New Transducers Limited

Mark Starnes

Neil John Harris

Henry Firouz Azima

Martin Colloms

Neil Simon Owen

Paul Antony Burton

Denis Morecroft

James John East

Steven Mark Hoyle

An inertial force transducer having an operative frequency range comprises a resonant element having a frequency distribution of modes in the operative frequency range of the transducer and a coupler for mounting the resonant element to a site to which force is to be applied. The resonant element is a piezoelectric device comprising a layer of piezoelectric material and a substrate layer on the layer of piezoelectric material. The substrate layer has a region extending beyond the piezoelectric layer, with the coupler mounted to the extended region whereby the low frequency performance of the transducer is extended.

Transducer

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

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Huntingdon, United Kingdom

Mark Starnes