Laboratory4:LoudspeakerDynamics

4.1Abstract
ThepurposeofthislabwastouseMATLABandthedSPACEcardstocollectdatafroma
loudspeakersystemand,usingit,developatransferfunctionforthesystem.Thistransfer
functionwasthencomparedtoatheoreticaltransferfunctionderivedfromasimplifiedsystem
model.Theinitialmodelresultedinafairapproximationbuthadsomemajordifferences,
includingthelargespikeontheexperimentalplot.Themodelwasthencorrectedusingamore
complexsystemmodel.Inthismodel bacc and kacc wereestimatedtobe1.7and33,000,
respectivelyandresultedinamuchmoreaccuratetheoreticaltransferfunction.

4.2IntroductionandTheory
Theexperimentalsetupforthislabwascomposedofthreemajorcomponents:thespeaker,the
amplifier,andtheaccelerometer.Aloudspeakerisanelectromechanicaldevicethattakesan
electricsignalasaninputandoutputsanaudiosignal.Thisisaccomplishedbyalteringa
magneticfieldtoapplyaforcetothespeakercone,whichinturngeneratessoundwavesasit
movesthroughtheair.Theaccelerometermeasurestheaccelerationofthecone.Thissetupcan
bemodeledwiththefollowingsimplifiedsystem:

Figure4.1:Modelsof(a)mechanicaldynamicsand(b)electricaldynamicsofthespeakersetup.

Inthismodel,thespeaker,air,andaccelerometerareassumedtoberigidlyconnected.

Thestiffnessbetweenthemovableconeandtheframeisrepresentedby
k
itisacombinationof
thespider(agrooveddiskofflexiblematerial),apieceofrubberorfoamalongthefrontsideof
thecone,andtheairenclosed.Thesystemalsohasadampingforce,
b
,duetothemotionofthe
conethroughtheairandotherenergylossinthespeakersystem.Theforce
F
istheforce
generatedbythemagneticfieldfromthespeakercircuit.
Basedonthesemodels,thefollowingtransferfunctionwasdevelopedforthesystem:
G(s) =

sX(s)
V s(s)

= (mLsp)s3+(bLsp+mRsp)sBls
2+(kLsp+bRspB2l2)s+kRsp

Theabovetransferfunctionrelatesthediaphragmvelocity, sX(s) ,totheappliedvoltage, V s (s) .

Asmentionedpreviously,thisisaverysimplifiedmodelandthereforewillnotaccountforall
thebehaviorsseenintheexperimentaldata.Inanattempttodevelopamoreaccuratetransfer
function,amorecomplexmodelofthemechanicaldynamicswasused:

Figure4.2:Morecomplexmodelofthemechanicaldynamicsofthesystem.

Theassumptioninthefirstmodelthatthespeaker,air,andaccelerometerarerigidlyconnectedis
notveryaccurate.Theconnectionbetweentheaccelerometerandspeakeractuallyhasa
dampingandstiffnessassociatedwiththedustcap.Fromthisnewsystematransferfunctioncan
bedeterminedbetweentheaccelerometervelocityandforceappliedtothespeaker,
(s)
G2(s) = sXVacc
.Thistransferfunctionwillyieldamuchmoreaccuratemodeloftheexperimental
s(s)

data.

4.3Procedure
Tobeginthislabwedownloadedtherequisitefilesfromthecoursewebsite.Afterturningonthe
accelerometerandtheamplifier,westartedupMATLABanddSpace.Wethenranthroughsome
soundtestsontheamplifierbycontrollingitthroughthedSpacedevice.Weswitchedbetween
theSingleFreqandtheNoiseoptionsindSpace.Aftermakingsurealloftheequipmentwas
functioningasitshouldwebegantakingdata.WeranthegivenGetNoiseData.mfilewhichtook
tensecondsofdataandgraphedit.Weverifiedthatthedatawasreasonablegiventhe
parameters,andthenclosedoutoftheprogramsandsavedthedatatoeachofourfolders.This
wastheendoftheinlabcomponentofthisassignment.

4.4ResultsandConclusions
Asmentionedabove,thefirstpartofthelabanalyzedasinglefrequency.Byslowlysweeping
throughthefrequencies,wenoticedthatahigherfrequencyresultsinahigheracceleration
amplitude.Furthermore,wenoticedaparticularlyhighresponseatafrequencyof700Hz.The
significanceofthisresultwillbeexplainedshortly.
TheMATLABfile
GetNoiseData.m
wasusedtotakedatausingthenoiseasinput
andproducedtwoplots.ThefirstwasaplotofthevoltagesmeasuredonchannelsADCH1
(accelerometer)andADCH2(speaker).Thesecondwasaplotofanestimateofthetransfer
(s)
functionbetweenthespeakervoltageandaccelerometervoltage, H = VVaccs(s)
.Theseplotsare

shownbelow:


Figure4.3:Plotsof(a)measuredvoltageand(b)experimentaltransferfunction.

