Vibratory acoustic compressor
AssigneeHarman International Industries, Incorporated
InventorFrederik T. van Namen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An acoustic compressor is disclosed for generating a high pressure acoustic waveform within a chamber containing a working medium. The compressor comprises an actuator body solidly mounted to the chamber with a vibrating armature spring-mounted within. The chamber and actuator body are resiliently mounted so as to be vibratable. Owing to reaction forces, vibration of the armature causes vibration of the chamber which generates an acoustic waveform in the medium. By matching the resonant frequency of the armature to the acoustic resonant frequency of the chamber and driving the armature at that frequency, extremely high pressures within the chamber may be obtained.
Claims8
A vibratory compressor-actuator for pumping and compressing a working fluid medium in a unidirectional flow path including a rigid enclosed chamber having inlet and outlet means, the chamber having an axis of vibration along which the fluid medium contained therein may be vibrated at a selected frequency to produce a pressure standing wave, the compressor-actuator comprising:
- a main actuator body solidly connected to the chamber in a manner to form and constitute therewith an actuator-chamber unit which behaves dynamically as a single mass, the acutator-chamber unit being supported in a resilient manner to render the unit vibratable along the axis;
- and
- an armature, spring-mounted within the main actuator body and cooperating therewith in a manner to be vibratable relative thereto along the axis in response to an alternating electrical drive current applied to said compressor-actuator and to thus produce a vibration of the actuator-chamber in reactive opposition to vibration of this armature;
- the drive current to said compressor actuator being made to have a frequency selected to produce the pressure standing wave in the fluid medium within the chamber thus causing recurrent fluid pressure variations to pump and compress the fluid medium.
A method of pumping and compressing a working fluid medium in a unidirectional flow path including a rigid enclosed chamber having inlet and outlet means, the chamber having an axis of vibration along which the fluid medium contained therein may be vibrated at a selected frequency to produce a pressures standing wave, comprising the steps of:
- connecting a main actuator body of a compressor-actuator solidly to the chamber in a manner to form and constitute therewith an actuator-chamber unit which behaves dynamically as a single mass;
- supporting the actuator-chamber unit in a resilient manner to make the unit vibratable along the axis;
- spring-mounting an armature within the main actuator body in a manner to allow the armature to vibrate relative to the body along the axis, the body being made to cooperate electromagnetically with the armature in a manner to cause the armature and the body to vibrate in reactive opposition along the axis in response to an alternating electrical drive current applied to said compressor-actuator, and to thus produce vibration of the actuator-chamber unit along the axis;
- and
- applying the alternating electrical drive current to said compressor-actuator at a selected frequency such that the vibration of the actuator-chamber unit produces the pressure standing wave in the fluid medium within the chamber and thus causes oscillating fluid pressure variations to pump and compress the fluid medium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.