John Curl's Blowtorch preamplifier part II

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In my twenties I had the bright idea to build an enclosure-less sub using two crossing modulated ultrasonic beams.
I had built 555 oscillators and two four-quadrant multipliers for driving the UT transducers.
The result at the crossing point was mosty noise and a faint amount of inteligible sound but totally distorted.
I attributed the failure to badly implemented electronics. :spin:

George
 
VHF Audio

The question that I have had is that the audio band signal does not exist until the beam hits an object (including your ear). Since the audio propagates in all angles after the reflection, even on a hard smooth surface my thoughts were that the IM that generates the audio happens at the surface and not in the air before the beam hits the surface.

The DSP necessary to make the audio work must be pretty impressive.

At a boundary the velocity of sound is by definition low and the pressure is high. Perhaps the fact that air becomes non-linear in compression accounts for the IM at boundaries which gives the down-converted audio product.

Then again, I just helped set up a new system at a local brewery with the requisite QC duties:cheers:, and that tends to simplify thinking somewhat...GN

Howard Hoyt
CE - WXYC-FM 89.3
UNC Chapel Hill, NC
www.wxyc.org
 
Spooky Sound At A Distance....

hss-450.jpg
hss-450 transducer.jpg
This is one of the models in my junkbox...HSS H450.
The second pic is the transducer frame....plastic with 2mm square channels moulded across, and a mylar like film with thin foil both sides (big capacitor like) is fixed to this frame.
Presumably the modulated driving voltage mechanically excites the unsupported film and produces the acoustic output.
The failure mode was arcing through the dielectric film.
The pcb is a bit industrial/agricultural, though it does incorporate a large earlier generation DSP chip.
With one of the two transducers disconnected, the performance was underwhelming, but it is a curious effect to hear sound emanating from a hard wall/surface......the output stage may not have been optimally loaded with only one of the two transducers connected.
One day I will get back to investigating the nature of the drive signal and understand it better...maybe even cough up for replacement drivers.

Elecktor magazine did a version of this idea...http://servv89pn0aj.sn.sourcedns.com/~gbpprorg/mil/mindcontrol/Ultrasonic_Directive_Speaker.pdf

Dan.
 
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There's someone in my head but it's not me....Pink Floyd.

There was an inventor, one G. Patrick Flanagan, who developed what he called iirc the "Neurophone". It was also just an AM transmitter with pads for your ears. With a bit of help from my father I built a version in my first year of high school, and it did work, although the underlying mechanism was unclear.

https://www.google.com/patents/US3393279?dq=3393279&hl=en&sa=X&ei=bGi4UcmeHNGkkgXC-ICICg&sqi=2&pjf=1&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAA

A 1W AM transmitter attached to your skull !.

Dan.
 
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At a boundary the velocity of sound is by definition low and the pressure is high. Perhaps the fact that air becomes non-linear in compression accounts for the IM at boundaries which gives the down-converted audio product.

I would also assume that the resultant lf content would retain the planarity of the U/S wavefronts. Flat enough, and I suspect even the LF would keep a tight beam longer, until edge effects compromise it sufficiently.
Then again, I just helped set up a new system at a local brewery with the requisite QC duties:cheers:, and that tends to simplify thinking somewhat...GN

I assume your contract included the standard every 24 hour tuning and checkup regimen for the first year, right?

jn
 
I would also assume that the resultant lf content would retain the planarity of the U/S wavefronts. Flat enough, and I suspect even the LF would keep a tight beam longer, until edge effects compromise it sufficiently.


I assume your contract included the standard every 24 hour tuning and checkup regimen for the first year, right?

jn

Yes, hhoyt,jn are on a better track. The audio IS caused in thin air by the low frequency IM of a carefully computed ultrasound beam and that is why the forward planar wave is dominant. The IM is the non-linearity of the air itself, I might add part of the problem is cancelling the THD of the resultant audio. Early brute force systems had 50% THD worst case. You also can see how inefficient the process is.

hhoyt - been listening to the stream out of Chapel Hill on a regular basis (I also like the eclectic programming). Nothing like Japanese Acid Jazz at 8AM Saturday morning.
 
jneutron,
Perhaps this is better as far as standards go but it is just a list of places to look.

http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=standards&p_id=9735

Thanks.

