Tactile Low Frequency Transducer with Varying Width Metal Loop
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional personal media playing systems, such as MP3 players and smartphones, fail to adequately reproduce low-frequency bass components, leading to an incomplete sensory experience as they cannot transmit infrasound and often result in a lack of tactile sensation typically felt in live music events.
Innovation Solution
A vibrating transducer comprising a flat metal loop with a solenoid and magnets attached to its parallel sides, featuring a continuously varying width, allowing it to vibrate over a range of frequencies and transmit low-frequency vibrations through the body, enhancing the musical experience by simulating bass and infrasound sensations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional earphones and small speakers are used, then vocal and melody frequencies are adequately provided, but low-frequency bass components are lost and not transmitted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines audio frequency transmission through earphones with tactile bass transmission through body-mounted transducers. The transducer system integrates solenoid coils, magnets, and flexible printed circuit boards into a unified wearable device that couples electrical signals to mechanical vibrations on the body, merging auditory and tactile sensing channels to reproduce bass frequencies that conventional speakers cannot transmit effectively.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces body-mounted transducers as intermediary devices between the audio source and the user's sensory system. These transducers convert electrical bass signals into mechanical vibrations that are transmitted through body contact points (chest, back, thighs), serving as a mediator to deliver tactile bass sensation without requiring large conventional speakers.
2Reliability
If large sub-woofers are used to reproduce bass and infrasound, then low-frequency sensation is improved, but the device becomes large and bulky
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the conventional mechanical speaker system (large sub-woofers) with an electromagnetic transducer system. The transducer uses solenoid coils and magnets to generate electromagnetic forces that directly actuate a flexible printed circuit board, converting electrical energy to mechanical vibration without requiring large moving components. This substitution enables compact bass reproduction while maintaining effective low-frequency transmission.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a flexible printed circuit board as the transducer membrane, which serves as both the electrical circuit carrier and the mechanical vibration element. This thin, flexible film can be mounted directly against the body, providing large surface area for bass transmission while maintaining minimal thickness and flexibility, thus avoiding the bulk of conventional sub-woofer enclosures.
3Ease of operation
If vibrating devices are attached to body to provide bass illusion, then tactile sensation is enhanced, but fidelity of sound reproduction deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates dynamic elements including flexible printed circuit boards that can deform elastically, movable transducer components that respond to varying bass frequencies, and a system that adapts vibration intensity to the music signal. The flexible PCB acts as a compliant mounting structure that allows the transducer to follow body contours and move dynamically with the music, maintaining natural vibration patterns across different frequencies and intensities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in the flexible printed circuit board material properties and transducer configuration to optimize performance across different frequency ranges. The flexible PCB's mechanical properties (flexibility, damping) are selected to match the desired vibration characteristics, and the solenoid coil parameters are adjusted to produce appropriate force levels for different bass intensities, thereby maintaining high fidelity across the bass frequency spectrum.
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
The transducer provides an enhanced sensory experience by accurately reproducing low-frequency sounds and overtones, enriching the listening experience with tactile sensations, without the need for modifying existing media items or systems.
Implementation Method 1
a solenoid fixed to a first parallel side of the quadrilateral, and fixed magnets attached to an opposite parallel side of the quadrilateral to bring the fixed magnets into proximity with the solenoid
Implementation Method 2
The transducer provides an enhanced sensory experience by accurately reproducing low-frequency sounds and overtones
Data Source
AI summary
A transducer comprising: a flat strip of metal formed into a closed metal loop with two substantially parallel sides and rounded corners, a solenoid fixed to a surface on a first parallel side, and fixed magnets attached to an opposite parallel side of the trapezoidal shape to bring the fixed magnets into proximity with the solenoid, wherein at least one lateral side of the trapezoidal shape coupling said parallel sides has a continuously varying width, resulting in the transducer being able to resonate with high fidelity over a range of frequencies in response to reception of a signal comprising varying frequencies.