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Experimental characterisation of a flat dielectric elastomer loudspeaker

Experimental characterisation of a flat dielectric elastomer loudspeaker
Experimental characterisation of a flat dielectric elastomer loudspeaker
Conventional loudspeakers are often heavy, require substantial design spaces and are hard to integrate into lightweight structures (e.g., panels). To overcome these drawbacks, this paper presents a novel extremely flat loudspeaker which uses dielectric elastomer actuators with natural rubber for the elastomeric layers and metal electrodes as transduction mechanism. To facilitate the deformation of the elastomer, the electrodes are perforated. The microscopic holes lead to a macroscopically compressible stack configuration despite the elastomer incompressibility. The design is developed and the materials are chosen to guarantee low mechanical and electrical losses and a high efficiency in the entire frequency range up to several kilohertz. The loudspeaker was designed, built and afterwards experimentally investigated and characterised. Laser measurements of the surface velocity were performed to find dynamic effects present at the diaphragm. To further characterise the device, a semi anechoic chamber as used. Sound pressure levels emitted by the device were recorded at different bias and alternating voltages to study their influence. The nonlinearity of the loudspeaker, which is inherent for this kind of actuators, was quantified considering the total harmonic distortion. Here, a dependence on the amplitude of the alternating voltage is observed. Further, the distortion decreases rapidly the higher the frequency is, which qualifies the loudspeaker concept to properly work at high frequencies. Transfer functions between supplied voltage and on-axis sound pressure were measured and showed in principle potential for high frequency application. Further, the behaviour of the diaphragm changing from rigid piston to resilient disk with respect to frequency for different configurations was observed. Additionally, the directivity of the loudspeaker was investigated at several frequencies, and was in accordance with previously found research outcomes. The results, especially in the high frequency range, prove the usability of this design concept for practical applications.
2076-0825
1-14
Rustighi, Emiliano
9544ced4-5057-4491-a45c-643873dfed96
Kaal, William
34898009-3b41-4eeb-bd49-e2985d26aed7
Herold, Sven
31933aa8-4703-426f-8926-1f9d28c4a09a
Kubbara, Ahmed
045522d7-15aa-47b5-b03c-bb285bad2917
Rustighi, Emiliano
9544ced4-5057-4491-a45c-643873dfed96
Kaal, William
34898009-3b41-4eeb-bd49-e2985d26aed7
Herold, Sven
31933aa8-4703-426f-8926-1f9d28c4a09a
Kubbara, Ahmed
045522d7-15aa-47b5-b03c-bb285bad2917

Rustighi, Emiliano, Kaal, William, Herold, Sven and Kubbara, Ahmed (2018) Experimental characterisation of a flat dielectric elastomer loudspeaker. Actuators, 7 (2), 1-14, [28]. (doi:10.3390/act7020028).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Conventional loudspeakers are often heavy, require substantial design spaces and are hard to integrate into lightweight structures (e.g., panels). To overcome these drawbacks, this paper presents a novel extremely flat loudspeaker which uses dielectric elastomer actuators with natural rubber for the elastomeric layers and metal electrodes as transduction mechanism. To facilitate the deformation of the elastomer, the electrodes are perforated. The microscopic holes lead to a macroscopically compressible stack configuration despite the elastomer incompressibility. The design is developed and the materials are chosen to guarantee low mechanical and electrical losses and a high efficiency in the entire frequency range up to several kilohertz. The loudspeaker was designed, built and afterwards experimentally investigated and characterised. Laser measurements of the surface velocity were performed to find dynamic effects present at the diaphragm. To further characterise the device, a semi anechoic chamber as used. Sound pressure levels emitted by the device were recorded at different bias and alternating voltages to study their influence. The nonlinearity of the loudspeaker, which is inherent for this kind of actuators, was quantified considering the total harmonic distortion. Here, a dependence on the amplitude of the alternating voltage is observed. Further, the distortion decreases rapidly the higher the frequency is, which qualifies the loudspeaker concept to properly work at high frequencies. Transfer functions between supplied voltage and on-axis sound pressure were measured and showed in principle potential for high frequency application. Further, the behaviour of the diaphragm changing from rigid piston to resilient disk with respect to frequency for different configurations was observed. Additionally, the directivity of the loudspeaker was investigated at several frequencies, and was in accordance with previously found research outcomes. The results, especially in the high frequency range, prove the usability of this design concept for practical applications.

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Submitted date: 24 April 2018
Accepted/In Press date: 5 June 2018
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 June 2018
Published date: June 2018

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 421863
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/421863
ISSN: 2076-0825
PURE UUID: 0a376b1a-35b2-49f7-b1a0-702ebf92314f
ORCID for Emiliano Rustighi: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-9871-7795

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Date deposited: 03 Jul 2018 16:30
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 20:25

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Contributors

Author: William Kaal
Author: Sven Herold
Author: Ahmed Kubbara

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