JP5243731B2 - Acoustic equipment for gaming machines - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an acoustic device for a gaming machine in which a game ball is launched by launching a game ball on the game board.

  Game machines are severely restricted in terms of acoustic design and electrical design due to restrictions such as game rules. In order to hide the speaker from the appearance of the gaming machine, the conventional acoustic device is covered with a plate having a plurality of sound emitting holes, and the sound generated by the speaker is transmitted to the player through the hole. Further, instead of the above-mentioned plate, a wire mesh for preventing damage is used.

On the other hand, while blocking sound block the front of the diaphragm of the speaker in the light-emitting element, the structure of outputting the sound from the peripheral portion of the light emitter have been proposed. For example, as shown in Patent Document 1, in order to improve the sound quality and to make the speaker hard to be tampered with, a sealed sound propagation path is formed between the back of the display unit 1G and the constituent member 1c of the display unit 1G. 4 is provided, and a sound outlet 3 communicating with the sound propagation path 4 is formed at a specific location on the front outer peripheral side of the display unit 1G. A speaker 2 is provided in a part that is separated to the back side.
JP 2002-136646 A

  However, in the conventional acoustic apparatus, the arrangement of the speakers is limited, and it is difficult to arrange the speakers with a high degree of freedom. For example, when a speaker is arranged on the upper part of the front surface of a gaming machine, a hard device is taken to prevent the speaker from being seen, and the balance in design is lost. In addition, it is difficult to use a large speaker.

  On the other hand, in Patent Document 1, acoustic technology is hardly taken into consideration, and shielding the front surface of the speaker is a cause of a muffled sound, which cannot be considered by conventional techniques. In other words, Patent Document 1 has an effect of hiding the speaker and the electric decoration effect is improved, but the acoustic characteristics are deteriorated. This is because the acoustic space and the vertical axis are parallel to each other (vertical slit 3a), and the hemispherical surface and the center of the speaker must be shifted from each other. For this reason, the resonance frequency of the sound is concentrated, the harmful effects of the air column resonance phenomenon cannot be prevented, and the sound directivity is impaired. Therefore, in Patent Document 1, it is difficult to achieve both an electric decoration effect and acoustic characteristics.

  As for gaming machines, the design on the front side has become more important year by year, and there is a strong demand for improving acoustic characteristics while ensuring the design of the front side of gaming machines. Among the demands of game makers, there is a desire to design parts that produce visual effects such as electrical lighting on the front of the gaming table, for example, the entire pachinko machine is illuminated with electrical decorations (LEDs, etc.) In order to enhance the stereo effect, there is a demand for arranging speakers for high tones and low tones and arranging about 2 to 4 speakers in one unit. In this way, when designing a part to the full front of the game table, the speaker causes the balance of the design to be lost.

  Therefore, the present inventor has made the invention described in the scope of claims after intensive studies. In other words, by arranging a diffuser with a hemispherical surface or conical surface in the front area of the speaker diaphragm as an acoustic equalizer, the acoustic space is throttled in the sound output direction, increasing the fluid acceleration of the air, and a specific resonance frequency Generation (air column resonance phenomenon) can be prevented. This significantly improves the directivity and radiation efficiency of the audio speaker. On the other hand, the speaker is concealed by the exterior body, and the space is effectively used by performing illumination etc. on the front side, thereby satisfying the improvement in speaker characteristics of the gaming machine and the design requirements.

  The above-described air column resonance is a phenomenon in which the air in the acoustic tube is compressed when the diaphragm of the speaker moves by the piston motion, and the compressed air expands as a reaction. This compression and expansion is repeated as long as the loudspeaker is driven, and viscous air expands and contracts like a spring to cause vibration, and the air in the acoustic space resonates at a specific frequency. Although the acoustic characteristics are impaired by this resonance, this phenomenon can be avoided by the present invention.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the diffuser closes the front surface of the diaphragm so that the parallel plane is eliminated, and the center axis of the diffuser and the diaphragm is made to coincide with each other, thereby dispersing the resonance frequency and generating a unique resonance frequency ( In addition to preventing the column resonance phenomenon, the air radiation efficiency is significantly improved by increasing the fluid acceleration of the air. When an enclosure is installed on the front of the speaker, the space created by this can be regarded as an air column, so there is a possibility that a phenomenon called air column resonance may occur that resonates with the sound emitted from the speaker. In the embodiment, since the sound is controlled by the diffuser, it is possible to eliminate this harmful sound effect.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the sound guiding part for guiding the sound obliquely to the sound guide opening is formed on the front surface of the diffuser, the effect of preventing the air column resonance phenomenon can be enhanced.

According to the invention of claim 3, since the electrical decoration device is installed in front of the exterior body , the front of the gaming machine can be fully designed with the electrical decoration device without impairing the acoustic performance.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of a speaker of a gaming machine to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, the acoustic device 1 for gaming machines (hereinafter simply referred to as the acoustic device 1) used in this embodiment is a sound guide space 5 surrounded by an exterior body 4 in the front region of the diaphragm 3 of the speaker 2. And a diffuser 6 having a hemispherical surface on the back surface is provided in the sound guide space 5 so that the center axis C of the diaphragm 3 and the center axis C of the diffuser 6 coincide with each other, and the top of the diffuser 6 and the diaphragm 3 The sound guide opening 9 is provided in the side surface portion 8 of the exterior body 4, and the sound of the diaphragm 3 is vibrated. Is emitted in a direction not parallel to the central axis C, and sound is emitted from the sound guide opening 9. In the front region of the diffuser 6, a sound guiding portion 10 that guides sound obliquely to the sound guide opening 9 is formed. In this embodiment, the sound path is narrowed by the diffuser 6 and sound is emitted obliquely from the diaphragm 3 to the front surface, thereby preventing air column resonance in the sound guide space 5 and improving the directivity characteristics in the lateral direction. The LED board part 11 and the LED part 12 are installed in the upper part inside the exterior body 4, and the electrical decoration effect is given.
Hereinafter, each component will be described in detail.

  Since the speaker 2 is a general speaker as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, description of the structure is omitted. The speaker 2 may be a speaker for high sounds or low sounds. The speaker 2 has a substantially cylindrical outer peripheral surface, and a circular diaphragm 3 is installed on the front surface when viewed from the front. The central axis of the speaker 2 is matched with the central axis C of the diaphragm 3.

  The speaker 2 is configured to be controlled by a sound control board or the like of a gaming machine. In this embodiment, the sound control board is set by a command signal from the main control board in a case where the symbols are in a specific arrangement and a winning ball acquisition state or a medal acquisition state such as a general winning or a bonus winning is obtained. It is designed to output sound effects.

  The diaphragm 3 is a general circular cone-shaped diaphragm.

  The exterior body 4 is comprised from the cylindrical ring part 41 and the cylindrical cover part 42 as shown in FIG.3 (b), and these can be fitted / detached freely. The central axes of the cylindrical ring portion 41 and the cylindrical lid portion 42 are made to coincide with the central axis C. A speaker 2 and a diffuser 6 are installed in the cylindrical ring portion 41. A stepped portion 43 having a diameter reduced upward is formed on the inner wall of the cylindrical ring portion 41, and a stepped portion 44 having a diameter reduced upward is formed on the outer wall of the front surface. The exterior body 4 is attached to the front surface of the gaming machine, such as an opening (not shown) of the glass frame 45 on the front frame of the gaming machine. The front surface portion 7 and the side surface portion 8 are combined to form a cylindrical lid portion 42. A lower end portion of the side surface portion 8 is fitted to the step portion 44. The periphery of the diaphragm 3 is fixed to the stepped portion 43. As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of sound guide openings 9 are formed in the side surface portion 8 in the circumferential direction to communicate the sound guide space 5 with the outside.

  As shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4, the sound guide space 5 is divided into left and right by a diffuser 6 toward the front, and the sound guide opening 9 is divided into left and right correspondingly. Further, the aperture opening 51 and the aperture opening 52 are arranged on the left and right sides (see FIG. 4A).

  As shown in FIGS. 2B and 4, the diffuser 6 is disposed in the central portion of the sound guide space 5 when viewed from the front, and is disposed closer to the diaphragm 3 than the center when viewed from the side. The diffuser 6 has a hemispherical portion at the center, and a bridge 61 and a bridge 62 are formed in a straight line from both ends of the hemispherical portion in a vertical direction, and a predetermined number (in this case, perpendicular to the inner wall of the cylindrical ring portion 41) 2) is formed. The bridges 61 and 62 have inclined surfaces and narrow the sound guide space toward the front. The ends of the bridges 61 and 62 are vertically fixed to and suspended from the inner wall of the cylindrical ring portion 41. A diaphragm opening 51 and a diaphragm opening 52 are formed on both sides of the bridges 61 and 62. The gap between the diffuser 6 and the central portion of the diaphragm 3 is set to be narrower than the maximum diameter of the aperture openings 51 and 52.

  The diffuser 6 has a conical shape with a top surface formed in a round shape, and a skirt surface having a conical surface. The diameter of the diffuser 6 increases toward the front of the central axis C. The shape of the diffuser 6 can be appropriately set as long as the diameter of the diffuser 6 is such that the central portion of the sound guide space 5 on the front surface of the diaphragm 3 is shielded and expanded. For example, as shown in FIG. 5, the diffuser 6 ′ may be a conical diffuser 6 ′ in which the inclination of the conical surface of the diffuser 6 is increased or the height is increased. Also good.

