JP2008131160A - Electret condenser microphone unit and electret condenser microphone - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electret condenser microphone unit in which the sensitivity of an electret can be adjusted easily from the outside after it is assembled, and to provide a microphone employing that unit. <P>SOLUTION: The condenser microphone unit comprises a diaphragm, a diaphragm holder to which the diaphragm is bonded, a fixed pole arranged oppositely to the diaphragm with a clearance and constituting a condenser in conjunction with the diaphragm, and a material for securing the fixed pole and the diaphragm in the housing wherein a needlelike electrode having a distal end in the vicinity of the backside of the fixed pole and being secured by the securing material is provided, and ions for neutralizing the electret are generated by a voltage applied to the needlelike electrode. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an electret condenser microphone unit capable of easily adjusting the sensitivity of an electret from the outside after assembly and a microphone using the unit.

  When using a plurality of microphones at the same time in a conference hall or the like, variations in sensitivity of individual microphones become a problem. A mixer or the like is used in order to make the output from the microphones with variations in sensitivity uniform. Generally, the sensitivity deviation of the electret condenser microphone unit is about ± 3 dB. Accordingly, there is a relative difference of 6 dB between the microphone unit having the highest sensitivity (good) and the microphone unit having the lowest sensitivity (bad), and thus the sensitivity difference is doubled. Thus, when there are a plurality of microphones having greatly different sensitivities, adjustment by the mixer is difficult.

  When an exchange capsule type microphone unit is used, sensitivity adjustment can be performed after the unit is attached to the microphone body. However, in order to correct the sensitivity deviation in the electret condenser microphone, even if the surface voltage of the electret layer and the acoustic resistance giving directivity are closely matched, a sensitivity deviation of about ± 2.5 dB will occur. This is caused by fine unevenness of each member constituting the electret condenser microphone, eccentricity between members, and the like. Therefore, even in the exchange capsule system, it is difficult to adjust at the time of assembly so that all of the plurality of microphone units have the same sensitivity characteristic. This is because no matter how closely each member is designed and manufactured, it is impossible to completely eliminate manufacturing variations.

  Therefore, it is desirable that the sensitivity deviation can be adjusted after the electret condenser microphone unit is assembled. In order to obtain a predetermined sensitivity characteristic while suppressing variations in sensitivity of the electret condenser microphone unit, when the polarization treatment is performed with the charge voltage on the insulation film formed on the surface of the electrode body of the back electrode plate, the insulation film By generating the electret layer by changing the charge voltage according to the film thickness, even if there is a large variation in film thickness, the sensitivity change due to the change in film thickness is almost offset by the sensitivity change due to the conversion of the charge voltage. There is known an invention for reducing the size (see Patent Document 1).

JP 2006-41575 A

  However, as described above, the cause of the sensitivity deviation of the microphone unit is not only due to the sensitivity deviation of the electret layer, but is caused by the relationship between members used in the microphone unit. Therefore, it is more desirable that sensitivity adjustment can be performed after the microphone unit is assembled. In particular, if the surface voltage of the electret layer can be reduced by attenuating the amount of charge charged to the electret after being assembled as a microphone unit, optimum sensitivity adjustment can be performed.

  As a method of attenuating the electret in the assembled microphone unit, there is a method of using heat, radiation, and alcohol vapor as neutralizing ions. According to the method using heat, it is necessary to heat the electret itself at about 200 ° C. for a long time in order to attenuate the electret. When heated at such a high temperature for a long time, other members in the microphone unit are affected, and in particular, deterioration of the diaphragm and the insulating seat is expected. In addition, the method using radiation is extremely dangerous in consideration of the influence on workers, and it is necessary to prepare a special environment in order to obtain a safe working environment. Further, the method using neutralized ions requires a mechanism for introducing alcohol vapor from the outside of the microphone unit to the inside electret, so that the structure becomes complicated.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and generates neutralized ions by discharging from a needle-like discharge electrode provided inside a microphone unit, and adjusts the sensitivity of the electret with the neutralized ions. An object of the present invention is to provide a condenser microphone unit capable of performing the above and a microphone using the unit.

The present invention includes a diaphragm, a diaphragm holder to which the diaphragm is fixed, a fixed pole that is disposed to face the diaphragm with a gap therebetween and constitutes a capacitor, and the fixed pole And a condenser microphone unit made of a fixing material for fixing the diaphragm inside the housing,
It has a needle-like electrode that has a tip near the back surface of the fixed electrode and is fixed by the fixing material, and generates ions that neutralize the electret by a voltage applied to the needle-like electrode. .

  In the present invention, the voltage applied to the needle electrode is an AC voltage.

  According to the present invention, since the electret can be attenuated by neutralized ions generated by discharging using a needle-like discharge electrode having a tip disposed at a close distance of the electret layer installed in the microphone unit, A condenser microphone unit that can be adjusted in sensitivity after assembly can be obtained.

  Embodiments of a condenser microphone unit according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the internal structure of the condenser microphone unit, and FIG. 2 is a front view (a) and a side view (b) showing its appearance. In FIG. 1, an electret condenser microphone unit 1 (hereinafter referred to as “microphone unit 1”) has a case 10 formed in a cylindrical shape. The case 10 is provided with a front sound hole 11 and a rear sound hole 12. In the present embodiment, the front sound hole 11 is an opening formed in a grit shape on one end side of the case 10, and the rear sound hole 12 is an opening formed on the side surface of the case 10. A plurality of the rear sound holes 12 are provided on the outer peripheral surface of the case 10 as shown in FIG. 2B, and the rear sound holes 12 are attached to the inner peripheral surface of the case 10 in order to attenuate sound waves entering from the rear sound holes. The acoustic resistance material 13 is covered. Further, the other end side of the case 10 is open.

