Transducer for converting between mechanical vibration and electrical signal
First Claim
1. A transducer comprising:
- a housing;
an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal;
carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing;
a magnetic member physically connected to the housing;
member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to vibrate relative to each other; and
damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member;
wherein at least a portion of the electric signal carrier is shaped as a coil, with the coil defining a coil interior and a coil axis,wherein the carrier connection hardware is structured to substantially fix the location of the coil-shaped portion of the electric signal carrier member with respect to the housing, andwherein the member connection hardware is structured to maintain the magnetic member at least partially within the coil interior such that the magnetic member is free to vibrate substantially in the direction of the coil axis.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Transducer (100, 200, 300, 500, 600) for converting mechanical vibrations to an electrical signal and/or for converting an electrical signal to mechanical vibration. Damping liquid (122, 222, 522, 622) damps the relative vibration of transducer components (110, 250, 252, 254, 510, 610). The damping liquid can be selected to optimize the sound quality of acoustic vibrations at the point of transduction. Also, a transducer with components that rotate relative to each other (304, 310, 504, 510, 604, 610). For example, a permanent magnet component may simultaneous vibrate rotationally and linearly with respect to an electric signal carrying coil. The characteristics of the rotational vibration may be adjusted to optimize sound quality of acoustic vibrations at the point of transduction.
46 Citations
32 Claims
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1. A transducer comprising:
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a housing; an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal; carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing; a magnetic member physically connected to the housing; member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to vibrate relative to each other; and damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member; wherein at least a portion of the electric signal carrier is shaped as a coil, with the coil defining a coil interior and a coil axis, wherein the carrier connection hardware is structured to substantially fix the location of the coil-shaped portion of the electric signal carrier member with respect to the housing, and wherein the member connection hardware is structured to maintain the magnetic member at least partially within the coil interior such that the magnetic member is free to vibrate substantially in the direction of the coil axis.
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2. A transducer comprising:
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a housing; an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal; carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing; a magnetic member physically connected to the housing; member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to vibrate relative to each other; and damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member, wherein the magnetic member comprises a permanent magnet. - View Dependent Claims (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A transducer comprising:
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a housing; an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal; carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing; a magnetic member physically connected to the housing; member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to vibrate relative to each other; and damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member, wherein the magnetic member comprises a magnetic core with a relative magnetic permeability greater than 1.0.
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13. A transducer comprising:
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a housing; an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal; carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing; a magnetic member physically connected to the housing; member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to vibrate relative to each other; and damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member, wherein the member connection hardware comprises a spring assembly structured and located to allow the magnetic member to vibrate in a linear direction relative to the housing along a linear vibration axis and also to allow the magnetic member to vibrate in a rotational direction relative to the housing about a rotational vibration axis. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method of designing a musical instrument assembly, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a musical instrument structured to output acoustic vibrations; providing a plurality of transducers, with each transducer respectively comprising mutually vibrating components and damping liquid surrounding at least some of the vibrating components and with the plurality of transducers having different damping liquids; using each transducer of the plurality of transducers to transduce the acoustic vibration of the musical instrument into a plurality of respective electrical signals; reviewing the plurality of electric signals; and selecting an optimal transducer based on the review of the plurality of electric signals. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A transducer comprising:
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a housing; an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal; carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing; a magnetic member physically connected to the housing; member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to rotationally vibrate relative to each other at least about a rotational axis; and damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electric signal carrier and the magnetic member, wherein the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware are structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to rotationally and linearly vibrate relative to each other at least along a linear axis, wherein at least a portion of the electric signal carrier is shaped as a coil, with the coil defining a coil interior and a coil axis, and wherein the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware are structured and located so that the rotation axis is substantially the same as the coil axis. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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27. A transducer comprising:
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a housing; an electrical signal carrier physically connected to the housing, with the electric signal carrier being structured to carry an electrical signal; carrier connection hardware structured to physically connect the electrical signal carrier member to the housing; a magnetic member physically connected to the housing; member connection hardware structured to physically connect the magnetic member to the housing, with the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware being structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to rotationally vibrate relative to each other at least about a rotational axis; and damping liquid disposed within the housing to substantially surround at least one of the electric signal carrier and the magnetic member, wherein the carrier connection hardware and the member connection hardware are structured and located to allow the electrical signal carrier and the magnetic member to rotationally and linearly vibrate relative to each other at least along a linear axis, and wherein the spring assembly comprises a spring-like diaphragm with at least one aperture defined therein, with the spring-like diaphragm and aperture being shaped to cause rotational motion within the spring-like diaphragm when the spring-like diaphragm vibrates. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification