DESC:Field of the invention
This invention relates to headliners in vehicles and more particularly to a speaker assembly mounted on a panoramic headliner with three row curtain airbag.
Background of the invention
A headliner utilized in a vehicle is a composite material that adheres to the roof of the vehicle and includes a layer of ornamental fabrics supported with a foam backing to provide required look, feel, touch, and stiffness to top of the vehicle. The headliner also works as a sound-absorbing member for interior of the vehicle.
The headliners and speaker designs adapted therein vary as per the space constraints of the upper part of the vehicle. In most of the vehicles, the space defined in the roof is a major constraint and a decent size speaker enclosure is essentially required with positive fitment of brackets on body in white (BIW) to facilitate firm positioning of the speakers within the headliners of the vehicles. This may lead to create cost impact to a greater extent. Further, the challenge associated with such conventional fitments is the presence of curtain air bag. The speakers with conventional fitment designs cannot be mounted on the roof headliner without affecting the deployment of the curtain air bag. In addition, the acoustic experience is greatly compromised since the conventional speaker designs for headliners are not properly enclosed and supported on the BIW. Further, the conventional speaker mounting designs are not easily accessible and their serviceability is a great issue. Moreover, the existing roof speaker assemblies and unable to avoid issues related to heat stacking. A user would appreciate a roof speaker assembly mounted with a grill package to facilitate seamless integrated mounting of the speaker assembly for a panoramic headliner.
Accordingly, there is need of a roof speaker assembly for panoramic headliner that overcomes all the drawbacks of the prior art.
Summary of the Invention
The present invention provides a roof speaker assembly for panoramic headliner that includes a speaker bracket having a speaker positioned thereon. The speaker is mounted on a roof spacer through a connecting member. The roof speaker assembly includes a headliner having the speaker bracket supported thereon. The headliner and the speaker bracket have a predefined gap that is filled with a binding layer. The roof speaker assembly includes a speaker housing and a speaker grille enclosing the speaker. The spacer speaker bracket and the speaker are located on an outside of the headliner. The speaker housing and the speaker grille are located within the headliner. The speaker housing and the speaker grille facilitate heat staking to the roof speaker assembly. The roof speaker assembly is positioned above the curtain airbag zone of the vehicle. The roof speaker assembly is located on a first row and a third row of the vehicle and has a single grille configuration that avoids split grilles in the assembling thereof.
Brief description Drawings
Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing location of a roof speaker assembly positioned within an interior of a vehicle;
Fig. 2 is a bottom view showing the roof speaker assembly positioned within the interior of a vehicle;
Fig. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the roof speaker assembly showing structural components thereof;
Fig. 4 is partially expanded cross-sectional view of the roof speaker assembly of the present invention showing structural orientation thereof; and
Fig. 5 is a partially expanded pictorial view of the roof speaker assembly of the present invention.
Detailed Description of the invention
The invention described herein is explained using specific disclosures/mechanisms exemplary details for better understanding. However, the invention disclosed can be worked on by a person skilled in the art without the use of these specific disclosures.
References in the specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, or function described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the invention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment.
References in the specification to “preferred embodiment” means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, or function described in detail thereby omitting known constructions and functions for clear description of the present invention.
The present invention is illustrated with reference to the accompanying drawings, throughout which reference numbers indicate corresponding parts in the various figures. These reference numbers are shown in bracket in the following description.
Although specific terms are used in the following description for sake of clarity, these terms are intended to refer only to particular structure of the invention selected for illustration in the drawings and are not intended to define or limit the scope of the invention.
Referring to Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, a preferred orientation of a roof speaker assembly for panoramic headliner (100) in accordance with the present invention is shown. In this one preferred embodiment, the roof speaker assembly (100) is preferably located on a first row and a third row and integrated to the panoramic headliner of a vehicle (200). However, it is understood here that the orientation of the roof speaker assembly (100) on the headliner may vary as per type of the vehicle (200) in other alternative embodiments of the present invention.
Referring now to Figs. 3-5, the roof speaker assembly (100) includes a speaker bracket (102) on which a speaker (104) is mounted. The speaker bracket (102) and the speaker (104) are preferably located outside of a headliner (106) in accordance with the present invention. The roof speaker assembly (100) includes a speaker housing (108) and a speaker grille (110) that are located within the headliner (106) to facilitate heat staking feature to the roof speaker assembly (100).
The speaker (104) is mounted on a roof spacer (112) through a connecting member (114). The connecting member (114) is a screw in this one embodiment however other types of connecting members (114) may be utilized in other alternative embodiments of the present invention. The roof spacer (112) and the headliner (106) are positioned apart with a predetermined gap defined therebetween. The said gap is configured to be filled with a fixing or binding element thereby forming a binding layer (116). The binding layer (116) is a glue layer in accordance with the present invention. It is understood that other types of fixing or binding elements may be utilized in other alternative embodiments of the present invention.
The structural orientation of the roof speaker assembly (100) is such that the speaker roof assembly (100) is advantageously positioned above the curtain airbag zone without affecting deployment of a curtain airbag (118) as shown. The roof speaker assembly (100) is easy to assemble and forms a roof packaged speaker system such that customer can feel 3D seamless sound without the leakage of Acoustic. The roof speaker assembly (100) is made of a single grille configuration thereby avoiding split grilles in the assembling thereof.
In the context of the present invention, the roof speaker assembly (100) advantageously eliminates the need of using positive fixings to body in white or use of additional brackets to mount speakers yet prevents fly off of speaker/ grill during curtain air bag deployment. The roof speaker assembly (100) can be advantageously used with ease of serviceability of speakers wherein the serviceability made easy by removing the Grille assembly alone. The roof speaker assembly (100) advantageously provides a roof packaged speaker system wherein a user of the vehicle can feel 3D seamless sound without the leakage of Acoustic. The roof speaker assembly (100) is advantageously positioned above the curtain airbag zone which does not affect deployment of a curtain airbag. The roof speaker assembly (100) advantageously provides the speaker package made integrated to the headliner for ease of assembling and serviceability thereof.
The foregoing description of specific embodiments of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible considering the above teaching.
The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present invention and its practical application, to thereby enable others, skilled in the art to best utilize the present invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
It is understood that various omission and substitutions of equivalents are contemplated as circumstance may suggest or render expedient, but such are intended to cover the application or implementation without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention.
,CLAIMS:
1) A roof speaker assembly (100) for panoramic headliner of a vehicle (200), said roof speaker assembly (100) comprising:
a speaker bracket (102) having a speaker (104) positioned thereon, the speaker (104) connected to a roof spacer (112) through a connecting member (114);
a headliner (106) having the speaker bracket (102) supported thereon, the headliner (106) and the speaker bracket (102) having a gap defined therebetween, said gap being filled by a binding layer (116); and
a speaker housing (108) with a speaker grille (110) configured to enclose the speaker (104) therein.
2) The roof speaker assembly (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the spacer speaker bracket (102) and the speaker (104) are located outside of the headliner (106).
3) The roof speaker assembly (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the speaker housing (108) and the speaker grille (110) are located within the headliner (106).
4) The roof speaker assembly (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the speaker housing (108) and the speaker grille (110) facilitate heat staking to the roof speaker assembly (100).
5) The roof speaker assembly (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting member 114 is a screw.
6) The roof speaker assembly (100) as claimed in claim 1 is configured to be positioned above the curtain airbag zone of the vehicle (200).
7) The roof speaker assembly (100) as claimed in claim 1 is configured to be located on a first row and a third row of the vehicle (200).