FR2780010A1 - Audio loudspeaker installation in motor vehicles - Google Patents

Abstract

The loudspeaker system comprises one or more loudspeakers which are fitted into the dashboard (1) and into heating/ventilation outlets (11,15) on the vehicle dashboard (1). The tweeters (2) are placed high in the corners of the dashboard, and the mid-range and bass speakers are positioned in different heating/ventilation outlets.

Description

The invention relates to a sound system for a motor vehicle,

  especially associated with a car radio. A public address system currently used has two speakers which are located at the bottom of the front doors of the vehicle or slightly above

the handle of the front doors.

  This system is economical but proves to be ineffective. Indeed, we see that the sounds remain at the bottom of the vehicle. They are badly perceived by the driver and the front passenger and even less well by the

rear passengers.

  It can be improved by adding two built-in

  speakers in the rear doors, on the rear shelf or on each side of the rear shelf, but the

  system is then more complex and expensive.

  Another known public address system includes, for each side of the vehicle, a loudspeaker for the low and middle sounds and a loudspeaker for the sounds

treble.

  The mid or bass speakers are located in the doors, while the tweeter are located in the dashboard. These are often located just above the side air outlets of the air conditioning system

of the motor vehicle.

  This system achieves better sound than the previous one, but the midrange sounds are still not

  well reproduced, due to the location of the high-

  speakers in the vehicle doors.

  The object of the invention is to overcome these drawbacks by proposing a sound system for a motor vehicle making it possible to improve the diffusion of sounds and their perception by passengers and, in particular, those of medium sounds, without being bulky or expensive, thanks to judicious use of the air conditioning system of the motor vehicle. The invention therefore relates to a sound system for a motor vehicle comprising an air conditioning device, the sound system comprising at least one loudspeaker arranged in such a way that the sound emitted by said loudspeaker comes out

  an air vent of said air conditioning device.

  Preferably, said air vent is located in or near the dashboard of said vehicle. Preferably, the said speaker (s) is

  (are) one (or more) midrange or bass speaker (s).

  Each of said speakers is then located in the vicinity of a tweeter of said sound device.

  Advantageously, each of said loudspeakers

  speakers is integrated into an air intake duct

of said air conditioning device.

  In a first embodiment, said built-in

  speaker is arranged in said air intake duct so that the sound emitted by the speaker comes out

  directly through said air vent.

  In a second embodiment, said built-in

  speaker is arranged in said air intake duct so that the sound emitted by the speaker is deflected before exiting through said air vent

associated with said conduit.

  In a first variant, the sound emitted by the loudspeaker is reflected on a wall of said air intake duct before exiting through said ventilation opening. In a second variant embodiment, the sound emitted by the loudspeaker is deflected by a deflector

  placed in said air intake duct.

  This deflector may in particular consist of strips arranged inside the inlet duct

  air or also formed in the wall of said duct.

  In a preferred embodiment of the sound system according to the invention, this comprises mid-range speakers arranged in such a way that the sound emitted by these speakers comes out through air vents on each side of the dashboard of the motor vehicle, each of these midrange speakers being located in the vicinity of a tweeter of said sound system, which further comprises a woofer, arranged in such a way that the its kind through the central air vent of said

air conditioning system.

  The invention will be better understood and other objects, advantages and characteristics thereof will appear

  more clearly on reading the description

  explanatory which follows and which is made with reference to the appended drawings in which: - Figure 1 is a schematic half-view of a dashboard of a motor vehicle equipped with a sound system according to the invention; - Figure 2 is a sectional view along II-II of Figure 1 illustrating a first embodiment of the sound system according to the invention; - Figure 3 is a view similar to Figure 2 illustrating another embodiment of the sound system according to the invention; - Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 3 illustrating a first alternative embodiment of the sound system illustrated in Figure 3; - Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3 illustrating a second variant of the sound system illustrated in Figure 3; and - Figure 6 is a schematic view of a dashboard of a vehicle with a partial section, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the system

sound system according to the invention.

  The elements common to the different figures will be

designated by the same references.

  In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1, the sound system according to the invention comprises, in the dashboard 1 of the motor vehicle, a loudspeaker 2 for the high sounds. This speaker 2 is preferably placed near the windshield so that

  it reflects the sounds emitted by the speaker.

  The sound system also includes a loudspeaker 3, 4, 5 or 6, as illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 5, located in an air inlet duct 10 of the

  motor vehicle air conditioning system.

  This conduit 10 opens into the dashboard 1 at

level of an air vent 11.

  Thus, thanks to this arrangement, the sounds emitted by the speaker 3, 4, 5 or 6 come out through the mouth

ventilation 11.

  Speaker 3, 4, 5 or 6 is a speaker

for medium or low tones.

  It can also be a midrange speaker and in this case, the sound system according to the invention also includes a woofer, implanted by

  example in each front door of the vehicle.

  Thus, in the sound system according to the invention, the midrange sounds are emitted from the

  dashboard, like treble sounds.

  The directivity of the sound is then improved for the mid frequencies, compared to known sound systems. This system also allows

  bring the sources of mid and high sounds closer.

