From what little I know of modern electrostatic speaker design this patent application and the Original Post spurs my interest in a few directions.
1) There are now several multi-physics simulation software programs available that can model the the electric field from the stator panel at the diaphragm surface location. So various stator electrode / plate / wire geometry / spacing variations can be investigated for field uniformity at across the diaphragm. I don't know how important that is. Uniformity of drive force across the diaphragm is one of the things touted about electrostatic panels.
2) The flexibility of 3D printing seems interesting to produce any cross sectional shape of the frame structure: tapers in either direction, horn like cells, thin honey comb etc. to trade off structural rigidity, damping of various printing materials, changing materials at different layers, changing geometry with depth, interfacing a fine grid near the diaphragm and transitioning to larger structure. The OP's prototype that assembled many pieces that fit on a printer into a whole frame looks great.
As I have not read the latest threads on this topic, maybe all of this has been optimized already. Unfortunately the OP seemed very interested in hiding the most obviously interesting information on this topic at first and took offense at basic questions on a website dedicated to sharing design detail between hobbyists.
The irony of this thread is by using a 3D printer to produce the stator structure, that is, contrary to the title, effectively printing the stator circuit board (PCB) ; ).
1) There are now several multi-physics simulation software programs available that can model the the electric field from the stator panel at the diaphragm surface location. So various stator electrode / plate / wire geometry / spacing variations can be investigated for field uniformity at across the diaphragm. I don't know how important that is. Uniformity of drive force across the diaphragm is one of the things touted about electrostatic panels.
2) The flexibility of 3D printing seems interesting to produce any cross sectional shape of the frame structure: tapers in either direction, horn like cells, thin honey comb etc. to trade off structural rigidity, damping of various printing materials, changing materials at different layers, changing geometry with depth, interfacing a fine grid near the diaphragm and transitioning to larger structure. The OP's prototype that assembled many pieces that fit on a printer into a whole frame looks great.
As I have not read the latest threads on this topic, maybe all of this has been optimized already. Unfortunately the OP seemed very interested in hiding the most obviously interesting information on this topic at first and took offense at basic questions on a website dedicated to sharing design detail between hobbyists.
The irony of this thread is by using a 3D printer to produce the stator structure, that is, contrary to the title, effectively printing the stator circuit board (PCB) ; ).
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I suspect the OPs printed parts were clips that fit on a standard ESL-63 driver grid to hold and cover wires that were laid on the grid in place of the usual stator PCBs (hence 500+ pieces). I suspect it would have been faster and easier to use something like this cut into pieces to fit the ESL-63 grid.
3D printing can be used to make grids to hold stators and diaphragms, and even structural elements of electrostatic speakers. Last August I started a thread about making a "spherical" ESL by printing the pieces of a truncated dodecahedron. Life and other projects got in the way of that project, but I foresee it coming back to the front burner soon. I printed some scaled down test pieces to see if the printer could print the angles accurately enough and yes, it did:
The prints are PETG, and they are solvent welded together using ethyl acetate while held in a printed jig that ensures accurate alignment. My intent is to make each of the decagonal parts about 250 mm across. I'm still not sure what I'll use for stators- I was looking for a low cost source of perforated steel or aluminum, but hey, maybe I'll print them with embedded wires!
Like almost all my projects, I will be blog posting on everything that does and doesn't work, and sharing CAD and STL files in case anyone wants to try it for themselves.
3D printing can be used to make grids to hold stators and diaphragms, and even structural elements of electrostatic speakers. Last August I started a thread about making a "spherical" ESL by printing the pieces of a truncated dodecahedron. Life and other projects got in the way of that project, but I foresee it coming back to the front burner soon. I printed some scaled down test pieces to see if the printer could print the angles accurately enough and yes, it did:
The prints are PETG, and they are solvent welded together using ethyl acetate while held in a printed jig that ensures accurate alignment. My intent is to make each of the decagonal parts about 250 mm across. I'm still not sure what I'll use for stators- I was looking for a low cost source of perforated steel or aluminum, but hey, maybe I'll print them with embedded wires!
Like almost all my projects, I will be blog posting on everything that does and doesn't work, and sharing CAD and STL files in case anyone wants to try it for themselves.
Use conductive PLA. No wires. The resistance of the PLA could be exploited: There is a recent patent about varying the resistance of the stator to create different responses in different parts of the panel. Probably coverage/density would also have an effect. One issue with that structure is the panel on the other side radiating through the front.
I do a bit of 3D printing and absolutely never use PLA for anything. It softens and melts at temperatures that are too low for anything that you want to be sure will last a long time. I think if you wanted to segment the stators, using resistors to adjust frequency response would be a lot easier, and easier to make changes, without having to reprint an entire stator.
You would need to do something selective with conductive plastic. I'm not sure how much surface resistance would impact the performance. Probably not a lot until it gets pretty high. I think the peak currents are in the mA range.
Hi,
"There is a recent patent about varying the resistance of the stator....."
If its younger than say 40 or 50 years than its probabely just a repition of known art ... like almost all ´new´ patents on ESLs.
Still though ... mind citing the patent number?
jauu
Calvin
"There is a recent patent about varying the resistance of the stator....."
If its younger than say 40 or 50 years than its probabely just a repition of known art ... like almost all ´new´ patents on ESLs.
Still though ... mind citing the patent number?
jauu
Calvin
Nothing mysterious about the construction, just look closely and you can see.
Don't know if it works with other coatings, but yes we still have the "anti gravity coating" in use that is indeed 100% invisible when applied.
If you look closely you can see the clear AG coating in the measuring cylinders.
I wear a full face mask and make sure there is maximum ventilation in the room when applying the coating.
Nice you remember the coating discussion after all these years. 😉