  The front surface portion 7 is a translucent plastic lens, and has a material or structure that transmits light but the speaker 2 cannot be seen.

  As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the side surface portion 8 has a cylindrical shape, and is fixed coaxially to the central axis C on the back side of the peripheral edge of the front surface portion 7. It is preferable to form the sound guide opening 9 in the side surface 8.

  As shown in FIG. 1 (a), the sound guide openings 9 are holes arranged in the circumferential direction of the side face part 8, and two hole groups are formed on the left and right in a front view. Here, the shape is symmetrical. A plurality of the sound guide openings 9 are formed independently, but the holes may be communicated to form a single piece. As shown in FIG. 1B, a mesh 9 ′ may be used instead of the sound guide opening 9. In this case, a plurality of supports 49 are formed as supports for the mesh 9 '.

As shown in FIG. 3, the sound guiding portion 10 guides sound to the sound guide opening 9 and supports the LED substrate portion 12, and includes a partition wall 101 and a radiation plate body 102. The partition wall 101 has a cylindrical shape and has a diameter that increases toward the front, and has a concave surface. The partition wall 101 forms a continuous surface from the diffuser 6 and smoothly guides the sound to the sound guide opening 9. The radiating plate body 102 is a plurality of plate bodies arranged radially with respect to the central axis C in a front view. The rear end portion is fixed to the partition wall 101 and the front end portion is fixed to the back surface of the front surface portion 7. . The bottom part of the sound guide part 10 is closed with a bottom plate 10b . A structure in which the partition wall 101 is removed and the radiation plate 102 is used as an acoustic reflector is also possible.

  As shown in FIG. 2B and FIG. 3B, the LED board portion 11 is fixed to the front surface of the bottom plate 102 at the center of the sound guiding portion 10.

  As shown in FIGS. 2B and 3A, the LED unit 12 is fixed between the front surface of the LED substrate unit 11 and the center of the back surface of the front surface unit 7.

With the configuration as described above, during a game machine, for example, when a winning ball or medal acquisition state occurs during a general winning or bonus winning, a sound output from a sound control board (not shown) The signal is input to the speaker 2, and sound such as sound effects is output from the speaker 2. The sound from the diaphragm 3 of the speaker 2 to avoid de-fuser 6, propagation direction obliquely relative to the central axis C so as to dissipate toward the acoustic space 5 of the peripheral portion of the di fuser 6 is changed, The propagation area is narrowed by the diaphragm openings 51 and 52, guided by the partition wall 101, and propagated to the outside in the direction perpendicular to the central axis Y from the sound guide opening 9. At the same time, an electrical decoration signal from an electrical decoration control board (not shown) is output to the LED board section 11, and the LED section 12 emits light in response thereto.

  According to this embodiment, the substantially hemispherical diffuser 6 is installed on the front surface of the diaphragm 3. By adding the diffuser 6 as an obstacle, the radiated sound is accelerated (the sound propagation speed is increased). In other words, by providing the diffuser 6 that is an obstacle to the traveling direction of the sound, the direction of the sound is changed to the surroundings and the propagation space is narrowed, so that the radiant energy of the sound is concentrated. become. Therefore, there is a characteristic that sound acceleration increases by narrowing the sound propagation path. If the sound is propagated by acceleration, naturally, the distortion of the sound is reduced, and more acoustic energy can be obtained. Further, since the sound propagation direction is made non-parallel to the central axis C by the diffuser 6, a parallel plane is not formed and the structure does not cause air column resonance. Therefore, air column resonance can be effectively prevented. In addition, the front of the gaming machine can be fully designed with an illumination device. A plurality of types of speakers (for example, a high-frequency speaker and a low-frequency speaker) can be used in a single gaming machine, and restrictions on electrical design on the front of the gaming machine can be eliminated. Furthermore, a large speaker can be employed, and the degree of freedom of the speaker capacity is greatly improved.

  In this embodiment, the shape of the diffuser 6 shown in FIG. 5 is adopted. The speaker 2 has a diameter of 47 mm, a height of 36 mm, the diaphragm 3 has a diameter of 48 mm, and the bridges 61 and 62 of the diffuser 6 have a total length of 58 mm. Width is 18 mm, thickness is 6 mm, diameter of the bottom surface of the cone is 24 mm, diameter of the bottom surface in front of the bridges 61 and 62 is 19 mm, diameter of the sound guide space is 63 mm, distance between the diaphragm 3 and the diffuser 6 Is 1 mm. The acoustic measurement results of this example are shown in FIGS. Regarding the measuring device, the microphone is Brüel & Care 4007, the microphone amplifier is manufactured by Daiichi Communication Industrial Co., Ltd., the measuring instrument is MYSPEAKER of PCCAD, and the measurement condition is 30 cm on the axis (distance from the speaker to the microphone). FIG. 7 shows the measurement result of only the speaker 2. FIG. 8 shows the measurement results without the diffuser, and FIG. 9 shows the measurement results of this example. The vertical axis represents sound pressure (decibel), and the horizontal axis represents frequency (Hz).

