1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speaker insulator and a speaker apparatus, and more particularly, to a speaker insulator and a speaker apparatus adopted as a car speaker.
2. Related Art
Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei. 06-003746 discloses, for example, the door inner panel 9 and the cushion 12 in FIG. 2, that a conventional speaker apparatus is installed on the inner panel of the inside of a car door through cushion materials so that propagation of vibrations is damped.
However, in the above-described technology, a cushion is provided between a door inner panel, which corresponds to an inner panel of the present invention, and a supporting flange, but the door inner panel and the supporting flange are rigidly fixed by using bolts. Therefore, the cushion cannot isolate the propagation of vibrations, and the vibrations of a speaker unit propagate to the door inner panel through the bolts, resulting in vibration of the door inner panel. In particular, in the case of a car speaker apparatus, for example, since an inner panel having sufficient rigidity cannot be adopted because of the requirement of light weight, the inner panel itself vibrates and generates sounds due to propagated vibrations, and there is a problem to give listeners a distorted feeling or an uneasy feeling of sounds.
An object of the present invention is to provide a speaker insulator or a speaker apparatus which does not give a distorted feeling or an uneasy feeling of sounds by isolating vibrations of an inner panel induced by vibrations of a speaker unit, or by attenuating or preventing the propagation of vibrations of a speaker unit to the inner panel.
The present invention will be described below. Although reference numerals in the accompanying drawings will be accessorily written as parenthetic numerals for descriptive convenience, the present invention is not limited to the illustrated features.
The above object of the present invention can be achieved by a speaker insulator (2) installed between a speaker unit (3) and an inner panel (1), the speaker insulator (2) provided with: a vibration absorbent member (6) which absorbs vibrations generated from the speaker unit (3); a first supporting member (7) which is fixed on the vibration absorbent member (6) and installed on the speaker unit (3); and a second supporting member (8) which is fixed on the opposite side of the vibration absorbent member side where the first supporting member (7) is fixed, and installed on the inner panel (1).
The above object of the present invention can be achieved by a speaker apparatus (SP) having a speaker unit (3) installed on an inner panel (1) through a speaker insulator (2), the speaker insulator (2) provided with: a vibration absorbent member (6) which absorbs vibrations generated from the speaker unit (3); a first supporting member (7) which is fixed on the vibration absorbent member (6) and installed on the speaker unit (3); and a second supporting member (8) which is fixed on the opposite side of the vibration absorbent member side where the first supporting member (7) is fixed, and installed on the inner panel (1).
The nature, utility, and further features of this invention will be more clearly apparent from the following detailed description with respect to preferred embodiments of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings briefly described below.
Hereinafter, one embodiment of a speaker apparatus according to the present invention will be explained by using a car speaker apparatus installed at a door panel as an example with reference to the drawings.
In general, a door panel of a car is composed of a double layer structure in order to store a window glass and its lifting mechanism. Further, the inner panel of the double layer structure is equipped with a car inner panel supporting a window glass lifting mechanism to lift or lower the window glass. The outer panel of the double layer structure comprises an outer panel at the outside of the car and a door trim at the car room side (inside cover).
The car speaker apparatus SP shown in
The inner panel 1 can be manufactured by, for example, press molding of steel sheets etc. or integrally molding of composite resins such as resins, FRP (fiberglass reinforced plastics), etc.
The outer panel 4 can be manufactured by, for example, press molding of steel sheets etc.
The inner trim 5 can be manufactured by, for example, integrally molding of composite resins such as resins, FRP, etc.
Next, the structure of the insulator 2 will be explained in reference to
The insulator 2 comprises an elastic member 6 which absorbs vibrations generated by the speaker 3 and supporting panels 7 and 8 which are fixed on both sides of the elastic member 6.
The elastic member 6 can be manufactured by using elastic materials such as silicone rubber etc., for example. It has the same size and shape as those of the flange portion of the speaker 3 and has a sufficient thickness to absorb vibrations generated by the speaker 3.
The supporting panels 7 and 8 are manufactured from, for example, cold-rolled steel sheets or hard resins or the like, and glued on both sides of the elastic member 6 with, for, example, adhesives. In addition, the two supporting panels 7 and 8 do not make contact with each other. Further, at the positions corresponding to the installation positions of the speaker 3 and the inner panel 1, there are provided anchor bolts 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, and 10c which are vertically arranged.
As the anchor bolts 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, and 10c, for example, all-purpose welding studs etc. are used. The anchor bolts 9a, 9b, and 9c erected on the support panel 7 and the anchor bolts 10a, 10b, and 10c erected on the supporting panel 8, between which the elastic member 6 is sandwiched, do not make contact with each other.
