US-12624987-B2 - Vibration sensors

US12624987B2US 12624987 B2US12624987 B2US 12624987B2US-12624987-B2

Abstract

One or more embodiments of the present disclosure provide a vibration sensor. The vibration sensor may include a housing structure, an acoustic transducer, and a vibration unit. The acoustic transducer may be physically connected to the housing structure. An acoustic cavity may be formed at least partially by the housing structure and the acoustic transducer. The vibration unit may be configured to divide the acoustic cavity into a plurality of acoustic cavities. The plurality of acoustic cavities may include a first acoustic cavity. The first acoustic cavity may be in acoustic communication with the acoustic transducer. The vibration unit may include an elastic element and a mass element. The elastic element and the mass element may be located in the acoustic cavity, and the mass element may be connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer through the elastic element.

Inventors

Wenjun DENG
Yongshuai YUAN
Wenbing ZHOU
Yujia HUANG

Assignees

Shenzhen Shokz Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20230716
Priority Date: 20210618

Claims (19)

1 . A vibration sensor, comprising: a housing structure; an acoustic transducer physically connected to the housing structure, wherein an acoustic cavity is formed at least partially by the housing structure and the acoustic transducer; and a vibration unit configured to divide the acoustic cavity into a plurality of acoustic cavities, the plurality of acoustic cavities including a first acoustic cavity, the first acoustic cavity being in acoustic communication with the acoustic transducer, wherein the vibration unit includes an elastic element and a mass element, the elastic element and the mass element being located in the acoustic cavity, and the mass element being connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer through the elastic element; the housing structure is configured to generate vibrations based on an external vibration signal, the vibration unit causes a volume change of the first acoustic cavity in response to the vibrations of the housing structure, and the acoustic transducer generates an electrical signal based on the volume change of the first acoustic cavity; the elastic element includes a first elastic element and a second elastic element, the first elastic element and the second elastic element being respectively connected to the mass element and distributed at intervals along a vibration direction of the vibration unit, the vibration direction including a first direction and a second direction, and a ratio of a resonant frequency of vibrations of the vibration unit in the second direction to a resonant frequency of vibrations of the vibration unit in the first direction being larger than or equal to 2.
2 . The vibration sensor of claim 1 , wherein a response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the first direction is higher than the response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the second direction within a target frequency range, the second direction being perpendicular to the first direction.
3 . The vibration sensor of claim 1 , wherein a difference between a response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the second direction and a response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the first direction is within a range of −20 dB to 40 dB.
4 . The vibration sensor of claim 1 , wherein the first direction is a thickness direction of the mass element, and a distance between a centroid of the elastic element and a center of gravity of the mass element in the first direction is not larger than ⅓ of a thickness of the mass element, and a distance between the centroid of the elastic element and the center of gravity of the mass element in the second direction is not larger than ⅓ of a side length or a radius of the mass element.
5 . The vibration sensor of claim 1 , wherein the first elastic element and the second elastic element are connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity; and the first elastic element and the second elastic element are approximately symmetrically distributed in the first direction with respect to the mass element, wherein the first direction is a thickness direction of the mass element, an upper surface of the mass element is connected to the first elastic element, and a lower surface of the mass element is connected to the second elastic element.
6 . The vibration sensor of claim 5 , wherein sizes, shapes, materials, and thicknesses of the first elastic element and the second elastic element are the same.
7 . The vibration sensor of claim 5 , wherein the first elastic element and the second elastic element are film structures, one side of the first elastic element is connected to the upper surface of the mass element, one side of the second elastic element is connected to the lower surface of the mass element, and a size of the upper surface or the lower surface of the mass element is less than sizes of the first elastic element and the second elastic element.
8 . The vibration sensor of claim 7 , wherein a volume of an acoustic cavity formed between the first elastic element and the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity is larger than or equal to a volume of the first acoustic cavity formed between the second elastic element and the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity.
9 . The vibration sensor of claim 7 , wherein a gap is arranged between the first elastic element, the second elastic element, the mass element, and the housing or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity, and the gap has a filler for adjusting a quality factor of the vibration sensor.
10 . The vibration sensor of claim 7 , wherein a thickness of the mass element is within a range of 10 μm to 1000 μm, and a thickness of each of the first elastic element and the second elastic element is within a range of 0.1 μm to 500 μm.
11 . The vibration sensor of claim 5 , wherein the first elastic element and the second elastic element are located between a peripheral side of the mass element and the housing structure, and the peripheral side of the mass element is connected to the housing structure through the first elastic element and the second elastic element.
12 . The vibration sensor of claim 11 , wherein a volume of an acoustic cavity formed between the first elastic element, the mass element, and the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity is larger than or equal to a volume of the first acoustic cavity formed between the second elastic element, the mass element, and the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity.
13 . The vibration sensor of claim 5 , wherein the first elastic element and the second elastic element are columnar structures, and the first elastic element and the second elastic element respectively extend along the thickness direction of the mass element and are connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer.
14 . The vibration sensor of claim 13 , wherein a gap is arranged between an outer side of the first elastic element, an outer side of the second elastic element, an outer side of the mass element, and the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity, and the gap has a filler for adjusting a quality factor of the vibration sensor.
