Patent Publication Number: US-2020296503-A1

Title: Speaker device

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application claims priority to Taiwan Application Serial Number 108108963, filed Mar. 15, 2019, which is herein incorporated by reference. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Technical Field 
     The present disclosure relates to a speaker device. 
     Description of Related Art 
     In the case of a traditional speaker device, a configuration that turns the sound direction of the speaker unit toward the user is adopted, such that the sound is directed toward the user and the sound loss rate is low. However, the disadvantage is that the sound box is behind the speaker unit, which occupies a large area at the bottom. 
     Another traditional speaker device is designed with a configuration that the speaker unit is placed upright (i.e. the sound direction faces upward or downward), so the bottom area can be smaller than the previous traditional speaker device. The speaker unit of this kind of traditional speaker device is not directly oriented toward the user, so it often needs to guide sound through a sound guide structure to form a unidirectional sound field or a non-directional sound field fixed at 360 degrees. However, the conventional sound guide structure adopted by the traditional speaker device will cause a lot of sound loss during the process of guiding the sound, so the volume will be significantly reduced, and the higher the coverage, the more muffled the sound will be. 
     However, the sound fields of the two kinds of traditional speaker devices are fixed and cannot be adjusted. Accordingly, how to provide a speaker device to solve the aforementioned problems becomes an important issue to be solved by those in the industry. 
     SUMMARY 
     An aspect of the disclosure is to provide a speaker device which can solve the aforementioned problems. 
     According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a speaker device includes an external housing, a sound guide structure, and a speaker unit. The sound guide structure is located in the external housing and has a paraboloid. The speaker unit is located in the external housing and configured to sound towards the paraboloid. The paraboloid has a focus. The speaker unit has a sound emitting surface. A center of the sound emitting surface is substantially coincident with the focus. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the paraboloid further has an axis passing through the focus. An acute angle is formed between the axis and a virtual section passing through the center. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the acute angle is from about 25 degrees to about 35 degrees. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the speaker device further includes a cushioning member. The external housing includes a top base. The cushioning member is disposed between the top base and the sound guide structure. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the speaker device further includes an internal housing. The internal housing is located in the external housing and engaged with the sound guide structure and the speaker unit. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the external housing includes a top base. The sound guide structure is located between the internal housing and the top base. The internal housing has an upper opening facing toward the sound guide structure. The speaker unit is engaged with the upper opening. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the speaker device further includes a cushioning member. The external housing includes a bottom base. The cushioning member is disposed between the bottom base and the internal housing. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the speaker device further includes a passive diaphragm engaged with the internal housing. The passive diaphragm and the speaker unit are located at opposite sides of the internal housing respectively. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the external housing includes a bottom base. The internal housing is located between the sound guide structure and the bottom base. The internal housing has a lower opening facing toward the bottom base. The passive diaphragm is engaged with the lower opening. 
     In an embodiment of the disclosure, the bottom base further has a base recess. The internal housing correspondingly has a housing recess at a lower side thereof. The cushioning member is accommodated in a space between the base recess and the housing recess. The cushioning member is a spring. 
     Accordingly, in the speaker device of the present disclosure, the speaker unit is placed upright, so the bottom area of the housing can be smaller than traditional speaker devices. In addition, the sound guide structure adopted in the present disclosure has a paraboloid, and the speaker unit is configured to sound towards the paraboloid. Hence, the paraboloid of the sound guide structure can effectively reduce the number of reflection of sound, and effectively reduce the chance of sound colliding after being guided, thereby reducing the sound loss. Furthermore, in the speaker device of the present disclosure, the cushioning members are disposed between the external housing and the sound guide structure and between the external housing and the internal housing engaged with the speaker unit. Hence, the cushioning members can effectively absorb the vibration directly or indirectly generated by the speaker unit, thereby minimizing the abnormal sound. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are by examples, and are intended to provide further explanation of the disclosure as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the following detailed description of the embodiment, with reference made to the accompanying drawings as follows: 
         FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a speaker device according to an embodiment of the disclosure; 
         FIG. 1B  is an exploded view of the speaker device in  FIG. 1A ; 
         FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the speaker device in  FIG. 1A  taken along line  2 - 2 , in which a mesh hood is omitted; and 
         FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the speaker device in  FIG. 1A  taken along line  3 - 3 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Reference will now be made in detail to the present embodiments of the disclosure, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts. However, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of describing example embodiments, and thus may be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be construed as limited to only example embodiments set forth herein. Therefore, it should be understood that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the disclosure. 
