WO2012156545A1

WO2012156545A1 - System for viewing signals in a liquid medium by means of an array of fast-acting valves

Info

Publication number: WO2012156545A1
Application number: PCT/ES2011/070355
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jorge MARTÍN RELLO
Original assignee: Martin Rello Jorge
Priority date: 2011-05-18
Filing date: 2011-05-18
Publication date: 2012-11-22

Abstract

The invention relates to a system which can be used to view the waveform of audio signals (voice, music, sound in general) on a curtain of water generated by means of a set of fast-acting valves arranged in an array. Although the invention was initially intended for use in musical ornamental fountains, in which the physical quantity employed is the acoustic signal and the liquid is water, the invention can be used with any liquid fluid as a physical viewing medium and to view any physical quantity or generic parameter in which a variation can be represented graphically (e.g. seismic waves, temperature variation curve, atmospheric pressure variation curve, curves indicating stock value changes, etc.).

Description

SIGNAL VISUALIZATION SYSTEM IN LIQUID SUPPORT THROUGH BATTERY OF FAST OPERATING VALVES

The invention presented in this document is a system that allows the visualization of the waveform of audio signals (voice, music, sound in general), on a curtain of water generated by a set of fast-acting valves arranged in battery.

Although the invention is initially oriented to its application in musical ornamental sources, where the physical magnitude used is the acoustic signal and the liquid used is water, its application is generalizable to the use of any liquid fluid as a physical display medium, and visualization. of any type of physical magnitude or generic parameter whose variation can be represented graphically (eg seismic waves, temperature variation curve, atmospheric pressure variation curve, stock market evolution curves, etc.). Having established the foregoing, throughout the description of the invention, sound waves will be referred to as a signal to be displayed and water as a display material support, which does not limit the application of this invention to the display of any type of signal on any type of liquid support. .

BACKGROUND AND STATE OF ART

The use of water as a decorative element has been rooted in society since time immemorial. Although initially water control was carried out in a simple way, over time, technological advances have allowed the development of new ways of controlling water to produce increasingly complex effects. At present, the main research activity applied to the development of ornamental fountains is oriented to the creation of spectacular effects with water, understanding as spectacular effects the combination of water effects with light effects and / or sound or musical effects.

Considering the case of combining water effects with sound effects, all the technological developments produced so far are included in one or more of the following groups:

Effects of water produced by the variation in the discharge speed of water pumps depending on the musical signal or its frequency components i (serious, medium and acute). See patents CN201140154Y and CN201385013Y among others.

Water effects produced by the mechanical movement of the water nozzles depending on the musical signal or its frequency components (bass, medium and treble). See patents KR100731572B1, CN2761284Y and CN2571494Y among others.

Water effects caused by the activation and deactivation of solenoid valves in previously programmed and synchronized sequences with musical themes, and triggered from programmable logic controllers (PLCs), MIDI controllers, DMX interfaces or other similar means. See patents KR100890937B1 and CN 1384446A among others.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention described in this document is not included in any of the groups mentioned above. In fact, it starts from a completely different perspective since it manages to show in real time the waveform of the musical signals on a curtain of water generated by a battery of valves. The invention is composed of (see figure 1) a source of sound or other signals (1), a system for capturing and digitizing signals (2), a data processing stage (3), an electronic control system (4), a water distributor (5), a set of fast-acting valves (6) connected to the distributor (5) and arranged in a battery to allow passage or cut off the passage of water through it, and a set of nozzles (7) each connected to the outlet of a valve (6). The system will in turn consist of a reservoir or vessel (8) for collecting the liquid expelled by the nozzles (7) and a pump (9) to drive the contents of the tank (8) to the distributor (5) and thus close the hydraulic system circuit.

The stages of signal collection and digitization (2) and signal processing (3) can be implemented by a computer system by means of specific software or by electronic systems designed for this purpose.

The valve control stage (4) has been implemented by an electronic system designed specifically for this application and which will be described later in this document. Then we proceed to the description of each of the functional blocks that make up the invention.

1. Water curtain generation as signal display support

The support on which the waveform of the audio signals is displayed is a curtain-shaped water surface. This water curtain is generated by a set of valves (6) connected to a water distributor (5), arranged in battery or row and so close to each other that when they are all open a uniform surface of water is formed. See figure 2.

Depending on the orientation of the nozzles (7) at the outlet of the valves (6), the water surface can be vertical (figure 2-A. Nozzles oriented downwards) or parabolic (figure 2-B. Nozzles oriented in other address).

