I have had this idea for a decade and I have prior art and signed NDA's dating back over a decade, I am now making it public to prevent any one company from trying to patent the concept and either do nothing with it as they are making so much $$$ selling the existing garbage, or make it so expensive most people never benefit from it.
I hope the above sparks some more research into the exciting audio applications for Aerogels and allow the public to benefit from the tech at affordable prices... It might be another 5 to 10 years before mainstream production of this tech comes to market but some niche high end companies should be able to start much sooner.
I have been researching advanced prosthetic limbs for 16 years (one of my twin sons was born without a right arm) and it led me to Prof Ray Baughnan and his astonishing Aerogels
Back in 2005 they solved the electrical conductivity issue
and this carbon Aerogel makes has countless disruptive applications, loudspeakers are the least important but still massive! There are countless applications within audio and there is still a lot of R&D to refine the connection methods but the medical sector has already successfully connected individual human nerves to the sensors and Aerogel artificial muscles for direct "mind control" from the brain to the prosthetic limb, astonishing.
There are others with prior art for carbon nano tech loudspeakers but so far they are all missing the real end game (3)... Here are a few starters to kick off some brainstorming:
(1) Replacing conventional voice coils wire and electrical connections: Aerogel yarn which is highly conductive, almost mass less and it does not increase in temperature when passing the current / voltages required to energise a loudspeaker.
(2) Aerogel artificial muscles can replace the entire electromagnetic motor: A conventional dome/cone/ribbon etc can be connected to an Aerogel "motor and suspension" which is directly powered by the amplifier, the Aerogel can expand / contract up to 20,000 times a second (20,000Hz) and does so in a perfectly "pistonic" fashion ie the CSD plot is FLAT!
(3) The end game... An tiny battery powered chip amp powering the perfect loudspeaker as Peter Walker described back in the 1070's... " A mass-less sphere pulsating in perfect time to the electrical signal" This can of course be scaled from in ear devices, mobile phones / lap tops to loudspeakers and live sound PA... You will need a strong "bird cage" surrounding the Aerogel sphere so the "good old roadies" can still through the PA into the lorry!
Hope the above is of interest!
Cheers
A.
I hope the above sparks some more research into the exciting audio applications for Aerogels and allow the public to benefit from the tech at affordable prices... It might be another 5 to 10 years before mainstream production of this tech comes to market but some niche high end companies should be able to start much sooner.
I have been researching advanced prosthetic limbs for 16 years (one of my twin sons was born without a right arm) and it led me to Prof Ray Baughnan and his astonishing Aerogels
Back in 2005 they solved the electrical conductivity issue
There are others with prior art for carbon nano tech loudspeakers but so far they are all missing the real end game (3)... Here are a few starters to kick off some brainstorming:
(1) Replacing conventional voice coils wire and electrical connections: Aerogel yarn which is highly conductive, almost mass less and it does not increase in temperature when passing the current / voltages required to energise a loudspeaker.
(2) Aerogel artificial muscles can replace the entire electromagnetic motor: A conventional dome/cone/ribbon etc can be connected to an Aerogel "motor and suspension" which is directly powered by the amplifier, the Aerogel can expand / contract up to 20,000 times a second (20,000Hz) and does so in a perfectly "pistonic" fashion ie the CSD plot is FLAT!
(3) The end game... An tiny battery powered chip amp powering the perfect loudspeaker as Peter Walker described back in the 1070's... " A mass-less sphere pulsating in perfect time to the electrical signal" This can of course be scaled from in ear devices, mobile phones / lap tops to loudspeakers and live sound PA... You will need a strong "bird cage" surrounding the Aerogel sphere so the "good old roadies" can still through the PA into the lorry!
Hope the above is of interest!
Cheers
A.
Yes, it is! I think it will take a few years before we see prototypes at audio shows and they will be niche and expensive models from the usual suspects in high end audio, but the tech is so far reaching and $billions are being invested in R&D and mass production of the Aerogel materials and the connectors or "interfaces" which will enable stage by stage product development... Exciting times!
This is an early example from 2016
This is an early example from 2016
I have a huge interest in Aerogel prosthetic tech, but getting back to audio for a second, this was another breakthrough from 11 years ago.
I would expect voice coils to use this within a couple of years.
This is from a few years ago and is progressing at pace
These videos are focusing on artificial muscles... Obviously the audio sector will focus on the electrical and physical properties of pure carbon nano tube Aerogels and not the polymer "spin off" tech (pun intended!)
This is from a few years ago and is progressing at pace
These videos are focusing on artificial muscles... Obviously the audio sector will focus on the electrical and physical properties of pure carbon nano tube Aerogels and not the polymer "spin off" tech (pun intended!)
Last edited:
I think efficiency will play a major role as really changes the goal posts for amplifier requirements.
Instead of an amplifier having to pump out 100 watts into an 8 Ohm driver which is only approx 1% efficient (0.5% to 5% covers most conventional drivers) imagine a pulsating sphere Aerogel loudspeaker which is 99% efficient... We only need a fraction of the power so it becomes a lot easier to design an amplifier caple of driving a 0.1 Ohm load if required.
Instead of an amplifier having to pump out 100 watts into an 8 Ohm driver which is only approx 1% efficient (0.5% to 5% covers most conventional drivers) imagine a pulsating sphere Aerogel loudspeaker which is 99% efficient... We only need a fraction of the power so it becomes a lot easier to design an amplifier caple of driving a 0.1 Ohm load if required.
I wasn't aware of the existence of Aerogel until now.
Searching the forum and internet, loudspeaker cones with Aerogel do exist.
Audax, among maybe others sport the material.
Here is one of them:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/aerogel-cones.84698/
There's a patent as well.
Searching the forum and internet, loudspeaker cones with Aerogel do exist.
Audax, among maybe others sport the material.
Here is one of them:
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/threads/aerogel-cones.84698/
There's a patent as well.