Weatherproof loudspeaker and speaker assembly

• US 9,094,747 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2013
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Treefrog Developments Incorporated (Otter Products LLC)
• Original Assignee: Treefrog Developments Incorporated (Otter Products LLC)
• Inventors: Rayner, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tuan D
• Application Number:
  US13/954,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20140029782A1
• Time in Patent Office: 728 Days
• Field of Search: 381386-389, 381/391, 381394-395, 381/189, 381/396, 381/433, 381/124, 181/150, 181/199
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/02 Casings; Cabinets ; Supports therefor; Mountings therein H04R1/28 takes precedence ; attachments for microphones H04R1/08; mounting of transducers in earpieces H04R1/1075
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/2834 for loudspeaker transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/2896 for loudspeaker transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 3/00 Circuits for transducers , loudspeakers or microphones

Abstract

A weatherproof loudspeaker includes a rigid enclosure having two or more sides, an interface between the sides being sealed sealing an internal space from an environment external to the rigid enclosure, and a sound projecting region formed on at least one side of the rigid enclosure. The sound projecting region includes an active driver speaker rigidly connected with the rigid enclosure, the active driver speaker to project sound outward from the sound projecting region and to reflect sound waves within the rigid enclosure. The speaker includes a flexible inner surround that frames the active driver speaker, and a passive radiator at least partially around the active driver speaker and connected between the inner surround and a flexible outer surround. The outer surround is connected with the rigid enclosure.

Claims

1. A weatherproof loudspeaker comprising:

a rigid enclosure having an outer wall that has at least one sealing member configured to prevent ingress of liquids and particulate matter into the rigid enclosure from an external environment; and

a liquid-impermeable sound projecting region formed in the outer wall of the rigid enclosure and sealed from the external environment, the liquid-impermeable sound projecting region comprising;

an active driver speaker having a voice coil assembly, the voice coil assembly including a permanent magnet and a voice coil, the voice coil assembly being rigidly connected with the rigid enclosure to limit movement of the voice coil assembly relative to the rigid enclosure, the active driver speaker further having a driver diaphragm configured to be driven by the voice coil to project sound waves outward from the rigid enclosure via a front surface of the driver diaphragm and to modulate air within the rigid enclosure via a rear surface of the driver diaphragm

an inner surround that frames the active driver speaker, the inner surround being formed of a first flexible material; and

a passive radiator at least partially surrounding the active driver speaker, an inner edge of the passive radiator connected to the inner surround and an outer edge of the passive radiator connected to an outer surround formed of a second flexible material, the outer surround being connected with a structural support frame of the sound projecting region, the structural support frame being securely fixed to the rigid enclosure, the passive radiator having a rigid diaphragm with surface area and a mass that together are configured to tune the passive radiator to have a resonant frequency below a frequency range reproduced by the active driver speaker in the rigid enclosure, the passive radiator configured to enhance at least low-frequency sound waves of the active driver speaker.

2. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein to modulate the air includes compression and rarefaction of the air.

3. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein the permanent magnet of the voice coil assembly is connected with the rigid enclosure to prevent movement of the permanent magnet and the voice coil relative to the rigid enclosure.

4. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein the active driver speaker, passive radiator and inner and outer surrounds provide a seal between an interior of the rigid enclosure and the external environment exterior of the rigid enclosure.

5. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein the passive radiator is configured to enhance sound waves that are in a frequency range between 20 and 100 hertz.

6. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein the passive radiator is configured to enhance sound waves in a frequency range determined in part by a volume of the rigid enclosure.

7. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein the passive radiator is configured to enhance sound waves in a frequency range determined in part by a determined amount of flexibility of the inner and outer surrounds.

8. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein a desired frequency response of the passive radiator is characterized at least in part based on the mass of the passive radiator diaphragm, respective flexibility amounts of the inner and outer surrounds, and a volume of the rigid enclosure.

9. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein at least one of the active driver speaker diaphragm and the passive radiator diaphragm is translucent.

10. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 9, further comprising one or more light sources housed within the rigid enclosure.

11. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, wherein the structural support includes a cylinder affixed at a first cylinder end to a rear portion of the active driver speaker and affixed at a second cylinder end to a wall of the rigid enclosure.

12. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 1, further comprising a gas permeable, liquid-impermeable vent formed in the rigid enclosure.

13. A speaker assembly comprising:

a rigid frame that defines a boundary of a sound projecting region;

an active driver speaker having portions rigidly connected with the rigid frame, the active driver speaker being configured to project sound waves outward from the sound projecting region and to project sound waves rearward from the sound projecting region;

an inner surround formed of a first flexible material that frames the active driver speaker; and

a passive radiator that frames the inner surround, an inner edge of the passive radiator connected to the inner surround the passive radiator having a surface area and a mass that together are configured to tune the passive radiator to have a resonant frequency below a frequency range produced by the active driver speaker, the passive radiator configured to enhance outward projection, from the sound projecting region, of a portion of the frequency range produced by the active driver speaker, and

an outer surround that frames the passive radiator and that is connected to an outer edge of the passive radiator, the outer surround formed of a second flexible material, the outer surround connected with a perimeter of the rigid frame.