Here, for example, the car speaker apparatus SP according to the present embodiment constitutes the speaker apparatus of the present invention; the inner panel 1 constitutes the inner panel of the present invention; the insulator 2 constitutes the speaker insulator of the present invention; the speaker 3 constitutes the speaker unit; the elastic member 6 constitutes the vibration absorbent member of the present invention; the supporting panels 7 and 8 constitute respectively the first supporting member and the second supporting member of the present invention; and the anchor bolts 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, and 10c constitute the first installation portion and the second installation portion of the present invention and the first bolts and the second bolts of the present invention.
The physical phenomenon regarding sounds which the car speaker apparatus SP having the structure described above generates will be explained below.
When the speaker 3 generates sounds after receiving sound signals, the speaker 3 itself vibrates with vibrations of a diaphragm inside the speaker 3. This vibration is subjected to the propagation to the inner panel 1 through the flange portion of the speaker 3, but since the insulator 2 is provided between the speaker 3 and the inner panel 1, the vibration energy that propagates to the inner panel 1 is attenuated by the insulator 2. As a result, the vibration of the inner panel 1 itself is attenuated and noises generated are also attenuated. Accordingly, a distorted feeling or an uneasy feeling of sounds for passengers including a driver can be suppressed.
Further, the output and characteristics of the speaker 3, and raw materials, thickness, size, shape, etc. of the inner panel 1 depend on types of cars, and the propagation of vibrations also depends on the situation. Therefore, the thickness of the elastic member 6, and the arrangement, the number etc. of the anchor bolts 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, and 10c are determined experimentally for individual types of cars.
Effects of the present invention will be explained by using data measured for a car speaker apparatus SP manufactured as a prototype according to the present embodiment.
(Measurement Condition)
A car speaker apparatus SP was manufactured by using an actual car inner panel and fixed on a rigid stand. When sine waves were inputted into the speaker as measuring signals, the vibration acceleration of the inner panel due to speaker vibrations was measured with a laser Doppler vibrometer.
Here, the vibration-type speaker refers to a speaker manufactured by moving the net mass of the cone and the center cap portion to the top portion of the voice coil, and it was manufactured with the purpose of excluding the effect of back pressure as much as possible. This type of speakers was disclosed, for example, in FIG. 3 of Japanese Patent Publication Laid-Open No. H11-27784.
(Measured Results)
In addition, in the vibration-type speaker (
The present embodiment has the following effects.
Since the speaker 3 and the inner panel 1 are installed through the insulator 2, the vibration energy of the speaker 3, associated with sound generation, is attenuated with the insulator 2. Thus, noises due to vibrations of the inner panel 1 itself are reduced, and a distorted feeling or an uneasy feeling of sounds for listeners can be suppressed. In particular, vibration attenuation effects are large in the low frequency range where the vibration of the inner panel 1 is a source of rattle sounds, and the effect for suppressing a distorted feeling or an uneasy feeling of sounds for listeners is large.
Since the elastic member 6 and the supporting panels 7 and 8 are assembled as a single piece, component management is easy and installation operation can be performed efficiently.
In the insulator 2, since the anchor bolts 9a, 9b, and 9c, and the anchor bolts 10a, 10b, and 10c, each placed at the corresponding position, are provided respectively on the supporting panels 7 and 8 by sandwiching the elastic member 6 and do not make contact with each other, the vibration energy of the speaker 3, associated with sound generation, is definitely attenuated with the insulator 2.
Since the elastic member 6 has the same size and shape as those of the flange portion of the speaker 3, the vibration energy of the speaker 3 is definitely attenuated with the insulator 2.
The thickness of the elastic member 6 can be adjusted in accordance with the output of the speaker 3 and the vibration energy generated by the speaker 3, and thus the attenuation effect can be adjusted.
Since the elastic member 6 and the anchor bolts 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, and 10c of the supporting panels 7 and 8 are assembled as a single piece, component management is easy and installation operation can be performed efficiently.
Since the elastic member 6 is sandwiched between the supporting panels 7 and 8, the strength of the insulator 2 can be guaranteed.
Furthermore, the embodiment is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it can be modified, for example, as described below.
In the above-described embodiment, the insulator 2 is mounted with the anchor bolts 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a, 10b, and 10c of the supporting panels 7 and 8, but, as shown in
In one embodiment described above (particularly in
Further, when female screws are used at the installation portion as shown in the above-described modified example, if screw holes (installation positions) are provided at different positions at the two supporting panels, the installation screws of the speaker side do not bump those on the inner panel side, and thus the degree of freedom during the shape design stage of the insulator is increased.
In the above-described embodiment, the present invention was explained by using an example of the car speaker apparatus SP, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the present invention can be applied to the position where vibrations generated by a speaker apparatus SP become problematic in case the portion of the installation panel such as rear panels etc. does not have sufficient rigidity. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to the structure in which a speaker can be installed on the inner panel, for example, the panel of a motorcycle or the door panel of a moving body such as the door panel of a boat etc.
The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-26371 filed on Feb. 3, 2004 including the specification, claims, drawings and summary is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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J2004-26371 | Feb 2004 | JP | national |