  According to the comparison of the measurement results of FIGS. 8 to 9, the measurement results of FIG. 9 corresponding to the example show the vibration of the graph over a wide range from 250 to 20 KHz, and the frequency VS sound pressure characteristics are improved. You can see that

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and modifications and the like can be made without departing from the technical idea of the present invention. It will be included in the technical scope of the present invention. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the inner wall of the cylindrical ring portion 41 is parallel to the central axis C, but it may have a shape in which the cross-sectional area is reduced toward the front, thereby increasing the diaphragm effect. The acoustic device 1 is not limited to a cylindrical shape, and may be an ellipse, a square, or the like. Also, the shape of the diffuser 6 can be set as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the invention. The sound guiding unit 10 is not limited to the embodiment and can be changed as appropriate. Furthermore, the shapes and structures of the LED substrate part 11 and the LED part 12 are also examples, and can be appropriately modified.

  The present invention increases the degree of electrical decoration of various game machines such as a pachinko machine and a throttle machine, and has good acoustic performance. It will be a gaming machine with a stereo effect that can be designed with full illumination on the front. A high-frequency speaker and a low-frequency speaker can be freely arranged on the front surface of the gaming machine, and a large-sized speaker can also be adopted.

(A) is a side view of the acoustic device for gaming machines of the embodiment of the present invention, and (b) is a side view of the acoustic device for gaming machines which is a modified example of the embodiment. (A) is a front view of the gaming machine acoustic device, and (b) is a partial central longitudinal sectional view of the gaming machine acoustic device. (A) is a front view of a sound guidance part, an LED part, and an LED board part, (b) is the same back view. (A) is a plan view of a diffuser and a cylindrical ring portion of an acoustic device for gaming machines, (b) is a central longitudinal sectional view of the diffuser, (c) is a back view, and (d) is an XX cross section of (c). FIG. (A) is a front view of the modification of a diffuser, (b) is the side view, (c) is YY sectional drawing of the (a). (A) is the front view of the other modification of a diffuser, (b) is the side view, (c) is ZZ sectional drawing of the (a). It is a graph which shows the acoustic characteristic in the case of the speaker 2 single-piece | unit. It is a graph which shows the acoustic characteristic at the time of removing a diffuser from the acoustic device for game machines of this embodiment. It is a graph which shows the acoustic characteristic of the acoustic device for game machines of this embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Acoustic device for game machines 2 ... Speaker 3 ... Diaphragm 4 ... Exterior body 5 ... Acoustic space 6 ... Diffuser 7 ... Front part 8 ... Side part 9 ... Sound guiding opening 9 '... Mesh 10 ... Sound guiding part 11 ... LED substrate part 12 ... LED part 41 ... Cylinder ring part 42 ... Cylinder lid part 43, 44 ... Step part 45 ... Glass frame 49 ... Support body 51 ... Aperture aperture 52 ... Aperture apertures 61, 62 ... Bridge 101 ... Partition wall 102 ... Radiation plate

Claims (3)

A sound guide space surrounded by an exterior body is formed in the front region of the diaphragm of the speaker, and a diffuser having a hemispherical surface or a conical surface on the back surface is provided in the sound guide space.
The center axis of the diaphragm and the center axis of the diffuser match, and the top of the diffuser and the center of the diaphragm are opposed to each other,
As well as shield the sound on the front portion of the outer body is provided with a sound guide opening on a side surface of the exterior body,
Wherein the sound generated by the vibration of the diaphragm is released in a direction that is not parallel to the central axis in the sound guide space, a configuration and gaming machine sound apparatus as Ru to release sound from the sound guide opening,
The diffuser is installed inside the exterior body with a bridge so as to form a diaphragm opening between the diffuser and the inner surface of the exterior body,
The sound conducting opening is formed so as to be positioned on a side surface of the exterior body in a region in front of the aperture opening in the sound conducting space . The exterior body includes an original side portion where the bridge is fixed and forms the aperture opening, and a lid side portion where the sound guide opening is formed on a side surface and which constitutes the front portion, and the aperture opening And an assembly including the sound guide opening so as to be symmetrical,
The lid side portion has a rear end continuous with the inner peripheral edge of the aperture opening, and a sound guide portion that guides sound obliquely to the sound guide opening portion in a region in front of the aperture opening. Item 1. A gaming machine acoustic device according to Item 1. The acoustic device for gaming machines according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an electric decoration part or an image display part is formed on the front surface of the exterior body .

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