14. The speaker assembly in accordance with claim 13, wherein the active driver speaker includes a truncated-cone shaped diaphragm to project sound outward from the sound projecting region and to project the sound waves rearward.

15. The speaker assembly in accordance with claim 13, wherein the active driver speaker, the inner and outer surrounds and the passive radiator provide a weatherproof seal for the sound projecting region.

16. A weatherproof loudspeaker comprising:

a rigid enclosure having two or more sides, an interface between two of the two or more sides being sealed to prevent ingress of liquid and particulate matter to an internal space of the rigid enclosure from an environment external to the rigid enclosure; and

a sound projecting region formed on at least one side of the rigid enclosure, the sound projecting region comprising;

two or more active driver speakers having portions that are rigidly connected with the rigid enclosure, each of the two or more active driver speakers configured to project sound waves outward from the sound projecting region and to project sound waves rearward within the rigid enclosure;

an inner surround formed of a first flexible material that respectively frames each of the two or more active driver speakers; and

a passive radiator positioned at least partially surrounding both of the two or more active driver speakers, first inner edges of the passive radiator respectively connected to each inner surround, and an outer edge of the passive radiator connected to an outer surround formed of a second flexible material, the outer surround connected with the rigid enclosure, the passive radiator having a surface area and a mass that together are configured to tune the passive radiator to have a resonant frequency below a frequency range produced by the active driver speakers, the passive radiator being configured to enhance outward projection of a portion of the frequency range produced by the active driver speaker from the sound projecting region.

17. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, wherein the two or more active driver speakers, passive radiator, and inner and outer surrounds together provide a liquid-impermeable and particle-impermeable seal between an interior of the rigid enclosure and the environment external to the rigid enclosure.

18. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, wherein the enhanced portion of the frequency range of the active driver speaker includes frequencies between 20 and 100 hertz.

19. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, wherein the enhanced portion of the frequency range of the active driver speaker is based in part on a volume of the rigid enclosure.

20. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, wherein the projection of the enhanced portion of the frequency range of the active driver speaker by the passive radiator is based in part on the flexibility of the inner and outer surrounds.

21. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, wherein a desired frequency response of the passive radiator is characterized at least in part based on the mass of the passive radiator, an amount of flexibility of the inner and outer surrounds, and a volume of the rigid enclosure.

22. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, wherein at least a diaphragm of the passive radiator is formed of a translucent material.

23. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 22, further comprising one or more light sources housed within the rigid enclosure, the one or more light sources being positioned to permit direct or reflected light emitted by the one or more light sources to be transmitted through at least the translucent diaphragm.

24. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 16, further comprising a support frame connected between each of the two or more active driver speakers and the rigid enclosure.

25. The speaker in accordance with claim 24, wherein the support frame includes a tube having at least one aperture to allow passage of air within the rigid enclosure.

26. A weatherproof loudspeaker comprising:

a rigid enclosure having a sound projecting region;

two or more active driver speakers each mounted in the sound projecting region via a respective inner surround, each active driver speaker having a cone-shaped diaphragm configured to project sound outward from the sound projecting region and to compress and rarefy air within the rigid enclosure, each active driver speaker having a predetermined mass; and

a passive radiator having an outer edge connected to a flexible suspension, and having inner edges respectively connected to the inner surrounds of the two or more active driver speakers, the passive radiator being formed to cooperate with the respective inner surrounds and the two or more active driver speakers, the passive radiator configured to react to the compressed and rarefied air to project at least a portion of the reflected sound waves within the rigid enclosure outward from the sound projecting region as sound waves within a predetermined frequency range at a predetermined frequency response.

27. A weatherproof loudspeaker comprising:

a rigid enclosure having an outer wall that is sealed to inhibit ingress of water and particulate matter from an external environment and having a sound projecting region;

one or more speaker assemblies, each speaker assembly including at least one active driver speaker, each active driver speaker having a diaphragm movable to project sound outward from the sound projecting region and to compress and rarefy air within the rigid enclosure, each active driver speaker having a predetermined mass;

a flexible suspension that frames at least part of the sound projecting region; and

a passive radiator having an outer edge connected to the flexible suspension and having one or more inner edges respectively connected to the one or more speaker assemblies, the passive radiator being formed to cooperate with the flexible suspension and the one or more speaker assemblies to project sound waves outward from the sound projecting region based on the compression and rarefaction of air within the rigid enclosure within a predetermined frequency range.

28. The weatherproof loudspeaker in accordance with claim 27, further comprising a second flexible suspension framing an outer periphery of the passive radiator.