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US 11,688,378 B2Granted
Interlocking blocks for building customizable resonant sound absorbing structures
AssigneeToyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.
InventorsTaehwa Lee, Hideo Iizuka, Ryohei Tsuruta
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems for building modular quarter-wavelength resonators, and arrays of said resonators, include interlocking blocks having channels in them. Different block varieties can include those having straight channels and those having curved channels, to facilitate assembly of resonators of any desired configuration. Resonator length, and therefore resonance frequency, can be easily designed by adjusting the number of blocks used for a particular resonator.
Claims19
A modular acoustic sound absorber, the sound absorber comprising:
- a plurality of tube resonators forming an array of tube resonators, each tube resonator of the plurality of tube resonators comprising:
- an open end, an end wall, a length L defined as a distance between the open end and the end wall, the length L having a uniform diameter, and a resonance frequency, f0, described by the equation:
- f
- 0
- =
- c
- 4
-
- L
- wherein c is the speed of sound in an ambient fluid;
- a plurality of straight channel blocks having an exterior shape, each straight channel block having:
- a top surface comprising one or more first type connector elements;
- and
- a bottom surface, parallel to and opposite the top surface, and comprising one or more second type connector elements configured to engage with the one or more first type connector elements of an adjacent block;
- one or more side surfaces connecting the top and bottom surfaces;
- and
- a straight channel forming apertures in the top and bottom surfaces and passing through an interior of the straight channel block and thereby forming at least a portion of each tube resonator;
- and
- a plurality of terminator blocks forming the end wall of each tube resonator.
16 more elements
A modular quarter-wavelength resonator, comprising:
- an open end, a terminator block forming an end wall of the quarter-wavelength resonator, a length L defined as a distance between the open end and the end wall, the length L having a uniform diameter, and a resonance frequency, f0, described by the equation:
- f
- 0
- =
- c
- 4
-
- L
- wherein c is the speed of sound in an ambient fluid;
- and
- a plurality of straight channel blocks of an exterior shape, each straight channel block having:
- a top surface comprising one or more first type connector elements;
- and
- a bottom surface, parallel to and opposite the top surface, and comprising one or more second type connector elements, configured to engage with the one or more first type connector elements;
- at least one side surface connecting the top and bottom surfaces;
- and
- a straight channel forming apertures having the uniform diameter in the top and bottom surfaces and passing through an interior of the plurality of straight channel blocks and thereby forming at least a portion of the quarter-wavelength resonator.
14 more elements
A kit for assembling a modular, quarter-wavelength resonator, the kit comprising:
- a plurality of Type A blocks, each Type A block having:
- a top surface comprising one or more first type connector elements;
- and
- a bottom surface, parallel to and opposite the top surface, and comprising one or more second type connector elements configured to engage with the one or more first type connector elements of an adjacent block;
- one or more side surfaces connecting the top and bottom surfaces;
- and
- a straight channel forming apertures in the top and bottom surfaces and passing through an interior of the Type A block, configured to form at least a portion of a quarter-wavelength resonator;
- a plurality of Type B blocks, each Type B block having:
- a top surface comprising one or more first type connector elements;
- a bottom surface parallel to and opposite the top surface;
- a coupling side surface, connecting the top and bottom surfaces, and having one or more second type connector elements;
- and
- a nonlinear channel forming apertures in the top surface and the coupling surface, and passing through an interior of the Type B block, continued to form at least a portion of a quarter-wavelength resonator;
- and
- one or more Type C blocks having a top surface and a bottom surface opposite the top surface, and one or more first type connector elements on the top surface,
- wherein Type A and Type B blocks are configured to be connected in series, the series capped with a Type C block, the capped series forming the quarter-wavelength resonator, with a combination of straight channels and nonlinear channels from the series forming a resonance chamber with an open end, an end wall, a length L defined as a distance between the open end and the end wall, the length L having a uniform diameter, and a resonance frequency, f0, described by the equation:
- f
- 0
- =
- c
- 4
-
- L
- wherein c is the speed of sound in an ambient fluid, and the top surface of the Type C block forming the end wall.
21 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.