EP1315398B1 - Hornlautsprecher - Google Patents

Hornlautsprecher Download PDF

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Publication number
EP1315398B1
EP1315398B1 EP02258106A EP02258106A EP1315398B1 EP 1315398 B1 EP1315398 B1 EP 1315398B1 EP 02258106 A EP02258106 A EP 02258106A EP 02258106 A EP02258106 A EP 02258106A EP 1315398 B1 EP1315398 B1 EP 1315398B1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
diaphragm
loudspeaker
horn
loudspeaker unit
unit according
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Expired - Lifetime
Application number
EP02258106A
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English (en)
French (fr)
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EP1315398A3 (de
EP1315398A2 (de
Inventor
Laurence Dickie
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Turbosound Ltd
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Turbosound Ltd
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Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Turbosound Ltd filed Critical Turbosound Ltd
Publication of EP1315398A2 publication Critical patent/EP1315398A2/de
Publication of EP1315398A3 publication Critical patent/EP1315398A3/de
Application granted granted Critical
Publication of EP1315398B1 publication Critical patent/EP1315398B1/de
Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R1/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones
    • H04R1/20—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics
    • H04R1/22—Arrangements for obtaining desired frequency or directional characteristics for obtaining desired frequency characteristic only 
    • H04R1/30—Combinations of transducers with horns, e.g. with mechanical matching means, i.e. front-loaded horns
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04R—LOUDSPEAKERS, MICROPHONES, GRAMOPHONE PICK-UPS OR LIKE ACOUSTIC ELECTROMECHANICAL TRANSDUCERS; DEAF-AID SETS; PUBLIC ADDRESS SYSTEMS
    • H04R2201/00—Details of transducers, loudspeakers or microphones covered by H04R1/00 but not provided for in any of its subgroups
    • H04R2201/34—Directing or guiding sound by means of a phase plug

