Printed Circuit Board for a Flat-Panel Speaker

• US 20090154756A1
• Filed: 12/14/2007
• Published: 06/18/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Eaton, William Chris, Romesburg, Eric Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 8,150,091 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 381/388
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/0277 for a printed circuit board assembly
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/03 Constructional features of telephone transmitters or receivers, e.g. telephone hand-sets
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 1/181 associated with surface mounted components
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/09036 Recesses or grooves in insulating substrate recess in metallic substrate H05K2201/09745
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/09072 Hole or recess under component or special relationship between hole and component
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 2201/10083 Electromechanical or electro-acoustic component, e.g. microphone
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 70/50 Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product

Abstract

A flat-panel speaker is attached to an exterior surface of a printed circuit board (PCB) housed within a consumer electronic device. Rather than place the flat-panel speaker within a sealed speaker box and then attach the speaker box to the PCB, as is conventional, the present invention attaches the flat-panel speaker to the exterior surface of the PCB without the speaker box. Removing the speaker box allows designers to reduce the dimensions of the device, and to minimize the complexity of the device.

Claims

1. A printed circuit board (PCB) for a consumer electronic device, the PCB comprising:

one or more substrate layers having a conductive trace connecting one or more electronic components;

a flat-panel speaker mounted to an exterior surface of the one or more substrate layers, and comprising a flat-panel element configured to produce audible sound; and

one or more through-holes formed in the one or more substrate layers and extending through an interior of the PCB to an opposing exterior surface of the PCB.

2. The printed circuit board of claim 1 further comprising an acoustic chamber formed between the flat-panel speaker and the one or more substrate layers, and wherein the one or more through-holes connect the chamber to an opposing surface of the PCB.

3. The printed circuit board of claim 2 wherein the flat-panel speaker includes a base, and further comprising a gasket configured to attach a periphery of the base to the exterior surface of the one or more substrate layers, and to acoustically seal the flat-panel speaker to the exterior surface of the one or more substrate layers.

4. The printed circuit board of claim 2 wherein the acoustic chamber comprises a volume adjacent the flat-panel element and the one or more substrate layers, and is sized to receive at least a portion of the flat-panel element when the flat-panel element flexes to produce the audible sound.

5. The printed circuit board of claim 4 wherein the volume is formed as a recess that extends at least partially into the interior of the one or more substrate layers.

6. The printed circuit board of claim 4 wherein the volume is formed as a space that extends at least partially above the exterior surface of the one or more substrate layers.

7. The printed circuit board of claim 1 further comprising a cutout formed on a peripheral edge of the one or more substrate layers to extend a frequency response of the flat-panel speaker.

8. A consumer electronic device comprising:

a housing;

an audio port formed in the housing and configured to output audible sound;

a printed circuit board (PCB) within the housing having a conductive trace connecting one or more electronic components;

a flat-panel speaker mounted to an exterior surface of the PCB, and comprising a flat-panel element configured to generate the audible sound output through the audio port; and

one or more through-holes formed adjacent the flat-panel element and extending through the interior of the PCB to an opposing exterior surface of the PCB.

9. The device of claim 8 wherein the flat-panel speaker comprises a base, and wherein the device further comprises a first gasket configured to attach a periphery of a first side of the base to the exterior surface of the PCB.

10. The device of claim 9 further comprising a second gasket configured to attach a periphery of a second opposing side of the base to an interior surface of the housing.

11. The device of claim 8 further comprising an acoustic chamber formed between the flat-panel element and the PCB, the acoustic chamber comprising a volume adjacent the flat-panel speaker and the PCB, and sized to receive at least a portion of the flat-panel element when the flat-panel element flexes to generate the audible sound.

12. The device of claim 11 wherein the one or more through-holes are configured to connect the acoustic chamber to the opposing exterior surface of the PCB.

13. The device of claim 12 wherein the one or more through-holes are configured to communicate the audible sound generated by the flat-panel element through the interior of the PCB to the audio port.

14. The device of claim 12 wherein the one or more through-holes are configured to communicate air displaced from the acoustic chamber to the opposing side of the PCB.

15. The device of claim 12 further comprising a second audio port formed in the housing and spaced away from the first audio port, and an earpiece speaker configured to output audible sound through the second audio port.

16. A method of outputting audible sound to a user of a consumer electronic device, the method comprising:

mounting a printed circuit board (PCB) in an interior of a housing of a consumer electronic device;

mounting a flat-panel speaker to an exterior surface of the PCB;

forming one or more through-holes adjacent the flat-panel speaker and through an interior of the PCB to an opposing exterior surface of the PCB;

applying a voltage to the flat-panel speaker to generate audible sound; and

outputting the audible sound from an audio port formed in the housing.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein mounting the flat-panel speaker to the exterior surface of the PCB comprises adhering a periphery of a first side of the flat-panel speaker to the exterior surface of the PCB to acoustically seal the flat-panel speaker to the PCB.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein mounting the flat-panel speaker to the exterior surface of the PCB further comprises adhering a periphery of a second opposing side of the flat-panel speaker to an interior surface of the housing to acoustically seal the flat-panel speaker to the housing.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising forming a acoustic chamber adjacent the flat-panel speaker and the PCB such that the acoustic chamber is sized to receive at least a portion of the flat-panel speaker when the flat-panel speaker generates the audible sound.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein forming the one or more through-holes comprises forming the one or more through-holes to extend through the interior of the PCB to connect the acoustic chamber to the opposing exterior surface of the PCB.