Seat and speaker

Abstract

Provided is a seat having a built-in speaker, the seat having a simple configuration.　A seat (100) comprises a vibrator (110) for generating vibration, and a shell (120) to which the vibrator (110) is fixed and which functions as a diaphragm.

Description

Seats and speakers

[0001] The present invention relates to a seat and a speaker.

[0002] Seats with built-in speakers have been developed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a seat having speakers housed in the headrest, backrest, and seat cushion.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2019-212940

[0004] In the seat disclosed in Patent Document 1, the orientation of the speaker is changed depending on the direction of sound emission. For example, when sound is emitted forward, the speaker needs to be oriented forward, and when sound is emitted backward, the speaker needs to be oriented backward.

[0005] One example of a problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a seat with a built-in speaker that has a simple configuration.

[0006] In order to solve the above problem, the present invention has a vibrator that generates vibrations, and a shell to which the vibrator is fixed and which functions as a diaphragm.

[0007] The invention described in claim 11 includes a vibrator that generates vibrations and a diaphragm to which the vibrator is fixed, the diaphragm having a seat shape.

[0008] The invention described in claim 12 includes a vibrator that generates vibrations and a diaphragm to which the vibrator is fixed, the diaphragm constituting at least a part of a shell of a seat.

[0009] 1 is a diagram showing a seat 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a vibrator 110; FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the vibrator 110 taken along a plane passing through the axis of a bobbin 111; FIG. 4 is a diagram explaining the fixing of the vibrator 110 to a shell 120; FIG. 5 is a diagram explaining an example of a cross-section of the shell 120; FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a seat 100 on which a cushion 130 is arranged; FIG. 7 is a diagram explaining the relationship between the vibrator 110 and the cushion 130;

[0010] A seat according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a vibrator that generates vibrations and a shell to which the vibrator is fixed and which functions as a diaphragm. In this manner, in this embodiment, the shell functions as a diaphragm, and sound is emitted as the shell vibrates. As a result, in this embodiment, with a simple configuration consisting of only the vibrator and the shell, it is possible to emit sound both in the front (toward the seated person) and the rear (away from the seated person) of the shell. This embodiment makes it possible to provide a seat with a built-in speaker that has a simple configuration.

[0011] The seat may further include a cushion disposed in a portion of the shell that comes into contact with a person sitting on the seat. By disposing the cushion in the portion of the shell that comes into contact with a person sitting on the seat, the cushion acts as a buffer, allowing the shell to vibrate without being attenuated by the person sitting on the seat, and allowing the entire shell to function as a diaphragm.

[0012] The cushion arranged in the portion of the shell that comes into contact with the back of the person sitting in the seat and the cushion arranged in the portion of the shell that comes into contact with the head of the person sitting in the seat may be separated from each other. In this way, the shell is exposed and not covered by the cushion near the ears of the person sitting in the seat, making it easier for sound generated by the shell to reach the ears of the person sitting in the seat.

[0013] The cushion may have a recess for accommodating the vibrator. By doing so, even if the vibrator is disposed inside the shell (on the side where the seat occupant sits), the seat occupant can sit in the seat without feeling any discomfort. Also, by doing so, the vibrator can be hidden from the outside, improving the design of the seat. Also, by doing so, the vibrator can be protected from external impacts.

[0014] The vibrator may be attached to the shell with an adhesive material having high thermal conductivity. The adhesive material may be a double-sided tape using a thermally conductive sheet as a base material. This allows heat generated in the vibrator to be efficiently dissipated from the shell 120 side.

[0015] The vibrator may have a bobbin and a voice coil wound around the bobbin, and the bobbin may be made of a material having low thermal conductivity and / or heat resistance. This makes it possible to prevent heat generated by the voice coil from concentrating on the bobbin, and as a result, it is possible to prevent deformation of the bobbin and the lower case due to heat generated by the voice coil.

[0016] The position of the shell to which the vibrator is fixed may be determined based on the size of the shell and the frequency within the audible range, thereby making it possible to fix the vibrator at a position where vibrations generated by the vibrator can be easily transmitted to the shell.