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to loudspeakers, in particular of the so-called "horn loaded” type.
  • the transduction of electrical power into acoustic power is normally achieved using an axisymmetric conical or domed diaphragm composed of some stiff material, typically aluminium, attached to a concentric motor system composed of a cylindrical coil of high conductivity wire immersed in a radial magnetic field. Passing an alternating current through the coil produces a corresponding force and resultant motion of the diaphragm.
  • the cyclic motion of the diaphragm creates a varying pressure in the air adjacent to it which propagates outwards as a longitudinal wave. Containing the output from one side in an enclosure eliminates cancellation between the opposing pressure phase that exists on both sides of the diaphragm.
  • the overall efficiency is determined by the impedances of the source and the load.
  • the acoustic impedance presented to the diaphragm by the free air is a very poor match to the high mass diaphragm. This can be considerably improved by feeding the air from the front of the diaphragm into a duct of smaller cross-sectional area.
  • the change in impedance effected by such a change is in the ratio of the diaphragm area divided by the duct area which appropriate choice can yield an optimum load and hence maximum efficiency.
  • a tapered waveguide commonly known as a horn
  • a horn In order to conduct the acoustic power from this small area duct a tapered waveguide, commonly known as a horn, is usually employed. Provided that the rate at which the area increases as a function of distance is sufficiently gentle then all the power will propagate along the horn. Usually an exponential relation between area and distance is employed.
  • the narrow and wide parts of the horn are referred to as the throat and mouth respectively.
  • a frequently used guideline for the dimension of the mouth is that it should be equal in perimeter to the longest wavelength of interest.
  • FIGS. 1 to 4 of the accompanying drawings show various forms of prior horn-loaded loudspeakers, each comprising a compression driver unit 1 and horn element 2.
  • a common requirement is to mount a number of horns in a circular arc in order to cover a wide listening area. This can only be achieved without interference if the wavefronts from each horn have a centre of curvature coincident with that of the array. With the simple horn this is not possible since the centre is, at best, located at the throat, and is in fact usually well forward of the throat. Furthermore in order to form a continuous wavefront the horn mouths must have common straight edges and while employing a rectangular horn is possible, the diminution of the high frequencies off-axis is still more problematic in the corners.
  • the throat may be sub-divided into a plurality of smaller apertures, which take their input from a corresponding fraction of the diaphragm area. These may take the form of a number of concentric rings ( Figure 3 ), radial slots or an evenly disposed array of round holes ( Figure 2 ). Extending from each of the apertures is a tapered duct which forms the beginning of the horn. These are generally arranged to meet at a point equidistant from the throat. From this point onward a single flared waveguide carries the summed signal toward the mouth.
  • a method adopted for achieving a more even wavefront at the horn mouth involved subdividing the horn into 'cells' ( Figure 4 ). Each horn is assumed to be fed with an equal signal and hence the intensity across the array of mouths was more uniform at high frequencies than with a single horn.
  • US 2,127,110 discloses a loudspeaker unit including a horn, divided into a plurality of sections.
  • the present invention provides a loudspeaker unit comprising a diaphragm and motor system and plurality of small flared waveguides of such length and arranged in such a way as to create a wavefront of a predetermined form.
  • a horn-loaded compression driver loudspeaker unit comprising: a motor and diaphragm system for transducing electrical energy to acoustic energy; an external face from which the acoustic energy is radiated to the exterior of the unit; and characterised by a horn element to which the diaphragm and motor system are attached; an end face of the horn element and the diaphragm defining, adjacent the diaphragm, an air chamber in which, in use, pressure waves are produced by the driven motion of the diaphragm, the air chamber being closed to the exterior of the loudspeaker except via a plurality of flared, acoustic-energy waveguides leading from the chamber to discrete sub-divisions of said external face to create a wavefront of a predetermined shape, the cross-sectional area of each waveguide increasing monotonically along the length thereof in the direction from the diaphragm to the face, the waveguides being formed by respective passages leading through the horn
  • the invention also provides a method of manufacturing a loudspeaker unit according to the invention which comprises the step of forming the horn element by casting liquid resin around an array of flexible patterns following the same area law as the waveguides.
  • horn loaded loudspeakers two solutions to the two main problems found in horn loaded loudspeakers are brought together into a single device.
  • the horn throat is divided into a multiplicity of small apertures arranged in an even manner across the diaphragm surface. From each aperture an individual tapered waveguide or "hornlet" extends as far as a surface with a prescribed form which forms the mouth.
  • Each 'hornlet' is formed with identical 25 length in order to assure uniformity of phase of the wavefront at the mouth.
  • the form of the mouth can be chosen to suit the application- and a variety of tessellating shapes might be used depending on the final requirement for the total wavefront.
  • the curvature of the wavefront is arbitrary and can be arranged to place the centre at a point well behind the motor system. This allows devices to be arrayed without discontinuities in the total 30 wavefront
  • an equilateral triangular mouth composed of triangular homlets might be adopted. Twenty such devices could then be united to form a sphere.
  • a frequent requirement in sound reinforcement is to have a circular array in the horizontal plane and a linear array in the vertical. Such an arrangement gives rise to a cylindrical wavefront and would most conveniently be achieved using rectangular hornlets disposed on a curved rectangular mouth plane.
  • the motor 52 comprises two axially aligned annular plates 53, 54 between which are sandwiched an annular permanent magnet 55.