  Furthermore, since the midrange and bass speaker is located in an air intake duct, the public address system according to the invention does not take

  place in the passenger compartment of the motor vehicle.

  It will also be noted that the sound quality is not degraded because the loudspeaker is located in an air duct since the forced exit of the air takes place at very low frequencies (less than 10 Hz), so much inferior to that of music: there is therefore

no risk of interference.

  This system also allows savings in manufacturing costs since the grid 11 closing the air vent 11 also acts as a grid for the

speaker 3, 4, 5 or 6.

  We will now refer to Figures 2 to 5 which illustrate different arrangements of the loudspeaker in

the air intake duct 10.

  In the first embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the speaker 3 is installed in the ventilation duct 10 so as to be located substantially in

look from the air vent 11.

  So the sound from speaker 3 comes out

  directly through the air vent.

  In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3, the loudspeaker 4 is installed differently in the air intake duct 10. In fact, the loudspeaker is

  directed towards the wall of the duct 10.

  Thus, the sound emitted by the speaker 3 is reflected on the wall of the air intake duct 10

  before leaving through the air vent 11.

  Figures 4 and 5 illustrate alternative embodiments of Figure 3 in which a deflector

  is provided in the air intake duct 10.

  In the alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 4, the deflector 12 consists of strips 12a

  arranged inside the duct.

  The orientation of the slats 12a is chosen so that the sound emitted by the speaker 5 is deflected

  to exit through the air vent 11.

  In the alternative embodiment illustrated in FIG. 5, the deflector 13 consists of strips 13a

  formed in the wall of the duct 10.

  These strips 13a are also oriented to deflect the sound emitted by the speaker 6 towards the mouth.

ventilation 11.

  We now refer to FIG. 6 which illustrates a preferred embodiment of the public address system.

according to the invention.

  Figure 6 shows a dashboard of a motor vehicle, with a partial section for

  illustrate the central air intake duct.

  As illustrated in FIG. 1, the public address system includes a tweeter 2 on the side and

on the other side of the dashboard 1.

  The sound system also includes a midrange speaker (not shown) in each side air duct of the air conditioning system. Thus, the midrange sounds are emitted by the air vents

side 11.

  Finally, the sound system according to the invention comprises a bass speaker 7, located in the

central air duct 14.

  Thus, the bass sounds emitted by the speaker 7 exit through the central air vents 15, at the

dashboard level 1.

  In this embodiment, the sound source of all the frequencies is emitted from the dashboard, this

  which contributes to the quality of the sound system.

  The reference signs inserted after the technical characteristics appearing in the

  claims are intended only to improve the

  understanding of these and cannot limit them

the scope.

R EVEJLDICAT I NS

  1. Public address system for a motor vehicle comprising an air conditioning device, the public address system comprising at least one speaker (3, 4,, 6, 7) arranged in such a way that the sound emitted by said speaker comes out an air vent (11,

) of the air conditioning system.

  2. Sound system according to claim 1, wherein said air vent (11, 15) is located in or near the dashboard (1)

of said vehicle.

  3. Sound system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein said speaker (s) (3, 4, 5, 6) is (are) one (or more) speaker (s) of medium or low. 4. A sound system according to claim 3, wherein each of said speakers (3, 4, 5, 6)

  medium or bass is located near a loudspeaker

  treble speaker (2) of said sound system.

  5. Public address system according to one of

  claims 1 to 4, wherein each of said loudspeakers

  speakers (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) is integrated in an air intake duct (10, 14) of said air conditioning device. 6. Sound system according to claim 5, wherein said loudspeaker (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) is arranged in said air intake duct (10, 14), so that sound emitted by said loudspeaker comes out directly from the air vent (11, 15)

associated with said conduit.

  7. Public address system according to claim, wherein said loudspeaker (3, 4, 5, 6, 7) is arranged in said air intake duct (10, 14), so that the sound emitted by said loudspeaker is deflected before exiting through the air vent (11, 15)

associated with said conduit.

  8. Public address system according to claim 7, in which the sound emitted by the loudspeaker is reflected on the wall of said air intake duct (10, 14) before exiting through said ventilation opening (11, ). 9. Public address system according to claim 7, in which the sound emitted by said loudspeaker is deflected by a deflector (12, 13) placed in said duct.

air inlet (10, 14).

  10. Public address system according to claim 9, wherein said deflector (12) consists of

  strips (12a) arranged inside said duct.

  11. Public address system according to claim 9, wherein said deflector (13) is formed of

  strips (13a) formed in the wall of said duct.

  12. Public address system according to any one

  of claims 1 to 11, comprising loudspeakers

  of medium (3, 4, 5, 6) arranged in such a way that the sound emitted by these speakers comes out through air vents (11) on each side of the dashboard (1) of the motor vehicle, each said midrange speakers being located in the vicinity of a tweeter (2) of said sound system, which also includes a woofer (7), arranged in such a way that the sound emitted by it loudspeaker comes out through the central air vent (15) of said air conditioning device.