Surround Sound From Lightweight Roll-To-Roll Printed Loudspeaker Paper (phys.org) 21
"Researchers from the fields of print media technology, chemistry, physics, acoustics, electrical engineering, and economics from six nations developed a continuous, highly productive, and reliable roll production of loudspeaker webs," reports project manager Georg C. Schmidt. [For those unfamiliar with roll-to-roll processing, it is the process of creating electronic devices on a roll of flexible plastic or metal foil, which, among other things, reduces manufacturing cost.]
This is an improvement upon the 2015 T-Book -- a large-format illustrated book equipped with printed electronics that outputs sound through a speaker invisibly located inside the sheet of paper. "The T-Book was and is a milestone in the development of printed electronics, but development is continuing all the time," says Prof. Dr. Arved C. Hubler, under whose leadership this technology trend has been driven forward for more than 20 years. Phys.Org reports: Not only did they use the roll-to-roll (R2R) printing process for this, but they also developed inline technologies for other process steps, such as the lamination of functional layers. "This allows electronics to be embedded in the paper -- invisibly and protected," says Hubler. In addition, he says, inline polarization of piezoelectric polymer layers has been achieved for the first time and complete inline process monitoring of the printed functional layers is possible. The final project results were published in the renowned journal Advanced Materials.
The potential of loudspeaker paper was extended to other areas of application in the T-Paper project. For example, meter-long loudspeaker installations can now be manufactured in web form or as a circle (T-RING). "In our T-RING prototype, an almost four-meter-long track with 56 individual loudspeakers was connected to form seven segments and shaped into a circle, making a 360-degree surround sound installation possible," says Schmidt. The speaker track, including printed circuitry, weighs just 150 grams and consists of 90 percent conventional paper that can be printed in color on both sides. "This means that low-cost infotainment solutions are now possible in museums, at trade shows and in the advertising industry, for example. In public buildings, for example, very homogeneous sound reinforcement of long stretches such as corridors is possible. But the process technology itself could also become interesting for other areas, such as the production of inline measurement systems for Industry 4.0," says the project manager, looking to the future.
This is an improvement upon the 2015 T-Book -- a large-format illustrated book equipped with printed electronics that outputs sound through a speaker invisibly located inside the sheet of paper. "The T-Book was and is a milestone in the development of printed electronics, but development is continuing all the time," says Prof. Dr. Arved C. Hubler, under whose leadership this technology trend has been driven forward for more than 20 years. Phys.Org reports: Not only did they use the roll-to-roll (R2R) printing process for this, but they also developed inline technologies for other process steps, such as the lamination of functional layers. "This allows electronics to be embedded in the paper -- invisibly and protected," says Hubler. In addition, he says, inline polarization of piezoelectric polymer layers has been achieved for the first time and complete inline process monitoring of the printed functional layers is possible. The final project results were published in the renowned journal Advanced Materials.
The potential of loudspeaker paper was extended to other areas of application in the T-Paper project. For example, meter-long loudspeaker installations can now be manufactured in web form or as a circle (T-RING). "In our T-RING prototype, an almost four-meter-long track with 56 individual loudspeakers was connected to form seven segments and shaped into a circle, making a 360-degree surround sound installation possible," says Schmidt. The speaker track, including printed circuitry, weighs just 150 grams and consists of 90 percent conventional paper that can be printed in color on both sides. "This means that low-cost infotainment solutions are now possible in museums, at trade shows and in the advertising industry, for example. In public buildings, for example, very homogeneous sound reinforcement of long stretches such as corridors is possible. But the process technology itself could also become interesting for other areas, such as the production of inline measurement systems for Industry 4.0," says the project manager, looking to the future.
excuse me, industry 4.0 ? (Score:2)
what was 2.0 and 3.0 ?
when is the release date for industry X?
Re: (Score:3)
1.0 light industry/textiles.
2.0 heavy industry, coal, oil, railroads, steel, etc.
3.0 internet/electronics/transistors
Re:excuse me, industry 4.0 ? (Score:5, Informative)
The First Industrial Revolution was marked by a transition from hand production methods to machines through the use of steam power and water power. The implementation of new technologies took a long time, so the period which this refers to it is between 1760 and 1820, or 1840 in Europe and the United States.
The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, is the period between 1871 and 1914 that resulted from installations of extensive railroad and telegraph networks, which allowed for faster transfer of people and ideas, as well as electricity.
The Third Industrial Revolution, also known as the Digital Revolution, occurred in the late 20th century, after the end of the two world wars, resulting from a slowdown of industrialization and technological advancement compared to previous periods.
The term "Industrie 4.0", shortened to I4.0 or simply I4, originated in 2011 from a project in the high-tech strategy of the German government, which promotes the computerization of manufacturing.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Can it be used for sound insulation? (Score:5, Interesting)
If you wallpaper a room with this stuff, can you use it to cancel out the ambient sound in a room and make it silent?
--
When DVDs finally disappear, I'm going to be sad. I'll miss the commentaries. - Matt Groening
Re: (Score:3)
Sound is like this -- compressions and rarifications of the air molecules. In an open-air room, the best you can do is have lots of microphones around the room and try to create a sound that would cancel ou
Re: (Score:2)
Currently it's pretty much crap. (Score:5, Interesting)
I'ts pretty much expected, you have to move a decent amount of air if you want any SPL at low frequencies.
E-Paper (Score:2)
You can't change physics (Score:4)
No matter how clever the tech. If you want decent bass response you need a large degree of physical movement in the driver and you're not going to get it with this. Its why you don't find piezeo electric transducers being used as hifi speakers. Yes the tech is clever, but if you want good sound reproduction current speaker technology with seperate drivers for different frequency bands is where its at.
They'll kill (Score:2)
This open new frontiers to... (Score:3)
It's a good thing print magazines are dying (Score:3)
I saw these in electronics magazines in the 1980s (Score:1)
https://audioxpress.com/articl... [audioxpress.com]
I wonder why these keep appearing and disappearing.
Time to short these on Robinhood.
Re: (Score:2)
Kids these days use airpods.
The world is already noisy enough (Score:2)
Do we really need one more way to broadcast ads, announcements, and the latest pop hits? Is there any use for this that actually benefits consumers, rather than corporations or governments?
Daily Prophet (Score:2)
New stealth surveillance tool (Score:1)