  • the front plate 53 has a rearwardly directed cylindrical collar 56 integral with its radially inner edge portion.
  • the rear end of the collar 56 has on its outer circumferential surface a chamfered ring 57 which, together with the correspondingly chamfered edge of the aligned inner periphery of the plate 54, forms a cylindrical air gap G.
  • the plates 53 and 54 are of soft iron or other material of high magnetic permeability, so as to form a magnetic circuit in which magnetic flux produced by the magnet 55 is concentrated in the air gap G.
  • the domed diaphragm 51 is part of an aluminium cap 58 with a part-spherical dome 59 which is fixed in an airtight manner to the rear face of the plate 54 via an integral, ridged, suspension region 60 of the cap 58.
  • the cap At the junction between the region 60 and the dome 59, the cap has an integral cylindrical former 61 projecting forwardly into the air gap G and around which is wound a voice coil 62.
  • the other main part of the loudspeaker unit of Figure 5 apart from the compression driver unit, is the horn throat element 70.
  • This is a body of acoustically "dead” material, which extends forwardly from the compression driver unit in a flared shape.
  • the element 70 has the compression driver unit 50 rigidly mounted at its rear; the rear part of the element 70 comprises a generally conically shaped region 71 having a circumferential recess 72 whose periphery is complementarily shaped to the inner circumferential surface of the collar 56, so that the compression driver unit is rigidly and tightly fixed to the element 70 which thereby serves to mount the compression driver unit 50.
  • the region 71 of element 70 is coaxial with the compression driver unit 50 and has a part-spherical rear surface 73.
  • the sphere to which the surface 73 conforms is the same as that of the dome 59, but offset axially a small distance.
  • These apertures are evenly distributed over the area of the diaphragm dome 59 and effectively "sample" the pressure field at the points where they open into the chamber 74.
  • the passages extend forwardly of the loudspeaker unit through the material of the element 70 to sound-radiating openings or mouths 77 at the front of the loudspeaker unit.
  • the apertures 76 are distributed evenly over the surface of the diaphragm dome because the mouths 77 are of equal area. More generally they should sample the diaphragm area in the same proportion as the areas of the mouths 77 they feed,
  • the apertures 76 enable acoustic pressure waves so generated by motion of the diaphragm to propagate into and along the passages 75 and to radiate to the exterior of the loudspeaker unit via the radiating openings 77.
  • the rear, i.e. upper, surface, in Figures 5A and B , of at least the rear of the diaphragm is located within an air-tight enclosure to attenuate acoustic energy radiated from the rear of the diaphragm and prevent interference with that from the front.
  • Each of the passages 75 is of a monotonically increasingly cross-sectional area, so as to couple the acoustic energy transduced by the compression driver unit into the surrounding air.
  • the increasing cross-sectional areas of the passages preferably at least approximate an exponential function to optimise the coupling efficiency. It is desirable to avoid step changes in the areas of the passages 75, as these would constitute discontinuities which could give rise to undesired acoustic effects e.g. reflection.
  • passages 75 are all of substantially the same acoustic length so that the waves emitted from the openings 77 are in phase with one another. This enables the wavefront of the acoustic energy radiated from the loudspeaker unit as a whole to be shaped as desired by the designer of the unit, by suitable positioning of the openings 77. As noted above, to accommodate "slack" as it were in the lengths of certain of these passages they may be convoluted into, e.g. a helical configuration.
  • Each of the passages 75 functions as a miniature acoustic horn and so might be termed a "hornlet”.
  • passages 75 are of equal length, this is not an essential feature of the invention; rather, the important point is that the use of this technique allows an arbitrary wavefront shape to be achieved. This applies not only to the lengths of the passages but also to their cross-sectional shapes and areas.
  • the mouths 77 could be of any of a variety of unequal shapes which tesselate over a surface, e.g. some could be square and ones between them octagons; they could also tesselate in a non-periodic manner (e.g. Roger Penrose's "versatiles").
  • the loudspeaker unit may be mounted in its own acoustic enclosure or in one shared with other such units where a number of them are to be assembled together.
  • the enclosure may also include other forms of loudspeaker unit suitable to achieve coverage of the desired audio spectrum; for example, a unit as per Figure 5 might handle the high frequency range and one or more others, e.g. conical units could handle the middle and lower frequency ranges.
  • a convenient way of manufacturing the throat element 70 is to cast it from a liquid resin system around an array of flexible patterns following the same area law as that required in the final hornlets.
  • the ends destined to become the mouths are arranged about the requisite surface shape while the throat ends are guided into locating holes a plate having the same profile as the diaphragm.
  • Suitable materials might be silicone rubber for the patterns and epoxy resin for the casting.
  • the distance between the central elements of the mouth and the diaphragm is appreciably shorter than those at the periphery and necessitates a certain degree of convolution of the pattern. Guiding the central patterns into a gentle helix neatly accommodates this extra length.
  • Fig.6 shows a part-cylindrical loudspeaker system 100 made up of a number of smaller part-cylindrical loudspeakers 101 embodying the invention. It will be appreciated that more of the units can be added to form a complete cylinder and that the length of the (part-)cylinder may be extended by stacking the units 101 end-to-end.
  • Fig.7 shows a spherical loudspeaker assembly 200 assembled from a number of loudspeakers 201; these units have three surfaces which abut corresponding surfaces of adjacent units and a mouth 77 whose rim conforms to the surface of the sphere.
  • the invention is not restricted to using the output from the concave side of a spherical diaphragm, nor does the output have to pass through the motor.
  • the invention may be applied to a conventional cone-type loudspeaker for lower frequencies.