[0017] The shell may have an outer member and an inner member surrounded by the outer member, and the inner member may be softer than the outer member. This ensures the hardness of the diaphragm and an appropriate internal loss, resulting in the shell becoming an acoustically excellent diaphragm.

[0018] The number of vibrators may be two or more. This allows for a variety of acoustic expressions. In particular, when the number of vibrators 110 is two, it becomes possible for the shell 120 to generate sounds based on stereo audio signals.

[0019] A speaker according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a vibrator that generates vibrations and a diaphragm to which the vibrator is fixed, the diaphragm being shaped like a seat. Therefore, in this embodiment, with a simple configuration consisting of only the vibrator and the seat-shaped diaphragm, it is possible to emit sound both in front of the diaphragm (toward the seated person) and behind the diaphragm (toward the opposite side of the seated person). As a result, this embodiment makes it possible to provide a seat with a built-in speaker that has a simple configuration.

[0020] A speaker according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a vibrator that generates vibrations and a diaphragm to which the vibrator is fixed, and the diaphragm forms at least a part of the shell of a seat. Therefore, in this embodiment, with a simple configuration consisting of only the vibrator and the shell, it is possible to emit sound to both the front (the direction toward which the seat occupant sits) and the rear (the direction opposite to the direction toward which the seat occupant sits) of the shell. As a result, this embodiment makes it possible to provide a seat with a built-in speaker that has a simple configuration.

[0021] 1 is a diagram showing a seat 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The seat 100 includes a vibrator 110 and a shell 120. The seat 100 is, for example, a seat for a vehicle.

[0022] The vibrator 110 generates vibrations. The vibrator 110 receives an audio signal from an audio signal generator (not shown) and generates vibrations based on the input audio signal.

[0023] Shell 120 has a seat shape and includes a seating portion 121 on which a person sitting in seat 100 sits, a backrest portion 122 on which the person sitting in seat 100 leans their back, and a headrest portion 123 on which the person sitting in seat 100 rests their head. Shell 120 is, for example, integrally molded from plastic (for example, GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastic)).

[0024] The vibrator 110 is fixed to the shell 120. Therefore, in this embodiment, the shell 120 vibrates due to vibrations generated by the vibrator 110. This vibration of the shell 120 generates sound. That is, in this embodiment, the shell 120 functions as a diaphragm, and the seat 100 constitutes a speaker having the vibrator 110 and the diaphragm (shell 120). In this manner, in this embodiment, the shell 120 functions as a diaphragm, and sound is emitted by the vibration of the shell 120. As a result, in this embodiment, with a simple configuration including only the vibrator 110 and the shell 120, it is possible to emit sound both in front of the shell 120 (toward the seating side of the seat 100) and behind the shell 120 (in the direction opposite to the seating side of the seat 100). This embodiment makes it possible to provide a seat with a built-in speaker that has a simple configuration.

[0025] 1, the entire shell 120 functions as the diaphragm, but a part of the shell 120 (e.g., the backrest 122) may function as the diaphragm. In other words, the seat 100 may be configured as a speaker having the vibrator 110 and a diaphragm that forms at least a part of the shell 120 of the seat 100.

[0026] <Vibrator 110> Fig. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the vibrator 110. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the vibrator 110 has, for example, a bobbin 111, a voice coil 112, an upper case 113, and a lower case 114. The bobbin 111 has a cylindrical shape, and in Figs. 2 and 3, the direction in which an axis AD of the bobbin 111 extends is the up-down direction, with the upper case 113 side being the upper side and the lower case 114 side being the lower side. Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the vibrator 110 when cut along a plane passing through the axis AD of the bobbin 111.

