Loudspeaker thermal management structure

Abstract

Total thermal management accomplishes self-cooling from acoustic air movement in a light-weight loudspeaker system for professional sound applications: a cast aluminum front panel, forming the front baffle portion of a total enclosure, is configured to include on the front panel a horn opening, a woofer opening with a ring mount for a conventional woofer cone, a pair of bass reflex ports, and, extending rearwardly, a woofer frame with a mount for a conventional woofer driver, a horn structure with a threaded mount for a conventional horn driver, and an amplifier mounting shelf, all thermally combined by a pattern of generally vertical integral cooling vanes. The lower portions of the vanes are shaped to form structural legs of the woofer frame, and their upper portions are integrally attached to the horn. A shelf for mounting an amplifier in the speaker enclosure is formed by a transverse cooling vane. All of the heat-producing devices are thermally connected via good heat-conduction paths provided by the vanes attached integrally to densely-vaned cooling grilles forming the tuned reflex ports; thus, as the woofer is energized, air moves in and out of the grilles at high velocity particularly at low frequency resonance, acting like a fan on the grilles and thus enhancing their thermal dissipation with a cooling effect that increases as the woofer plays louder due to the increased velocity of the reciprocal air movement.