and forth) in a linear path as the alternating current flows through the voice coil that is centered in the magnetic gap (between the two poles).
The circumference of the membrane (cone) is affixed to a “surround” or suspension, which is affixed to a frame or basket, and which is generally constructed of a metal. The magnet is typically mounted to the rear of the frame behind the cone. The surround is generally a circular half-roll of flexible material that joins the top of the cone and the speaker's frame.
A spider, which is a circle of flexible corrugated material, joins the bottom of cone to the speaker's frame. The surround and spider center the cone/moving mass assembly and restore it to its original position. The peak-to-peak distance traveled by the cone is known as the “excursion”.
Accordingly, in the prior art, the spider and the surround are attached to two different attachment (or “landing”) planes. As noted above, the attachment plane of the surround is at the top of the cone and the attachment plane of the spider is at the bottom of the cone, typically on a ring between the membrane and the upper pole plate.
The present invention seeks to provide a speaker driver assembly that has a novel construction, as described in detail below. In the speaker driver of the invention, the spider and the surround are either directly attached to the same attachment plane or separated by a relatively thin layer, such as a thin spacer. In any case, in the speaker driver of the invention, the outer diameter of the spider rim and the surround rim are either identical or their diameters are within 20% of each other. The speaker driver of the invention is applicable for any frequency range, such as but not limited to, woofer, subwoofer or tweeter.
There is provided in accordance with a non-limiting embodiment of the invention a speaker driver assembly including a voice coil coupled to a magnet motor structure, a cone coupled to the voice coil, the cone and the voice coil being mounted in a basket, a surround and a spider coupled to the basket, wherein rims of the surround and of the spider are mounted on an annular shelf formed on the basket.
In accordance with a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, the rim of the spider is mounted directly to the rim of the surround. In another embodiment, the rim of the spider is mounted to the rim of the surround by means of an intermediate layer, such as a spacer or glue layer, placed between the rim of the spider and the rim of the surround.
The present invention will be understood and appreciated more fully from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
Reference is now made to
As seen best in
Speaker driver assembly 10 may also include a basket 26 (also called chassis). Basket 26 may be constructed with openings to provide good ventilation. The bottom of basket 26 may include a cup 28 (typically made of metal) and a butterfly 30, which serves as an acoustic closure to the bottom of the basket.
Cone 14 may be a flat membrane or any other shape, as illustrated (as opposed to a cone shape). For achieving the required stability and rigidity, the flat cone 14 may be constructed as a honeycomb and made of a material with good thermal conductivity, such as an aluminum alloy. This construction provides excellent heat transfer to cool voice coil 18.
Reference is now made to
In the non-limiting illustrated embodiments of
The intermediate layer 38 is a relatively thin layer. Without limitation, the thickness of intermediate layer 38 is not more than the thickness of either rim 36 of spider 15 or rim 34 of surround 12.
As seen in
