New Transducers Limited

New Tranducers Limited

Henry Firouz Azima

Martin Colloms

Neil John Harris

Neil Simon Owen

Graham Bank

Christien Ellis

Gair Richard Matthews

Martin Roberts

Nicholas Patrick Roland Hill

Kieron Dunk

Denis Morecroft

Julian Fordham

Charles Bream

Edward Jarvis

Bijan Djahansouzi

Paul Antony Burton

Farad Azima

Timothy Christopher Whitwell

Mark Starnes

Robin Christopher Cross

Joerg Panzer

Johan Frank Van Der Linde

Norman Crocker

Charalampos Ferekidis

Sean Kavanagh

From one aspect, the invention is a method of making a bending wave panel loudspeaker, comprising rigidly coupling a lever to a panel edge or marginal portion such that the lever extends at an angle to the plane of the panel, coupling a bending wave exciter to the lever whereby bending wave energy is coupled to the panel to produce an acoustic output when the exciter is fed with a signal and supporting the panel on a suspension positioned outboard of the lever. From another aspect the invention is a bending wave panel-form loudspeaker having a lever rigidly coupled to a marginal portion or edge of the panel, a vibration exciter coupled to the lever to apply bending wave energy to the panel to produce an acoustic output and a panel suspension positioned outboard of the lever. From a further aspect, the invention is a small electronic device, e.g. a mobile telephone or PDA, having a display screen, and a transparent protective cover over the display screen, wherein the transparent protective cover is a loudspeaker as described above.

Bending wave panel loudspeaker

Audio apparatus () comprising a piezoelectric transducer () and coupling means () for coupling the transducer to a user's pinna () whereby the transducer excites vibration in the pinna () to cause it to transmit an acoustic signal from the transducer () to a user's inner ear, characterised in that the transducer is embedded in a casing () of relatively soft material and the casing () is mounted to a housing () of relatively hard material such that a cavity () is defined between the casing () and housing (). A method of designing audio apparatus comprising mechanically coupling a piezoelectric transducer to a user's pinna and driving the transducer so that the transducer excites vibration in the pinna to cause it to transmit an acoustic signal from the transducer to a user's inner ear, characterised by embedding the transducer in a casing of relatively soft material and by mounting the casing to protective housing of relatively hard material such that a cavity is defined between the casing and housing.

Audio apparatus

Acoustic device including a member extending transversely of its thickness and capable of sustaining bending waves at least over an intendedly consequentially acoustically active area of the transverse extent of said member, the member having, by reason of orderly design methodology disclosed and claimed, a distribution of resonant modes of its natural bending wave vibration at least over said area that is dependent on values of particular parameters of said members, including geometrical configuration and directional bending stiffness(es), which values have been selected to predetermine said distribution of natural resonant modes being consonant with required achievable acoustic action of said member for operation of said device over a desired operative acoustic frequency range.

Acoustic device

A loudspeaker assembly comprising a visual display screen, a resonant panel-form member positioned adjacent to the display screen, and a vibration exciter to cause the panel-form member to resonate as an acoustic resonator. At least a portion of the panel-form member is transparent, through which portion the display screen is visible.

Resonant panel-form loudspeaker

A bending wave panel-form acoustic radiator formed from sheet material to define an acoustically active area and having at least one integral stiffening member in the form of a corrugation extending out of the plane of the sheet and at least partially across the acoustically active area of the radiator, which stiffening member is of substantially U-shaped cross section. Also disclosed is a method of making a bending wave panel-form acoustic radiator, comprising forming a sheet into a panel having at least one integral corrugation member extending out of the plane of the sheet and at least partly across the sheet and of substantially U-shape cross-section, to stiffen the sheet to have a desired ability to support and propagate bending waves.

Bending wave acoustic radiator

A method of improving the modal resonance frequency distribution of a panel () for a distribution resonant mode bending wave acoustic device involves analysing the distribution of the modal resonance frequencies of the panel, identifying a modal resonance frequency that is non-uniformly spaced relative to adjacent modal resonance frequencies, identifying a location on said panel that exhibits anti-nodal behaviour at said modal resonance frequency and changing the local impedance to bending wave vibration at said location (). The method has particular application to distributed mode loudspeakers ().

A loudspeaker drive unit comprising a resonant acoustic radiator, an exciter on the radiator to apply bending wave energy to the radiator to cause it to resonate, a support for the loudspeaker drive unit, and means resiliently coupling the exciter to the support.

Loudspeakers

A loudspeaker comprising a panel which is sufficiently stiff to support bending waves, the panel having a boundary, a transducer mounted to the panel to apply bending wave energy in the form of dispersive travelling waves thereto at a first location in response to an electrical signal applied to the transducer to cause the panel to vibrate and radiate an acoustic output, the loudspeaker having a frequency range extending from a lower frequency to a higher frequency and the panel having a stiffness giving a coincidence frequency above the lower frequency. Means on or associated with the panel at a second location attenuates travelling bending waves in the panel to prevent or at least substantially to moderate panel resonance.

Bending wave loudspeaker

A vehicle windscreen accessory comprising a body member, an adjustable support structure for the body member whereby the position of the body member can be adjusted, the body member comprising a mirror member and a loudspeaker having a bending wave panel-form acoustic member, the mirror member and panel-form member being integral. The accessory can be in the form of, e.g., a sun visor or a rear view mirror.

Vehicle loudspeaker

An inertial vibration transducer for exciting bending waves in a sound-radiating member has a motor coil assembly with a tubular member adapted to be rigidly mounted directly to the sound-radiating member by adhesive means. The transducer has a magnet assembly supported on a resilient suspension, and the magnet of the magnet assembly may be disposed within the tubular member of the motor coil assembly. Loudspeakers incorporating such transducers also are disclosed.

Inertial vibration transducers

A panel form acoustic member capable of supporting bending wave vibration has the bending wave velocity varied in the region of coincidence to provide a range of coincidence frequencies, for causing the acoustic coupling of the bending waves in the panel to occur over a broader range of angles or for making the coupling more uniform. The member may be incorporated in a loudspeaker having a panel member ( ) and an exciter ( ) fixed to the panel member to excite bending waves in the loudspeaker to cause an acoustic output.

A method of making a vehicle interior trim panel having at least one integral resonant bending wave loudspeaker panel. The method involves designing the trim panel to comprise at least one panel area capable of and intended to operate as a resonant bending wave loudspeaker, making a prototype trim panel to the design, optimising at least one parameter of the prototype panel as concerns its behavior as a resonant bending wave loudspeaker by obtaining the standard deviation, as frequency is varied, of the mechanical impedance of the panel as a function of the at least one parameter, selecting a value or values of said at least one parameter that result in a minimum of said standard deviation of the mechanical impedance of the panel, and making a trim panel in which the at least one parameter to be optimized has the selected value or values.

Method of making vehicle interior trim panel with integral loudspeaker

An electro-dynamic inertial vibration exciter ( ), for exciting a member ( ) having capability to sustain and propagate input vibrational energy comprising a motor coil assembly ( ) having a coil ( ) rigidly fixed to a tubular coil former member ( ), a magnet assembly ( ) disposed concentrically with respect to the motor coil assembly, and means ( ) suspending the magnet assembly for axial movement relative to the motor coil assembly, characterized by a carrier ( ) supporting the motor coil assembly ( ) and adapted for connection to the member ( ) to be excited.

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Cambridge, United Kingdom

Henry Firouz Azima