     Reference is made to  FIGS. 1A and 1B .  FIG. 1A  is a perspective view of a speaker device  100  according to an embodiment of the disclosure.  FIG. 1B  is an exploded view of the speaker device  100  in  FIG. 1A . In the present embodiment, the speaker device  100  includes an external housing  110 , a mesh hood  120 , a sound guide structure  130 , a speaker unit  140 , and an internal housing  150 , in which the combination of the speaker unit  140  and the internal housing  150  can be called a speaker unit module. This modular design contributes to the elimination of vibration and abnormal noise, which will be explained in detail later. The structure and function of each component and connection relationships among these components will be described in detail below. 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1A and 1B , in the present embodiment, the external housing  110  includes a top base  111 , a bottom base  112 , and a side wall  113 . The top base  111  and the bottom base  112  are opposite to each other, and the side wall  113  is connected between the top base  111  and the bottom base  112 . The side wall  113  has an assembly opening  113   a.  The assembly opening  113   a  is in spatial communication with the inner space of the external housing  110 . The mesh hood  120  entirely covers the assembly opening  113   a  and is engaged with the inner edge of the assembly opening  113   a.  That is, the inner space of the external housing  110  is in spatial communication with the outside of the external housing  110  via the mesh hood  120 . The sound guide structure  130 , the speaker unit  140 , and the internal housing  150  are located in the external housing  110 . 
     In the present embodiment, the side wall  113  and the bottom base  112  of the external housing  110  are detachably connected to each other by, for example, screw fastening, but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 2 .  FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of the speaker device  100  in  FIG. 1A  taken along line  2 - 2 , in which the mesh hood  120  is omitted. As shown in  FIGS. 1B and 2 , in the present embodiment, the sound guide structure  130  has a paraboloid  131 . The speaker unit  140  is configured to sound towards the paraboloid  131 . In detail, the paraboloid  131  of the sound guide structure  130  must conform to a parabolic equation. A parabolic equation for the Cartesian coordinate system is as follows: 
         z+c=x   2   /a   2   +y   2   /b   2    (1)
 
     Where x, y, and z are three-dimensional coordinates, and a, b, and c are arbitrary constants. The disclosure requires a=b so as to obtain a paraboloid of revolution. 
     Furthermore, the paraboloid  131  has a focus F and an axis A passing through the focus F. The paraboloid  131  is a curved surface produced by rotating a parabola about the axis A (i.e., the axis of symmetry) by 180 degrees. The speaker unit  140  has a sound emitting surface  141 . A center C of the sound emitting surface  141  is substantially coincident with the focus F. Hence, the sound emitted from the center C of the sound emitting surface  141  will travel in a direction parallel to the axis A after being reflected by the paraboloid  131 . As such, the paraboloid  131  of the sound guide structure  130  can effectively reduce the number of reflection of the sound, and effectively reduce the chance of sound colliding after being guided, thereby reducing the sound loss. 
     In addition, in order to further reduce the collision of the sound guided by the sound guide structure  130  with the sound from the speaker unit  140  coming from below, the sound guide structure  130  can also be designed to guide the sound slightly upward. Specifically, as shown in  FIG. 2 , It can be further designed to form an acute angle  8  between the axis A of the paraboloid  131  and a virtual section P passing through the center C of the sound emitting surface  141 , in which the axis A passes through the assembly opening  113   a  of the side wall  113 . In some embodiments, the acute angle  8  between the axis A and the virtual section P is from about 25 degrees to about 35 degrees, but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , in the present embodiment, the internal housing  150  is engaged with the sound guide structure  130  and the speaker unit  140 . Specifically, the internal housing  150  has an upper opening  151  at the upper side thereof. The speaker unit  140  is accommodated in the internal housing  150  and engaged with the inner edge of the upper opening  151 , such that the sound emitting surface  141  of the speaker unit  140  exposes from the upper opening  151 . The sound guide structure  130  is connected to the upper side of the internal housing  150  and opposite to the sound emitting surface  141  of the speaker unit  140 . For example, the speaker unit  140  is a component that converts electrical energy into sound. The component consists, for example, of a diaphragm, a magnet, and a coil. When a current containing a signal is transmitted to the coil of the speaker unit  140 , the coil generates a magnetic field. This magnetic field will drive the magnet on the diaphragm to cause the diaphragm to vibrate. This vibration pushes the surrounding air and produces sound. 