  In the case 10, the diaphragm 20 is disposed so as to face the fixed pole 30 and the spacer ring 40. The diaphragm 20 is a synthetic resin film having a metal vapor deposition film on at least one side and a thickness of about 5 μm, and is stretched with a predetermined tension applied by a support ring 21. An electret layer is attached to the fixed electrode 30 and is fixed in the case 10 by a synthetic resin insulating seat 50 disposed on the back side thereof. The insulating seat 50 is pressed against the support ring 21 side by a fixing ring 60 that is screwed onto the inner surface of the case 10.

  The insulating seat 50 functions as a fixing material that fixes the diaphragm 20 and the support ring 21 that supports the diaphragm 20 and the built-in components such as the fixed pole 30 in the case 10 as a casing. The insulating seat 50 is provided with a recess for forming a rear air chamber 31 with the back side of the fixed pole 30. The insulating seat 50 is provided with the rear air chamber 31 and the rear sound hole 12. A sound hole 52 communicating therewith is formed. The fixed pole 30 is provided with a plurality of holes 30a that communicate the rear air chamber 31 with an air layer having a thickness of the spacer ring 40 existing between the diaphragm 20 and the fixed pole.

  An acoustic resistance material 70 made of sponge or the like is provided at the bottom of the insulating seat 50 so as to cover the sound hole 52 so that the compression degree thereof can be adjusted by an adjuster string 71. An electrode lead rod 80 is attached to the insulating seat 50. The electrode lead rod 80 is connected to the fixed electrode 30 via a wiring 81 formed along the inner surface of the insulating seat 50. The electrode lead rod 80 is connected to an impedance converter (for example, FET) provided on the microphone body side when the microphone unit 1 is coupled to the microphone body via a screw coupler (not shown).

  Among sound waves emitted from a sound source (not shown), sound waves entering from the front acoustic hole 11 directly act on the front side of the diaphragm 20, whereas sound waves entering from the rear acoustic hole 12 are the acoustic resistance material 12 and the acoustic resistance material. 70, the sound hole 52, the rear air chamber 31, and the hole 30 a of the fixed electrode 30 act on the back side of the diaphragm 20.

  Further, a needle-like discharge electrode 90 is installed so that a part of the insulating seat 50 penetrates from the bottom side and the tip comes close to the back side of the fixed pole 30. The acicular discharge electrode 90 is discharged into the rear air chamber 31 by connecting a discharge power source (not shown) thereto and applying an AC voltage. This discharge power source is connected between the needle-like discharge electrode 90 and the electrode lead-out rod 80 when sensitivity adjustment is performed after the microphone unit 1 is assembled, and is removed after the adjustment is completed.

  The tip of the acicular discharge electrode 90 faces the hole 30 a formed in the fixed electrode 30. Ions are generated by the discharge of the needle-like discharge electrode 90, and the ions pass through the rear air chamber 31 and the hole 30a as neutralizing ions and reach the electret attached to the front surface side of the fixed electrode 30. The neutralized ions that have reached the electret neutralize the charge charged in the electret. By this action, the charge charged in the electret can be attenuated and the surface voltage of the electret can be lowered. Thus, the neutralization ions reach the electret surface from the opening (hole 30a) of the electret, so that the surface voltage of the electret can be adjusted from the outside of the microphone unit 1.

  Although not shown, a plurality of needle-like discharge electrodes 90 may be provided. Each of the plurality of acicular discharge electrodes 90 may be installed at a position facing the hole 30a.

  According to the embodiment described above, the sensitivity deviation caused by the plurality of microphone units 1 can be easily adjusted by attenuating the surface voltage of the electret after the microphone unit 1 is assembled, and the electrets with uniform sensitivity can be adjusted. A condenser microphone unit can be obtained.

  The electret condenser microphone unit according to the embodiment described above can constitute an electret condenser microphone by incorporating it into a microphone case.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view which shows the Example of the electret condenser microphone unit which concerns on this invention. The external appearance of the case used for the electret condenser microphone unit which concerns on this invention is shown, (a) Front view, (b) is a side view.

Explanation of symbols

1 Microphone unit 30 Fixed electrode 30a Hole 31 Rear air chamber 80 Electrode extraction rod 90 Needle-shaped discharge electrode

Claims (7)

A diaphragm, a diaphragm holder to which the diaphragm is fixed, a fixed pole using an electret that is disposed to face the diaphragm with a gap therebetween and constitutes a capacitor, and the fixed pole And an electret condenser microphone unit made of a fixing material for fixing the diaphragm holder inside the housing,
An electret condenser microphone unit comprising a needle-like electrode that passes through the fixing material and discharges in the vicinity of the back surface of the fixed electrode.   2. The electret condenser microphone unit according to claim 1, wherein the surface voltage of the electret is attenuated by neutralizing ions generated by the discharge of the acicular electrode.   The electret condenser microphone unit according to claim 1, wherein the voltage applied to the needle electrode is an AC voltage.   4. An air layer is provided between the fixed electrode and the fixing material, and the air layer and the electret are communicated with each other through a hole provided in the fixed electrode. The electret condenser microphone unit described in 1.   5. The electret condenser microphone unit according to claim 4, wherein the tip of the needle-like electrode faces a hole formed in the fixed pole.   6. The electret condenser microphone unit according to claim 1, wherein the fixed electrode has a plurality of holes and the needle electrodes.   7. An electret condenser microphone in which an electret condenser microphone unit is incorporated in a microphone case, wherein the electret condenser microphone unit is the electret condenser microphone unit according to claim 1.