waterspeakersOver the course of winter break, I acquired the gift of water speakers. These are a growing cool but cute 8 inch speakers system that pulsates water upward to the beat of a song. Installed with LED lights, these speakers can be a cool kick to any small dorm party. With a passion in music and engineering, I continued to search the web for water speakers that fit my needs. Unfortunately, no water speakers have been created past this 8 inch tall model. These $15 speakers broke within the first week. Taking the opportunity, I took them apart to understand how these new hip speakers operate.

Curiosity killed the speaker in this situation. Dismantling the system completely, I fully understand how the engineers made this product come to life. Incased in the plasic, water mixed with plant oil, is pulsed into the air to the beat of the music. It quickly falls and disappears near the edges of the sheet of plastic  and underneath to the speaker area. Underneath the visible product, the engineers created the water system by having a cogwheel spin at high speeds to force the water through a tunnel and up into the visible surface. The water is distributed evenly between the 4 openings directly above the LED lights. After being shot out, it will fall back underneath the surface to be recycled.  With the LED lights directly underneath the openings, it creates an illusion that the water is colored. To protect from any water leakage, the cogwheel is incased in the plastic inside the water system. To make motion, the cogwheel has magnets on the bottom of the 6 teeth. Powering the cogwheel is the motor on the opposite side of the plastic(dry area), connected to a disk in line with 6 other magnetics. The magnetic force allows the cogwheel to spin without direct contact by the magnets. Additionally, when the speakers are turned on, the attraction is increased due to current. With a stronger force, the slippage between magnets is negligible proving an efficient system.

My vision is to take this concept to the next level. I would like to make these cute small speakers into a setting similar to fraternity or apartment parties. With the sound ability similar to a living room sound system, these water speakers will be bigger and badder. The water would max 36 inches high rather than 8 inches. To compensate for the additional height, the structure must be slightly tilted to the angle of diffraction, so that the water falling won’t interfere with the water rising. Also, the water would pulsate to the frequency coming out rather than 4 openings pulsating simultaneously. By having 5 separate cogwheels, each moving independently; the effect would bring much more attraction. As with more height, more water would be required; also increasing the load and stress on the cogwheels. To keep the efficiency to the same level, stronger magnets and current would be needed as well as larger cogwheels. Since living room sound systems require more voltage to begin with, energy consumption wouldn’t be an issue. The current design is plugged into a laptop to correct for the amount of voltage and energy required. With all these changes applied to the original design, I would hope that it would not interfere with any patents. Please give me tips and feedback about this idea.

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