Speaker assembly

• US 9,820,033 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2012
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dix, Gordon R., Morishita, Michael K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong, Kenny
• Application Number:
  US13/630,542
• Publication Number:
  US 20140093113A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,873 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/023 Screens for loudspeakers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/026 Supports for loudspeaker casings
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 1/2826 for loudspeaker transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2201/029 Manufacturing aspects of enclosures transducers
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2499/15 Transducers incorporated in visual displaying devices, e.g. televisions, computer displays, laptops
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 29/49826 Assembling or joining

Abstract

Examples of speaker assemblies are described. A speaker assembly according to some embodiments may include a speaker enclosure with a first opening (e.g., a speaker opening) and a second opening (e.g. a bass reflex port), a speaker unit mounted to the enclosure at the first opening, and an acoustic damping mechanism mounted to the enclosure at the second opening. The acoustic damping mechanism may be a dual-layer mesh screen including a first mesh with a first acoustic resistance (AR) for providing acoustic damping, and a second mesh with a second AR lower than the first AR. The second mesh may be nearly acoustically transparent and may serve to increase the stiffness of the first mesh. The first mesh may be bonded to the second mesh, and the dual-layer mesh screen may be coupled to the bass reflex port for reducing noise associated with turbulence at the port.

Claims

1. A speaker assembly, comprising:

a speaker enclosure forming a back volume chamber and having walls defining a vent opening;

a speaker unit; and

a layer of mesh material extending across the vent opening, the layer of mesh material including a first region and a second region, the first region being closer to the walls defining the vent opening than the second region,

wherein the vent opening is configured to allow passage of pressure waves generated by the speaker unit to exit the speaker enclosure and wherein the first region has a first acoustic resistance and the second region has a second acoustic resistance different than the first acoustic resistance.

2. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein the first acoustic resistance ranges from about 16 Rayls to about 75 Rayls, and wherein the second acoustic resistance ranges from about 1 Rayl to about 8 Rayls.

3. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein the speaker mount opening is positioned on the same side of the speaker enclosure as the vent opening.

4. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein the layer of mesh material is made of a plurality of metal wires, and wherein one or more of the wires have a rectangular transverse cross section.

5. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein the layer of mesh material is made of a plurality of metal wires, and wherein a cross-sectional shape or size of one or more of the metal wires varies along a length of the plurality of metal wires.

6. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein a thickness of the layer of mesh material varies along a length of the layer of mesh material.

7. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein a mesh density of the layer of mesh material varies along a length of the layer of mesh material.

8. The speaker assembly of claim 1, wherein acoustic resistance of the mesh screen varies along a length of the mesh screen.

9. A damping mechanism configured to cover an opening defined by walls of a speaker enclosure, comprising:

a layer of mesh material extending across the opening, comprising;

a first mesh region corresponding to a central portion of the layer of mesh material and having a first acoustic resistance; and

a second mesh region corresponding to a perimeter portion of the mesh screen at least partially surrounding the first mesh region and having a second acoustic resistance that is different than the first acoustic resistance,

wherein the second mesh region is closer to the walls defining the opening than the first mesh region.

10. The damping mechanism of claim 9, wherein:

the first mesh region has first mesh density; and

the second mesh region has a second mesh density that is different than the first mesh density.

11. The damping mechanism of claim 10, wherein the second mesh density is greater than the first mesh density.

12. The damping mechanism of claim 9, wherein:

the first mesh region has first thickness; and

the second mesh region has a second thickness that is different than the first thickness.

13. The damping mechanism of claim 9, wherein the layer of mesh material comprises:

a first layer of mesh configured to provide acoustic damping; and

a second layer of mesh configured to limit out-of-plane bending of the first layer of mesh when the first layer of mesh is subjected to pressure waves from a speaker coupled to the speaker enclosure.

14. The damping mechanism of claim 13, wherein:

the first layer of mesh has a first acoustic resistance and a first stiffness; and

the second layer of mesh has a second acoustic resistance that is lower than the first acoustic resistance and a second stiffness that is higher than the first stiffness.

15. A speaker assembly, comprising:

a speaker enclosure having walls defining an opening in the speaker enclosure; and

a layer of mesh material extending across the opening, the layer of mesh material comprising;

a first mesh region having a first acoustic resistance; and

a second mesh region having a second acoustic resistance that is different than the first acoustic resistance,

wherein the second mesh region is closer to the walls than the first mesh region.

16. The speaker assembly as recited in claim 15, wherein an average size of openings defined by the first mesh region is larger than an average size of openings defined by the second mesh region.

17. The speaker assembly as recited in claim 15, wherein the layer of mesh material is a first layer of mesh and wherein the damping mechanism further comprises a second layer of mesh configured to limit out-of-plane bending of the first layer of mesh when the first layer of mesh is subjected to pressure waves from the speaker.

18. The speaker assembly as recited in claim 15, wherein the first region is positioned within a central portion of the layer of mesh material and the second region is positioned along a periphery of the layer of mesh material.