     In addition, the speaker device  100  further includes passive diaphragm  160 . The internal housing  150  has a lower opening  152  at the lower side thereof. The passive diaphragm  160  and the speaker unit  140  are located at opposite sides of the internal housing  150  respectively. The passive diaphragm  160  is engaged with the inner edge of the lower opening  152 . The passive diaphragm  160  can be made of an elastic material (e.g., rubber) and can be selected according to the use. When the speaker unit  140  vibrates, the gas in the internal housing  150  vibrates together. Since the moving path of the gas is proportional to the inner space, the passive diaphragm  160  can additionally increase the moving path, so that a cavity volume required for the internal housing  150  can be effectively reduced. For example, in the case where the passive diaphragm  160  is not engaged and the lower opening  152  is canceled, the internal housing  150  may require a cavity volume of  150  to  200  c.c. to achieve sound requirements, but in an embodiment in which the lower opening  152  is engaged with the passive diaphragm  160 , the internal housing  150  may only require a cavity volume of  100  c.c. to achieve the sound requirements. 
     In the present embodiment, the sound guide structure  130  is connected to the internal housing  150  to form a unitary structure that is integrally formed (e.g., by a plastic injection molding process), but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. 
     Reference is made to  FIG. 3 .  FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the speaker device  100  in  FIG. 1A  taken along line  3 - 3 . As shown in  FIGS. 1B to 3 , in the present embodiment, the speaker device  100  further includes cushioning members  170 A,  170 B. The cushioning member  170 A is disposed between the top base  111  of the external housing  110  and the sound guide structure  130 . The cushioning members  170 B are disposed between the bottom base  112  of the external housing  110  and the internal housing  150 . In this way, when playing large volume through the speaker unit  140 , the cushioning members  170 A,  170 B effectively absorb the vibration directly or indirectly generated by the speaker unit  140 , thereby reducing the abnormal noises between the external housing  110  and the sound guide structure  130  and between the external housing  110  and the internal housing  150  to the minimum. 
     In the present embodiment, the cushioning member  170 A is exemplified by a sheet-shaped cushioning material such as muffling foam, and the cushioning members  170 B are exemplified by springs, but the disclosure is not limited in this regard. In addition, the number of the cushioning members  170 B is not limited by  FIG. 1B  and can be elastically increased or decreased according to actual needs. 
     As shown in  FIG. 1B , in the present embodiment, the internal housing  150  has a plurality of guide pillars  153  (only one of which can be seen in the figure) at the lower side thereof, and the bottom base  112  of the external housing  110  correspondingly has a plurality of guide holes  112   a.  The guide pillars  153  are slidably engaged with the guide holes  112   a  respectively, so as to limit the lateral movement of the internal housing  150  relative to the external housing  110 . 
     In addition, as shown in  FIGS. 1B and 3 , in the present embodiment, the bottom base  112  of the external housing  110  further has a plurality of base recesses  112   b,  and the internal housing  150  correspondingly has a plurality of housing recesses  154  at a lower side thereof. The base recesses  112   b  are opposite to the housing recesses  154  respectively, and each of the cushioning members  170 B is accommodated in a space between a corresponding one of the base recesses  112   b  and a corresponding one of the housing recesses  154 , so as to position each of the cushioning members  170 B between the bottom base  112  of the external housing  110  and the internal housing  150 . 
     According to the foregoing recitations of the embodiments of the disclosure, it can be seen that in the speaker device of the present disclosure, the speaker unit is placed upright, so the bottom area of the housing can be smaller than traditional speaker devices. In addition, the sound guide structure adopted in the present disclosure has a paraboloid, and the speaker unit is configured to sound towards the paraboloid. Hence, the paraboloid of the sound guide structure can effectively reduce the number of reflection of sound, and effectively reduce the chance of sound colliding after being guided, thereby reducing the sound loss. Furthermore, in the speaker device of the present disclosure, the cushioning members are disposed between the external housing and the sound guide structure and between the external housing and the internal housing engaged with the speaker unit. Hence, the cushioning members can effectively absorb the vibration directly or indirectly generated by the speaker unit, thereby minimizing the abnormal sound. 
     Although the present disclosure has been described in considerable detail with reference to certain embodiments thereof, other embodiments are possible. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the structure of the present disclosure without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure. In view of the foregoing, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they fall within the scope of the following claims.