I like the "cycles per second" axis. When did we switch to Hz, 40 years ago or so?

It also stopped at 8Khz (cycles per second).

You can see why the safety guys here didn't know how to proceed..nothing to go on.

I recall charts that ran to 200 milliseconds and 144 dB impulses, that linked page only dropped to 15 minutes duration per day and 115 dB..

I also recall back in the 60's, the US Navy already recognized the issue of noise and hearing protection such that they considered the release of high pressure steam to be one of the most dangerous sounds due to the amazing high frequency content and resultant energy delivery possibility within the ear canal, well above the 8Khz regime the OSHA chart ended at.

jn

ps..I found years ago that the ACGIH was actually a very good resource for this stuff. I note that now it appears to be a more commercial site, where you have to purchase documents. I suspect that googling acgih would get others access to the information, I think I'm subscribed..
 
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The 8000 cps (HZ) limit is because the standard at NBS (NIST) for microphones was the ultra stable Western Electric (WE) 640A microphone. That one inch mic drops off at 8000 cps. Also, therefore, the headphones used in audiology could only be characterized to 8000 cps... so that is the highest hearing test freq.


Thx-RNMarsh
 
As an aside, does anybody know about noise control/levels for use in the general public? We have code enforcement here armed with calibrated meters, but the legislated measurement requirements use the A weighted scale. The problem stems from the meter's rolloff at low frequency. Seems it's possible to rattle objects off shelves yet not exceed the legal noise statute at 3 in the morning.

Anybody have any knowledge or experience with regard to the use of C weighting for noise control? Or even B? If the bass were keeping me awake at 3 AM, I'd prefer C weight...but I also think it's not good to overcompensate the issue, B weight may be better...


jn
 
The theory is that A weighting tracks hearing damage better than B or C.

Now if you look at a typical stadium sound system, some folks run them to 102 dB C weighted. Arenas usual have mandatory lower levels.

It is interesting to note some impulse noise can cause hearing damage even though it is not perceived as loud.
 
If you put a capacitor in series you lose the other advantages. The design question is how much power does the resistor have to dissipate to reduce the flux leakage in the otherwise unloaded transformer?

Anyone care to guess the other advantage of wasting a bit of power?

Looks like I am the only one interested. Loading the secondary will oppose the magnetisation flux and thereby reduce it? So without a R load on the secondary when the diodes switch on and off the magnetisation flux of the transformer is modulated?
 
Looks like I am the only one interested. Loading the secondary will oppose the magnetisation flux and thereby reduce it? So without a R load on the secondary when the diodes switch on and off the magnetisation flux of the transformer is modulated?

Yes a constant load does drop the distortion a bit. The advantage I was thinking of was the light load improves the regulation of the unloaded voltage on the secondary. It also provides a load to the inter winding C.

So on a low power power supply wasting a watt or two may not be too bad. In a higher power supply the regulation is better to begin with. But if you put small Cs on the diodes and R across the secondary you get the damping and less EMI.
 
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As an aside, does anybody know about noise control/levels for use in the general public? We have code enforcement here armed with calibrated meters, but the legislated measurement requirements use the A weighted scale. The problem stems from the meter's rolloff at low frequency. Seems it's possible to rattle objects off shelves yet not exceed the legal noise statute at 3 in the morning.

Anybody have any knowledge or experience with regard to the use of C weighting for noise control? Or even B? If the bass were keeping me awake at 3 AM, I'd prefer C weight...but I also think it's not good to overcompensate the issue, B weight may be better...


jn

Shotgun can also help in these cases.
 
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