[0027] As shown in Fig. 4, the vibrator 110 is fixed to the shell 120 by fixing the lower case 114 to the shell 120. In this case, the lower case 114 may have an attachment portion 1141 for fixing the lower case 114 to the shell 120 with a screw SC, for example, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. In this case, the lower case 114 of the vibrator 110 may be fixed to the shell 120 so that a lower surface 1142 of the lower case 114 contacts the shell 120, as shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing a cross section of the seat 100 at a portion where the vibrator 110 is fixed. In Fig. 4, components of the vibrator 110 other than the upper case 113 and the lower case 114 are omitted from the illustration.

[0028] As shown in FIG. 3 , the voice coil 112 is housed in a case made up of an upper case 113 and a lower case 114. An audio signal is input to the voice coil 112. When the audio signal is input to the voice coil 112, the voice coil 112 moves up and down (vibrates) in response to the input audio signal. In this embodiment, the voice coil 112 is wound around a bobbin 111, which is fixed to a lower case 114, which is fixed to a shell 120. Therefore, in this embodiment, the lower case 114 and the shell 120 vibrate in response to the vibration of the voice coil. As a result, in this embodiment, the vibration of the shell 120 generates sound from the shell 120 in response to the audio signal input to the voice coil 112 (vibrator 110).

[0029] At this time, it is preferable that the lower surface 1142 of the lower case 114 of the vibrator 110 is adhered to the shell 120 by an adhesive member (not shown). By doing so, the lower surface 1142 of the lower case 114 of the vibrator 110 is kept in contact with the shell 120, and vibrations generated in the vibrator 110 are accurately transmitted to the shell 120. As a result, by doing so, it is possible to prevent a buzzing sound from being generated from the shell 120. Furthermore, by doing so, it is possible to fix the vibrator 110 to the shell 120 with fewer screws, which reduces the amount of screwing work required when assembling the seat 100 and improves the work efficiency of assembling the seat 100.

[0030] It is preferable that the vibrator 110 is fixed at a position where the vibrations generated by the vibrator 110 are easily transmitted to the shell 120. In particular, it is preferable that the vibrator 110 is fixed not to a node of the natural vibration of the shell 120 but to an antinode of the natural vibration of the shell 120. The natural vibration of the shell 120 depends on parameters such as the size (length and width) of the shell 120, the frequency of the vibration incident on the shell 120, and the mounting and fixing position of the shell 120 (the position of the shell 120 at which the seat 100 is fixed to an installation object (e.g., a vehicle) when the seat 100 is installed in the installation object). Therefore, it is preferable that the position of the shell 120 at which the vibrator 110 is fixed is determined based on the size of the shell 120 and a frequency within the audible range. In the example shown in Figure 1, the shell 120 has a first mounting portion 124 (in Figure 1, the mounting member is attached with a screw) and a second mounting portion 125 for installing the seat 100 on the installation target, and these first mounting portion 124 and second mounting portion 125 are the mounting and fixing positions of the shell 120.

[0031] As shown in FIG. 1, the vibrator 110 may be arranged inside the shell 120 (on the side where the person sitting in the seat 100 sits), or the vibrator 110 may be arranged outside the shell 120 (on the side opposite the side where the person sitting in the seat 100 sits).

[0032] When the vibrator 110 is disposed inside the shell 120, it is preferable to dispose the vibrator 110 in a position facing the lower back of a seated person. By doing so, even if the vibrator 110 is disposed inside the shell 120 (on the side where the seated person sits in the seat 100), the seated person can sit in the seat 100 without feeling any discomfort. In this case, as described in detail below, it is preferable to dispose the cushion 130 so that it covers the vibrator 110 ( FIGS. 6 and 7 ). By doing so, even if the vibrator 110 is disposed inside the shell 120 (on the side where the seated person sits in the seat 100), the seated person can sit in the seat 100 without feeling any discomfort. Furthermore, by doing so, it is possible to hide the vibrator 110 from the outside, improving the design of the seat 100. Furthermore, by doing so, it is possible to protect the vibrator 110 from external impacts.

[0033] The number of vibrators 110 may be one or two or more. When the number of vibrators 110 is two or more, various acoustic expressions become possible. In particular, when the number of vibrators 110 is two, as shown in FIG. 1 , it becomes possible for the shell 120 to generate sounds based on stereo audio signals.