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  • Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
  • Otolaryngology (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Acoustics & Sound (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Obtaining Desirable Characteristics In Audible-Bandwidth Transducers (AREA)
  • Diaphragms For Electromechanical Transducers (AREA)
  • Audible-Bandwidth Dynamoelectric Transducers Other Than Pickups (AREA)

Claims (12)

  1. Horngeladene Kompressionstreiber-Lautsprechereinheit, welche umfasst:
    einen Motor (52) und ein Membransystem (51) zum Umwandeln von elektrischer Energie in akustische Energie;
    eine außenliegende Fläche, von der die akustische Energie zur Außenseite der Einheit abgestrahlt wird; und
    gekennzeichnet durch ein Hornelement (70), an dem die Membran (51) und das Motorsystem (52) angebracht sind;
    wobei eine Endfläche des Hornelements (70) und die Membran angrenzend an die Membran eine Luftkammer (74) ausbilden, in der bei Verwendung durch die angetriebene Bewegung der Membran Druckwellen erzeugt werden, wobei die Luftkammer außer durch mehrere glockenförmige Akustikenergie-Wellenleiter (75), die von der Kammer zu separaten Unterabschnitten der Außenfläche führen, um eine Wellenfront mit festgelegter Form zu erzeugen, zur Außenseite des Lautsprechers geschlossen ist, wobei die Querschnittfläche jedes Wellenleiters (75) monoton entlang dessen Länge in Richtung von der Membran (51) zu der Vorderfläche zunimmt, wobei die Wellenleiter (75) durch jeweilige Durchlässe ausgebildet sind, die durch das Hornelement (70) führen, wobei jeder Durchlass an einem Ende eine erste Öffnung (76) angrenzend an die Membran (51) in die Kammer und an dem anderen Ende eine zweite Öffnung (77) in den jeweiligen Unterabschnitt der Außenfläche aufweist.
  2. Lautsprechereinheit nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die zunehmende Querschnittfläche jedes Wellenleiters (75) im Wesentlichen einer Exponentialfunktion folgt.
  3. Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Wellenleiter (75) im Wesentlichen von gleicher Länge sind.
  4. Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die zweiten Öffnungen (76) der Durchlässe von tesselierender Form sind.
  5. Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Außenfläche einer teilweise kugelförmigen Fläche entspricht.
  6. Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 4, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Außenfläche einer teilweise zylindrischen Fläche entspricht.
  7. Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die ersten Öffnungen (76) der Wellenleiter über die radiale Ausdehnung der Endfläche des Hornelements (70) verteilt sind.
  8. Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das Hornelement (70) aus flüssigem Harz gegossen ist.
  9. Lautsprechersystem, das mehrere Lautsprecher nach einem der vorhergehenden Ansprüche umfasst, die so zusammengebaut sind, dass ihre Flächen Unterabschnitten einer Oberfläche entsprechen.
  10. Lautsprechersystem nach Anspruch 9, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Oberfläche mindestens teilweise kugelförmig ist.
  11. Lautsprechersystem nach Anspruch 9, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Oberfläche mindestens teilweise zylindrisch ist.
  12. Verfahren zum Herstellen der Lautsprechereinheit nach einem der Ansprüche 1 bis 8, welches den Schritt des Ausbildens des Hornelements (70) durch Gießen von flüssigem Harz um eine Anordnung von beweglichen Strukturen, die dem gleichen Flächengesetz wie die Wellenleiter folgen, umfasst.
EP02258106A 2001-11-26 2002-11-25 Hornlautsprecher Expired - Lifetime EP1315398B1 (de)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
GB0128306 2001-11-26
GB0128306A GB2382511C (en) 2001-11-26 2001-11-26 Improvements in or relating to loudspeakers

Publications (3)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1315398A2 EP1315398A2 (de) 2003-05-28
EP1315398A3 EP1315398A3 (de) 2005-06-08
EP1315398B1 true EP1315398B1 (de) 2008-09-10

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Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP02258106A Expired - Lifetime EP1315398B1 (de) 2001-11-26 2002-11-25 Hornlautsprecher

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EP (1) EP1315398B1 (de)
AT (1) ATE408322T1 (de)
DE (1) DE60228808D1 (de)
GB (1) GB2382511C (de)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP4373132A1 (de) * 2022-11-18 2024-05-22 B&C Speakers NA (USA), LLC Phasenstecker für kompressionstreiber

Families Citing this family (3)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
FI120126B (fi) * 2004-04-30 2009-06-30 Aura Audio Oy Menetelmä tasaisen ääniaaltorintaman aikaansaamiseksi sekä tasoaaltosuuntain, kaiutinrakenne ja akustinen linjasäteilijä
GB2445597A (en) * 2007-01-09 2008-07-16 William Wood Magnetostrictive compression type loudspeaker with phasing plug
CN108024175B (zh) * 2017-12-08 2024-03-22 东莞市三基音响科技有限公司 高声压定向扩音波导号角

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
GB386942A (en) * 1930-04-18 1933-01-26 British Thomson Houston Co Ltd Improvements in and relating to sound reproducing apparatus
US2127110A (en) * 1936-08-03 1938-08-16 United Res Corp Acoustic device
US3668335A (en) * 1969-06-17 1972-06-06 Harold N Beveridge Electrostatic loudspeaker
US3972385A (en) * 1973-01-17 1976-08-03 Onkyo Kabushiki Kaisha Horn speaker
US5004067A (en) * 1988-06-30 1991-04-02 Patronis Eugene T Cinema sound system for unperforated screens
DE69116728T2 (de) * 1990-05-18 1996-09-19 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd Hornlautsprecher

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP4373132A1 (de) * 2022-11-18 2024-05-22 B&C Speakers NA (USA), LLC Phasenstecker für kompressionstreiber

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
DE60228808D1 (de) 2008-10-23
GB0128306D0 (en) 2002-01-16
ATE408322T1 (de) 2008-09-15
GB2382511A (en) 2003-05-28
EP1315398A3 (de) 2005-06-08
EP1315398A2 (de) 2003-05-28
GB2382511B (en) 2005-12-14
GB2382511C (en) 2011-03-04

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