Richard Haberkern has developed thin flexible film that can act as a speaker. The polyvinylidene fluoride piezoelectric film (PVDF) expands and contracts when electricity is applied.
Haberkern is running a Kickstarter campaign to manufacture the specialized film in bulk. Most of the Kickstarter rewards are DIY kits allowing makers to build their own flexible speakers. He hopes that this will bring in a new age of pliable sonic inventions.
The electrically conductive coating is applied to both sides of the film, with a conductive layer of ink around the edge of the film. Soldering is not possible because the heat will melt the plastic so connections are made through the ink border.
Piezo film has output potential around ten times that of ceramic materials. A wide frequency range, low acoustical impedance and a high dielectric strength are other beneficial properties. The film has good mechanical durability, moisture resistance and chemical resistance that help the flexible speaker to function.
Richard has Kickstarted several projects over the last three years – we’ve even covered one or two here at ENGINEERING.com. Like all of his projects this ‘world’s thinnest speaker’ is open source and meant to spark ideas for inventors around the world. The speaker kits are being manufactured under his Soundlazer branding.
This is an awesome project with great potential to modify the way we think about sound in advertising, music performance and even computing. A computer monitor that blasted sound out from the screen itself would be incredible for me, and mean less wires to connect and troubleshoot later.
The campaign video looks professional and polished but is short. The presentation itself is shown as being done on the film, and a few other videos on the campaign page show the film being bent and rolled around while playing music.