Lightweight Acoustic Enclosures

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016347216-A1
Application number	US-201615234404-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Aug 11, 2016
Priority date	Dec 5, 2014
Publication date	Dec 1, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The technology described in this document can be embodied in an acoustic enclosure for a speaker system disposed in a portion of a vehicle seat. The acoustic enclosure includes a rigid plate configured to be attached to a frame, a first section, and a second section. The rigid plate configured to support a speaker disposed in part within the acoustic enclosure. The first section is constructed from expanded resin, and disposed in contact with the rigid plate. The second section is disposed in contact with the first section, between the second section and the rigid plate. The first and second section together define a housing of the acoustic enclosure that includes at least one cavity configured to accommodate a portion of the speaker.

First claim

1 .- 30 . (canceled)

31 . An enclosure for a speaker disposed in a portion of a vehicle seat, the enclosure comprising:
a rigid plate configured to be attached to a frame of the vehicle seat; a first section coupled to the rigid plate; and a second section coupled to the first section by companion-shaped features, wherein the first section is disposed between the second section and the rigid plate, and the first and second section together define a housing of the enclosure that is configured to accommodate a portion of the speaker.

32 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the first section comprises an expanded resin that is over-molded on the rigid plate.

33 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the companion shaped features provide an interference fit.

34 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the companion shaped features provide an overlapping joint.

35 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the companion shaped features provide a tongue-in-groove joint.

36 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the second section comprises expanded resin.

37 . The enclosure of claim 36 , wherein the expanded resin comprises expanded polystyrene foam.

38 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the rigid plate is welded or fastened to frame.

39 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein rigid plate is constructed from metal or injection-molded plastic.

40 . The enclosure of claim 31 , wherein the rigid plate includes one or more structural features for configuring a flexibility of the rigid plate.

41 . The enclosure of claim 40 , wherein the one or more structural features are created by removing a portion of the rigid plate to increase flexibility of the rigid plate.

42 . The enclosure of claim 40 , wherein the one or more structural features comprise a flange configured to provide additional stiffness to the rigid plate.

43 . A seat headrest comprising:
a frame configured to couple the headrest to a seat; and an enclosure for a speaker, the enclosure comprising:
a rigid plate attached to the frame,
a first section coupled to the rigid plate, and
a second section coupled to the first section by companion-shaped features, wherein the first and second section together define a housing is configured to accommodate a portion of the speaker,
wherein the first section is disposed between the rigid plate and the second section.

44 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , further comprising a rigid supporting structure disposed in contact with the rigid plate.

45 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the first section comprises an expanded resin that is over-molded on the rigid plate.

46 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the companion shaped features provide an interference fit.

47 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the companion shaped features provide an overlapping joint.

48 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the companion shaped features provide a tongue-in-groove joint.

49 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the rigid supporting structure includes an acoustic channel that facilitates acoustic energy to be radiated out of the acoustic enclosure.

50 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the rigid supporting structure is constructed of expanded resin.

51 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the first section and the rigid supporting structure are disposed on opposite sides of at least a portion of the rigid plate.

52 . The seat headrest of claim 43 , wherein the rigid plate includes one or more structural features for configuring a flexibility of the rigid plate.

53 . The seat headrest of claim 52 , wherein the one or more structural features comprise a flange configured to provide additional stiffness to the rigid plate.

54 . A method of constructing an enclosure for a speaker system disposed in a portion of a vehicle seat, the method comprising:
producing a first section of the acoustic enclosure by molding expanded resin over a rigid plate, the first section including a first portion of an interference fit mechanism; producing a second section of the acoustic enclosure, the second section including a second portion of the interference fit mechanism; and coupling the second section to the first section by coupling the first and second portions of the interference fit mechanism such that the first section is disposed between the rigid plate and the second section, and the first section and the second section together form a portion of the enclosure configured to accept at least a portion of the speaker system.

55 . The method of claim 54 , wherein the expanded resin is molded over the rigid plate such that the rigid plate is enclosed in part by the expanded resin.

Assignees

• Bose Corp

Inventors

• Subat Bradford Kyle

Classifications

• H04R2499/13

  Acoustic transducers and sound field adaptation in vehicles · CPC title

• B60N2/4876 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B29C65/565

  involving interference fits, e.g. force-fits or press-fits (B29C65/66 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04R1/026

  Supports for loudspeaker casings · CPC title

• B29C45/14336

  Coating a portion of the article, e.g. the edge of the article (B29C45/14573 and B29C45/14598 take precedence) · CPC title