Thereisaverypredominantpeakinthetransferfunctionestimatearoundafrequencyof
4 103rad
s .Thefrequencyofthepeakinoursinglefrequencydataoccurredaround700Hz,or
4.4 103rad
s .Therefore,thepeaksoccurinthesamefrequencyrange.Thisleadsustobelieve
thisisabandpassfilterwithafrequencyrangearound700Hz.
Theaccelerometerrecordedavoltageproportionaltoaccelerationwithasensitivity
factorof 100mV /g .OurtransferfunctionHwasdividedbythisvaluetogetatransfer
functionbetweenaccelerationandappliedvoltage.Thistransferfunctionwasthenconverted
intoatransferfunctionbetweenthevelocityofthespeaker(insteadofacceleration)andthe
appliedvoltage.MATLABs
semilogx
plottingcommandwasthenusedtoplotthe
magnitudeofthetransferfunctionindecibels.
Asexplainedintheintroduction,asimplifiedmodelwasusedtodevelopatheoretical
transferfunctionforthissystem(derivedinSection4.3.4ofthelabhandout)andisasfollows:
G(s) =

sX(s)
V s(s)

= (mLsp)s3+(bLsp+mRsp)sBls
2+(kLsp+bRspB2l2)s+kRsp

Thetheoreticalmodelofthemagnitudeofthetransferfunctionwasthenlaidovertheplotofthe

experimentaltransferfunction.Inthisplot,whichcanbefoundintheAppendix,the
experimentalvaluesarerepresentedbyasolidblacklinewhilethetheoreticalvaluesare
representedbyadottedblackline.Thetwocurveshaveroughlythesameshapeandslope
althoughthetheoreticalcurveisdefinitelymissingsomemajoraspectsthatexistinthe
experimentalplot.Thetheoreticalplotisslightlytoohighatthelowandhighvelocitiesand
slightlytoolowinthemiddleranges.Themostobviousofthediscrepanciesisthatthe
experimentalplotcompletelylacksthesharppeakdiscussedearlier.Thisis,inpart,duetoa
differencebetweenthesimplemodelweareusingandtheactualphysicalexperiment.
Amorecomplexmodelofthesystemwasthenusedtodevelopanewtheoreticaltransfer
function, G2(s) = sXVacc(s)(s) .Giventhatthenewmodelnowresultsinthreeequations,thetransfer
functionwasdeterminedusingMapleandtheworksheetcanbefoundintheappendixofthis
report.Thetransferfunctionhasafifthorderdenominatorandisverylengthybutcanbefound
intheworksheet.Thistransferfunctionwasthenlaidovertheexperimentaltransferfunction,as
wasdonebeforewiththesimplermodel.TheplotcanbefoundintheAppendix.Itisquite
obviousthatthistheoreticaltransferfunctionwasmuchmoreaccuratethanthesimplerone.The
peakat700Hzmatchestheexperimentaldataalmostperfectly.Theamplitudeisslightlyhighin
thelowvelocityrangesbutisextremelyaccurateinallotherregionsoftheplot.Itisfairtosay,
then,thatthisisaverygoodmodelofthesystem,butitisnotperfect.Forinstance,thereisno
goodwayofmeasuringthe bacc or kacc values.Rather,theyhavetobeestimatedbyguessand
checkontheplotuntiltheclosesttheoreticaltransferfunctionisachieved.Thevalueswesettled
onwere1.7and33,000,respectively.Thesevaluesaswellasallothersystemvaluesused
duringtheanalysisareshowninthefollowingtable:

M sp

M acc
M air

.01

.002 .000574 917 2698

ks

kair

Qm

Bl

Rsp

Lsp

bacc kacc

1.78

1.7

6.6

6.1

.0008 1.7

33000

Figure4.4:Tableofallsystemvaluesusedinthisanalysis.

Anotherdiscrepancybetweenthetheoreticaltransferfunctionsfoundinthelabandthe
experimentalisthattheexperimentalplothassomeveryjaggedregionswhilethetheoretical
plotswereverysmooththroughout.Thisdiscrepancyandallothererrorcanpossiblybe
attributedtoafewdifferentfactors.Firstofall,althoughtherefinedmodelwasmorecomplex
theactualsystemislikelymuchmorecomplex.Itispossiblethatcertainaspectsofthespeaker
assemblybehavedifferentlyovertimeorwithafluctuationintemperature.Andfinally,several
approximationsweremadeduringthislabincludingthevaluesof bacc and kacc .Evenifour
estimateswereverygoodtheywerestillestimatesandare,therefore,notperfect.Andfinally,
duetonoiseinterferenceourdatacouldhavebeenaltered.

4.5.3TransferFunctionPlots
1.BasicModelPlot

2.RefinedModelPlot