[0034] <Shell 120> As shown in Fig. 5, the shell 120 may have an external member 126 molded from plastic (for example, GFRP (glass fiber reinforced plastic)), and an internal member 127 disposed inside the external member 126 and surrounded by the external member 126. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating a cross section of an example of the shell 120. In this case, it is preferable that the internal member 127 is made of a member (for example, hard urethane foam) that is softer than the external member 126. In this way, it is possible to ensure the hardness required for a diaphragm and an appropriate internal loss, resulting in the shell 120 becoming an acoustically excellent diaphragm.

[0035] <Cushion 130> As shown in Fig. 6 , the seat 100 may have a cushion 130. The cushion 130 is arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with a person sitting in the seat 100. The cushion 130 is arranged, for example, in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the buttocks or legs of a person sitting in the seat 100, a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the back or waist of a person sitting in the seat 100, and a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the head of a person sitting in the seat. Furthermore, as shown in Figs. 1 and 6 , if the shell 120 has a right side portion 128 that faces the right side of a person sitting in the seat 100 and a left side portion 129 that faces the left side of a person sitting in the seat 100, the cushion 130 may also be arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the right side of a person sitting in the seat 100 and a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the left side of a person sitting in the seat 100.

[0036] In this way, by placing cushion 130 on the part of shell 120 that comes into contact with a person sitting in seat 100, cushion 130 acts as a buffer material, and even when a person sits in seat 100, shell 120 can be vibrated without attenuation, and even when a person sits in seat 100, the entire shell 120 can function as a diaphragm.

[0037] The cushion 130 may be separated into a plurality of parts as shown in Fig. 6. In the example shown in Fig. 6, the cushion 130 is separated into five parts, including a cushion 131 arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the buttocks and legs of a person sitting in the seat 100, a cushion 132 arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the back and waist of a person sitting in the seat 100, a cushion 133 arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the head of a person sitting in the seat 100, a cushion 134 arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the right side of a person sitting in the seat 100, and a cushion 135 arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the left side of a person sitting in the seat 100.

[0038] In particular, cushion 132, which is disposed in a portion of shell 120 that contacts the back of a person sitting in seat 110, and cushion 133, which is disposed in a portion of shell 120 that contacts the head of a person sitting in seat 110, are preferably separated from each other. Shell 120 is preferably exposed between the two separated cushions 132 and 133. In this case, the two separated cushions 132 and 133 are preferably spaced apart by a predetermined distance, for example. This predetermined distance is set as appropriate. In this manner, shell 120 is exposed and not covered by cushion 130 near the ears of a person sitting in seat 100, making it easier for sound generated by shell 120 to reach the ears of the person sitting in seat 100.

[0039] When the vibrator 110 is disposed inside the shell 120 (the side where the person sitting in the seat 100 sits), the cushion 130 may be disposed so as to cover the vibrator 110, as shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing a cross section of the seat 100 at the portion where the vibrator 110 is fixed. When the cushion 130 is disposed so as to cover the vibrator 110, the cushion 130 disposed at the position where the vibrator 110 is fixed may have, for example, a recess 136 for accommodating the vibrator 110, as shown in Fig. 7. In this case, the thickness T1 of the cushion 130 disposed at the position where the vibrator 110 is fixed is set to be greater than the thickness T2 of the vibrator 110.

[0040] When the cushion 130 is arranged to cover the vibrator 110, heat generated in the vibrator 110 cannot be dissipated from the cushion 130 side. Therefore, when the cushion 130 is arranged to cover the vibrator 110, it is necessary to efficiently dissipate heat generated in the vibrator 110 (voice coil 112) from the shell 120 side. Therefore, the adhesive member that bonds the lower surface 1142 of the lower case 114 of the vibrator 110 to the shell 120 should be made of a material with high thermal conductivity. That is, the adhesive member should be made of a material with a thermal conductivity greater than a first thermal conductivity value, for example. This first thermal conductivity value is set appropriately. The adhesive member should be, for example, double-sided tape using a thermally conductive sheet as a base material. This allows heat generated in the vibrator 110 to be efficiently dissipated from the shell 120 side.