15 . The vibration sensor of claim 5 , wherein the first elastic element includes a first sub-elastic element and a second sub-elastic element, the first sub-elastic element being connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity through the second sub-elastic element, and the first sub-elastic element being connected to the upper surface of the mass element; and the second elastic element includes a third sub-elastic element and a fourth sub-elastic element, the third sub-elastic element being connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity through the fourth sub-elastic element, and the third sub-elastic element being connected to the lower surface of the mass element.
16 . The vibration sensor of claim 15 , wherein a peripheral side of the first sub-elastic element approximately coincides with a peripheral side of the second sub-elastic element, and a peripheral side of the third sub-elastic element approximately coincides with a peripheral side of the fourth sub-elastic element.
17 . The vibration sensor of claim 16 , wherein the vibration sensor further includes a fixing piece, the fixing piece is distributed along the peripheral side of the mass element, the fixing piece is located between the first sub-elastic element and the third sub-elastic element, and an upper surface and a lower surface of the fixing piece are respectively connected to the first sub-elastic element and the third sub-elastic element.
18 . The vibration sensor of claim 17 , wherein a gap is arranged between the fixing piece, the mass element, the first sub-elastic element, and the second sub-elastic element, and the gap has a filler for adjusting a quality factor of the vibration sensor.
19 . A vibration sensor, comprising: a housing structure; an acoustic transducer physically connected to the housing structure, wherein an acoustic cavity is formed at least partially by the housing structure and the acoustic transducer; and a vibration unit configured to divide the acoustic cavity into a plurality of acoustic cavities, the plurality of acoustic cavities including a first acoustic cavity, the first acoustic cavity being in acoustic communication with the acoustic transducer, wherein the vibration unit includes an elastic element and a mass element, the elastic element and the mass element being located in the acoustic cavity, and the mass element being connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer through the elastic element; the housing structure is configured to generate vibrations based on an external vibration signal, the vibration unit causes a volume change of the first acoustic cavity in response to the vibrations of the housing structure, and the acoustic transducer generates an electrical signal based on the volume change of the first acoustic cavity; the mass element is distributed on two opposite sides of the elastic element in a first direction, wherein a vibration direction of the vibration unit includes a first direction and a second direction, and a ratio of a resonant frequency of vibrations of the vibration unit in the second direction to a resonant frequency of vibrations of the vibration unit in the first direction is larger than or equal to 2.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2022/097874, filed on Jun. 9, 2022, which claims priority of the Chinese Patent Application No. 202110677119.2, filed on Jun. 18, 2021, the contents of each of which are hereby incorporated by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The embodiments of the present disclosure relate to the field of sensors, and in particular to vibration sensors. BACKGROUND A vibration sensor is an energy conversion device that converts vibration signals into electrical signals. In some cases, the vibration sensor can be used as a bone conduction microphone. In the bone conduction microphone, the vibration sensor can detect the vibration signals transmitted through the skin when a person speaks, and convert the vibration signals transmitted by the human skin into the electrical signals, thereby achieving the sound transmission. The bone conduction microphone can reduce the interference of the airborne noise in the external environment on a target sound source, thereby improving the effect of the sound transmission. The vibration sensor (e.g., the bone conduction microphone) can receive vibration signals (e.g., vibration signals of the vibration loudspeaker of the earphone, vibration signals of the earphone, etc.) other than the target sound source in actual application scenarios, thus reducing the effect of the sound transmission of the vibration sensor. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a vibration sensor capable of reducing the influence of non-target vibration signals, thereby improving the effect of the sound transmission of the vibration sensor on the target vibration signals. SUMMARY One or more embodiments of the present disclosure provide a vibration sensor. The vibration sensor may include a housing structure, an acoustic transducer, and a vibration unit. The acoustic transducer may be physically connected to the housing structure. An acoustic cavity may be formed at least partially by the housing structure and the acoustic transducer. The vibration unit may be configured to divide the acoustic cavity into a plurality of acoustic cavities. The plurality of acoustic cavities may include a first acoustic cavity. The first acoustic cavity may be in acoustic communication with the acoustic transducer. The vibration unit may include an elastic element and a mass element. The elastic element and the mass element may be located in the acoustic cavity, and the mass element may be connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer through the elastic element. The housing structure may be configured to generate vibrations in a first direction and a second direction based on an external vibration signal, the vibration unit may cause a volume change of the first acoustic cavity in response to the vibrations of the housing structure, and the acoustic transducer may generate an electrical signal based on the volume change of the first acoustic cavity. The elastic element may include a first elastic element and a second elastic element. The first elastic element and the second elastic element may be respectively connected to the mass element and distributed at intervals along a vibration direction of the vibration unit. The vibration direction may include a first direction and a second direction. In some embodiments, a response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the first direction may be higher than the response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the second direction within a target frequency range. The second direction may be perpendicular to the first direction. In some embodiments, a ratio of a resonant frequency of vibrations of the vibration unit in the second direction to a resonant frequency of vibrations of the vibration unit in the first direction may be larger than or equal to 2. In some embodiments, a difference between a response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the second direction and a response sensitivity of the vibration unit to the vibrations of the housing structure in the first direction may be within a range of −20 dB to 40 dB. In some embodiments, the first direction may be a thickness direction of the mass element, and a distance between a centroid of the elastic element and a center of gravity of the mass element in the first direction may be not larger than ⅓ of a thickness of the mass element. In some embodiments, a distance between the centroid of the elastic element and the center of gravity of the mass element in the second direction may be not larger than ⅓ of a side length or a radius of the mass element. In some embodiments, the first elastic element and the second elastic element may be connected to the housing structure or the acoustic transducer corresponding to the acoustic cavity. The first elastic element and the second elastic element may be ap