Musical Instrument Damper Drive Actuator Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing automatic damper drive systems for musical instruments face challenges in accurately controlling the position of dampers due to indirect detection of the damper pedal position, leading to inefficiencies and increased load on actuators.
Innovation Solution
The actuator is positioned beside or underneath the elongated member, allowing it to drive the dampers without intervening biasing forces, reducing the load on the actuator and enabling more precise control of damper position through direct transmission of motion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Extent of automation
If the actuator drives the loud lever against the biasing force of the lever return spring, then the dampers can be automatically driven, but the load on the actuator becomes great
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the biasing force of the lever return spring from the actuator's workload by providing a separate spring mechanism that applies biasing force to the elongated member. This allows the actuator to drive the dampers without having to overcome the spring's biasing force, significantly reducing the load on the actuator while maintaining automatic damper drive capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces an intermediary spring mechanism (with first and second springs) that mediates between the actuator and the damper drive system. This intermediary applies biasing force to the elongated member independently, allowing the actuator to operate with reduced load while still achieving automatic damper control.
2Ease of operation
If indirect detection of damper pedal position is used, then the system can detect pedal operation, but the accuracy of damper position control deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The invention implements feedback by detecting the position of the elongated member (which directly controls the dampers) and using this information to control the actuator. This direct feedback loop eliminates the inaccuracies of indirect pedal detection and enables precise control of damper position, allowing the system to accurately reproduce pedaling effects.
3Power
If a larger solenoid is used to overcome the biasing force, then the dampers can be driven, but the device becomes noisier and larger
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the biasing force requirement from the solenoid's workload by providing a separate spring mechanism. This allows the use of a smaller, less noisy solenoid that only needs to overcome friction and drive the dampers, rather than having to overcome both friction and the spring's biasing force.
Solution Approach 2:
The spring mechanism acts as an intermediary that handles the biasing force, allowing the solenoid to be smaller and quieter while still maintaining the capability to drive the dampers effectively.
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 configuration reduces the force required to move dampers and improves the accuracy of damper positioning, allowing for a smaller, less noisy solenoid to be used, which enhances the overall performance and reduces noise.
Implementation Method 1
an electromagnetic solenoid (actuator) is disposed at a position spaced a considerable distance laterally from a lifting rail provided for collectively or integrally moving a plurality of dampers
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
An elongated lifting rail (8) is displaceable to collectively pivot a plurality of damper levers (91). An actuator (552) is provided beside or underneath the lifting rail for automatically displacing the lifting rail. The lifting rail is displaced, in response to driving of the actuator, to displace the damper levers so that the dampers (6) are moved away from contact with sounding members (4). Further, a position sensor (555) is provided for detecting a displaced position of the lifting rail, so that position data detected by the position sensor is used for operating position control and/or operating position recording of the dampers.