[0041] Furthermore, if the bobbin 111 has a high thermal conductivity, heat generated in the voice coil 112 may concentrate on the bobbin 111, possibly deforming the bobbin 111 or the lower case 114 to which the bobbin 111 is fixed. If the bobbin 111 or the lower case 114 deforms in this way, a deviation in the vibration of the voice coil 112 may occur, which may also cause a deviation in the vibration transmitted to the shell 120. As a result, the sound generated from the shell 120 may differ from the sound corresponding to the audio signal input to the voice coil 111. Therefore, the bobbin 111 is preferably made of a material with low thermal conductivity (e.g., Kapton). The bobbin 111 is preferably made of a material with a thermal conductivity lower than the second thermal conductivity value, for example. This second thermal conductivity value is set as appropriate. This makes it possible to prevent the heat generated by the voice coil 112 from concentrating on the bobbin 111, and as a result, it becomes possible to prevent the bobbin 111 and the lower case 114 from being deformed by the heat generated by the voice coil 112. Furthermore, if the bobbin 111 has low heat resistance, there is a possibility that the bobbin 111 will be deformed. Therefore, it is preferable that the bobbin 111 be made of a heat-resistant material.

[0042] The present invention has been described above in terms of preferred embodiments thereof. While the present invention has been described herein with reference to specific examples, various modifications and variations can be made to these examples without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the claims.

[0043] 100 Seat 110 Vibrator 111 Bobbin 112 Voice coil 113 Upper case 114 Lower case 1141 Mounting portion of lower case 114 1142 Underside of lower case 114 120 Shell 121 Seating portion 122 Backrest portion 123 Headrest portion 124 First mounting portion 125 Second mounting portion 126 External member 127 Internal member 128 Right side portion 129 Left side portion 130 Cushion 131 Cushion arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the buttocks or legs of a person sitting in the seat 100 132 Cushion arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the back or waist of a person sitting in the seat 100 133 Cushion arranged in a portion of the shell 120 that comes into contact with the head of a person sitting in the seat 100 134 Cushion 135 arranged in a portion of shell 120 that comes into contact with the right side of a person sitting in seat 100 Cushion 136 arranged in a portion of shell 120 that comes into contact with the left side of a person sitting in seat 100

Claims

1. A seat having a vibrator that generates vibrations and a shell to which the vibrator is fixed and that functions as a diaphragm.

2. The seat according to claim 1, further comprising a cushion disposed at a portion of the shell that contacts a person sitting on the seat.

3. The seat according to claim 2, wherein a cushion disposed at a portion of the shell that contacts the back of a person sitting on the seat and a cushion disposed at a portion of the shell that contacts the head of a person sitting on the seat are separated from each other.

4. The seat according to claim 2, wherein the cushion has a recess for accommodating the vibrator.

5. The seat according to claim 2, wherein the vibrator is adhered to the shell by an adhesive member having a high thermal conductivity.

6. The seat according to claim 5, wherein the adhesive member is a double-sided tape using a heat-conductive sheet as a base material.

7. The seat according to claim 2, wherein the vibrator has a bobbin and a voice coil wound around the bobbin, and the bobbin is formed of a material having a low thermal conductivity and / or heat resistance.

8. The seat according to claim 1, wherein the position of the shell to which the vibrator is fixed is determined based on the size of the shell and the frequency within the audible range.

9. The seat according to claim 1, wherein the shell has an external member and an internal member surrounded by the external member, and the internal member is softer than the external member.

10. The seat according to claim 1, wherein the number of the vibrators is two or more.

11. A speaker having a vibrator that generates vibrations and a diaphragm to which the vibrator is fixed, the diaphragm having a seat shape.

12. A speaker having a vibrator that generates vibrations and a diaphragm to which the vibrator is fixed, the diaphragm constituting at least a part of a shell of a seat.

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