Regardless of the orientation indicated, each valve (6) controls a single column of the water curtain, so that the horizontal resolution of the display support is determined by the number of valves per unit length. It should be borne in mind that the display stand is composed of water in motion at a certain speed, which implies that the effect produced by the activation or deactivation of valves is transmitted by the corresponding columns with the same trajectory and fall speed of the Water.

Thanks to this effect, varying the state of the valves in a sequence and with a certain speed, you can create gaps in the water curtain with different geometric shapes that fall with the same trajectory and speed as the water.

In the same way, starting from a state in which all the valves are closed, these valves can be opened and closed in a certain sequence to generate geometric or graphic shapes composed of water (not by gaps in the water) that move through the curtain with the trajectory and speed indicated above (opposite effect to the previous paragraph).

In the case of this invention the valves will be opened and closed to visualize the waveform of the audio signals on the water curtain, either as water or as gaps in a water curtain. This opening and closing of solenoid valves is carried out in real time, while the starting signal is reproduced or captured.

2. Signal acquisition and digitization stage

The signals to be displayed in the water curtain can be captured live or delayed. In the first case, live acquisition, the system picks up electrical signals from, ultimately, a transducer that converts acoustic pressure variations or vibrations and resonances of a musical instrument into electrical variations. In the second case, deferred acquisition, the system picks up electrical signals from a player or a sound synthesizer. The digitization is carried out with a determined sampling frequency and amplitude quantification (bits per sample) sufficient to be able to correctly visualize the waveform of the digitized signal in the water curtain.

To calculate the sampling frequency it is recommended to use the Nyquist theorem, according to which, to convert a continuous signal (analog signal) into a discrete signal (sampled) and not lose information of the original signal, samples must be taken with a frequency equal to or greater than twice the maximum frequency of the continuous signal.

This stage can be implemented using a sound card in case of using a conventional computer, or through a specific digital circuit that has preamplification and conditioning stages of the analog signal and a microcontroller / microprocessor with ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) inputs ).

3. Data processing stage

To obtain an adequate visualization of the waveform of the signal on the water curtain, it is necessary to process the digitized data in the previous stage.

The data processing step consists in transforming the amplitude values of the digitized signal (or its variants such as filtrates, spectral components, compressions, signal expansions, etc.) into the different positions of the valve battery. This is a change of scale from signal amplitude values to positions in the valve battery.

During the data processing, the response time of the fast-acting valves must also be taken into account. If the sampling frequency used during the signal capture and digitization stage is lower than the maximum operating frequency of the valves, it is possible to directly assign the amplitude of each signal sample with a position in the valve battery . Otherwise, if the maximum frequency of the processed signal is greater than or equal to the maximum operating frequency of the valves, the processing shown in the previous sample is mechanically unfeasible because the valves are not able to respond to the sampling rate. . In such a case, windows or signal sections will be taken to perform said processing, estimating some type of average amplitude or range of amplitudes of the signal within each section analyzed and converting these values into positions or ranges of positions of the valve battery.

In accordance with the above, in the case of audio signals, with frequencies between 20Hz and 20KHz, data processing is done by taking windows or signal sections. Depending on the parameters extracted from each analyzed signal window, some effects or others are achieved.

To properly visualize the waveform of the sounds on the water curtain (see figure 3), the signal processing consists in the extraction of the upper and lower envelopes of the digitized signal or its variants (see figures 3A for the captured signal and 3B for the envelopes detected) and their translation to positions in the valve battery (see figures 3C, 3D, 3E and 3F).

Figure 3C corresponds to the visualization of the previous audio signal on the water curtain in negative mode (the waveform is composed of gaps or empty spaces in the water curtain). The 3D figure corresponds to the visualization of the previous audio signal on the water curtain in positive mode (the waveform is composed of water and the bottom is air).

Figures 3D and 3E show the display of the upper and lower envelopes in the water curtain, both in positive mode (Figure 3E) and negative (Figure 3D).

The implementation of data processing is done through programming (software or firmware), where the envelope information is achieved by calculating the maximum and minimum signal amplitude values for each processing window, so that the sequence of maximum values represents the envelope upper and the sequence of minimum values represents the lower envelope of the signal. These envelopes or sequences of maximum and minimum values can be softened or filtered to improve their visibility in the water curtain.

Finally, the sequences of maximum and minimum values of signal amplitude (the envelopes) are converted to sequences of valve positions in the water curtain and sent to the electronic system to act on the indicated valves.

4. Electronic control system for fast-acting valves After the processing stage, a sequence of numerical values indicating positions or sections in the battery of system valves on which to act is obtained. The electronic control system is responsible for physically activating or deactivating the indicated valves or valve sections. The electronic control system described below has been designed to cope with two difficulties intrinsic to the display system presented: simultaneous control of all battery valves and modular design.

