Cascaded Transducer Array Horn for Acoustic Power Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Compression drivers face inefficiency in transferring energy to air due to impedance mismatch, and existing horn designs limit power delivery by requiring increased diaphragm piston travel, which restricts energy introduction, especially in low-frequency ranges.
Innovation Solution
A loudspeaker system with a horn design that distributes transducers along its length, with ports staged to maintain peak pressure and add or cancel acoustic energy in phase, allowing for enhanced impedance matching and power transfer, using identical transducers and adjusting the number and spacing based on the horn's flare and cross-sectional area.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Power
If diaphragm piston travel is increased to achieve higher volume velocity, then acoustic power output is improved, but transducer travel limitations and distortion effects worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The invention divides the acoustic energy generation task among multiple compression drivers distributed along the horn propagation axis. Each driver contributes a portion of the total acoustic energy, eliminating the need for any single driver to undergo excessive piston travel. The drivers are positioned at different locations and contribute energy in a cascaded manner along the horn length.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention transitions from a single-point energy input (traditional horn throat) to a distributed energy input along the propagation axis. By spacing multiple drivers at different positions along the horn length, the system adds acoustic energy progressively through space, maintaining lower individual driver travel requirements while achieving high total power output.
2Power
If multiple transducers are distributed along the horn to add energy progressively, then power transfer efficiency is improved, but device complexity and port spacing calibration requirements worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The invention systematically varies the spacing between ports along the horn propagation axis. The spacing is not uniform but follows a progressive pattern that matches the acoustic wave propagation characteristics. This parameter optimization allows each driver to contribute energy in phase with the propagating wave, maximizing power transfer efficiency while managing system complexity.
3Volume of moving object
If compression drivers are used to transfer energy to air, then compact design is achieved, but impedance mismatch and energy transfer efficiency worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The horn structure serves as an acoustic transformer and intermediary between the compression drivers and the air load. The horn progressively transforms the acoustic impedance from the high-impedance diaphragm of the compression drivers to the low-impedance air load, enabling efficient energy transfer. Multiple drivers distributed along the horn further enhance this impedance matching by adding energy progressively as the wave propagates.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This design enhances acoustic power output by maintaining peak pressure and frequency spectrum, reducing distortion, and increasing power transfer efficiency while minimizing transducer travel limitations, making it suitable for high-intensity low-frequency sound reproduction.
Implementation Method 1
The horn is, in effect, an acoustic transformer, and provides an output performance equivalence to a driving unit having a large area diaphragm using a transducer with a relatively small area diaphragm
Implementation Method 2
movement of the compression driver produces greater local pressure changes than would otherwise occur
Implementation Method 3
Acoustic energy matching the frequency spectrum of the acoustic signal may be added to the acoustic signal (alternatively, acoustic energy may be cancelled from the acoustic signal inserting energy 180 degrees out of phase) at each successive port
Data Source
AI summary
A horn based loudspeaker system provides control over peak to peak pressure of an acoustic signal across its frequency spectrum. Frequency spectrum matched acoustic energy added to the acoustic signal at diverse points distributed along the horn.