The first difficulty lies in the need for extremely precise control of all battery valves and independent of the number of valves. Without the perfectly synchronized control of all the water curtain valves, the visualization effects described could not be performed.

The second requirement, the modularity of the control system, is not in itself an essential characteristic for the implementation of the invention, however, it should be considered that a small or medium sized water curtain can contain several hundred valves, so that, either a control solution is chosen in the form of modules distributed along the curtain, or the control system would have a strong restriction on the maximum number of valves to be managed.

The electronic control system implemented in this invention is composed of (see figure 4) a main module (41) that receives the data from the processing stage (3) and translates it into data communication frames, a transmission bus of data and synchronization (42) to send the maneuver orders of the valves throughout the control system, and secondary control modules (43) distributed along the valve battery and physically responsible for activating or deactivating of the valves based on the data received through the communication bus (42) in a perfectly synchronized manner.

The usual operation of the electronic control system guarantees a perfectly synchronized operation on all the valves of the installation by means of a cyclic "presentation-update" process as indicated below (see figure 5).

During the presentation stage (see figure 5A) the main module (41) sends the valve activation information (45) to the secondary modules (43) through the data transmission bus (42). Each secondary module stores the information (45) corresponding to its valves and discards the rest. At this stage, the valves do not vary their current activation status.

During the update stage (see figure 5B), the activation or deactivation of each valve of the system takes place depending on the value stored in the previous stage. This update of the state of the valves occurs simultaneously for all the valves of the system by means of a synchronization signal included in the transmission and synchronization bus (42). Figure 6 shows in detail the internal structure of a secondary control module (43), consisting of a data socket or input bus (431), through which the data lines (432) and synchronization ( 433) from the previous control module, a storage or retention circuit (434) of the data corresponding to the valves (6) governed by the module and used during the presentation period, an action stage on the valves (435) controlled by the signal of the synchronization line (433) of the bus, a data output line (436) and a data socket or output bus (437) to send data and synchronization to the next module of the cascade connection. The electronic control system described meets the requirements of modularity and simultaneous control of all water curtain valves and their modules can be implemented with conventional digital circuits (microcontrollers, memories, buffers, transceivers, etc.).

The communication bus (431) can be implemented using synchronous serial communication protocols (I2C, SPI, etc.) or asynchronous (RS-232, RS-485, etc.).

The data recording or retention stage during the presentation stage (434) is implemented by means of bistable memories or circuits.

The actuation stage on the valves (435) can be implemented by flip-flops and solid-state relays (MOSFET transistors operating in switching). In addition, this stage may incorporate optocouplers or phototransistors to electrically isolate it from the module control circuitry.

Claims

The inventor requests the exclusive ownership and exploitation rights of the invention described by the following claims:

Any installation composed of an electronic system that allows the capture, digitization, reproduction and processing of signals (understood as a signal to any physical magnitude, process or variable variable in time or space, whose variations can be represented graphically), in combination with a hydraulic system composed in part by a set of fast-acting valves arranged in a row that allow to generate a surface or curtain of liquid in fall, so that the electronic part analyzes and processes the captured or reproduced signal and as a result of such processing, it activates the valves, opening them and closing them so that the waveform of the signal processed in the path of liquid fall is visualized, being understood as a waveform to the graphic representation of the variations of the captured or reproduced signal.

.Any installation as described in the first claim which, as a result of the analysis and processing of the captured or reproduced signal, operates the valves, opening and closing them so that the representation is displayed, in the path of the curtain liquid falling, the representation graph of the upper and lower envelopes of the waveform of the captured or reproduced signal, or the waveform or envelopes of the signal resulting from altering the captured or reproduced signal by any type of procedure, such as filtering, convolutions, analysis spectral, compressions and / or amplitude expansions, etc.

Any installation such as those described in claims 1 and 2, which allows storing the information resulting from the processing of the captured or reproduced signal, to subsequently retrieve said information and use it to act on the valves in the ways described in claims 1 and 2 .

An electronic valve control system as indicated in point 4 of the description of the invention, consisting of a master module, a data bus, several slave modules of the first, configured so that the slave modules are cascaded with the master through the data bus and operating through the repetitive execution of the process of "presentation- update ", which is that the master module first sends the valve activation / deactivation information to the slave modules via the data bus and then activates a synchronization signal so that all the secondary modules simultaneously update the state of your valves.

A control system as described in claim 4 that allows to increase or reduce the number of controllable valves by adding or removing slave modules to the cascade connection, so that an indefinite number of valves can be controlled.