Reverse Engineering

By: Lydia Maxon, Hannah Persky, and Olivia Matheson

Our Object: Portable Speaker
Function: play music and produce
colored light
Purpose + Hypothesis
● Learn about different parts of speaker
● How parts function separately
● How parts work together

Hypothesis:

We predict that when an audio cord is plugged into the object, an electrical signal
is carried through the printed circuit board to the speaker where sound is created.
Functional Analysis
1. Audio cord plugged in → electrical signal sent to PCB

2. Signal carried throughout the PCB and deciphered

3. Carried through electric cables to top half of the speaker

4. Voice coil carries the signal → creates a temporary electromagnet that

attracts or repels the field magnet as electricity flows back and forth

5. Voice coil moves back and forth → pushes against the cone → cone vibrates

6. Emits sound waves at various frequencies, producing music

Functional Analysis Cont’
1. LED in the speaker turned on by a switch

2. Switch off = circuit incomplete

3. Switch on = closed circuit that allows for an electric current to flow from the

battery through the wires

4. Battery (energy source) provides voltage and the wires act as the conductor

5. Electricity flows through LED → produces light

Functional Analysis Cont’
1. Charger cord is plugged in → a constant source of voltage is pumped through

the battery.

2. Battery stores this electricity and uses it when the speaker is turned on and

the audio cord is plugged in

Flow of Energy - speaker
Electrical Signal

Printed Circuit Board

Electrical current
Copper Wires
Electrical current
Voice Coil
Magnetic pull due to current

Electromagnet
Vibrations at different frequencies

Cone

Sound
Materials - Speaker
❏ Frame: plastic because it is a durable and cheap material, supports the cone and

permanent magnet

❏ Field magnet: ceramic ferrite material that is made up of iron oxide, strontium,

and a ceramic binder

❏ Voice coil: a plastic cone with fine gauge insulated copper wire wound around it

❏ Cone: treated paper coated in an adhesive glue, vibrates and produces sound
Materials - Circuit Board
❏ Substrate: insulating board with paper reinforced phenolic resin with a

bonded copper foil on both sides

❏ Materials are commonly used in household electrical items because they

are less expensive

❏ Printed circuits: etched into the substrate, made of copper, and coated in

tin-lead to prevent oxidation

❏ Copper = conductive
Materials - Circuit Board
❏ Resistors: metal with a thin film of conductive (yet resistant) material inside, limit the flow of

electrons through a circuit and divide voltages

❏ Capacitors: harbour electrical charge, two metal plates and an insulating material called a

dielectric

❏ Dielectric: insulating material such as paper, glass, plastic, or rubber

❏ Diodes: allow current to flow in one direction by blocking the other

❏ Integrated circuit: brain of the PCB, complex layering of semiconductor wafers and copper

❏ interconnect to form transistors, resistors or other components in a circuit

❏ combination of the wafers is called a die, which is packaged into a small chip
Light Emitting Diode (LED)
● Diodes designed to give off light

● Give off less heat

● Use less power -- more efficient

● Create light by electroluminescence in a

semiconductor material
LED Cont’
● Electroluminescence: material emitting light when electric current passed through it +
fills electron holes
● Electron hole exists where an atom lacks electrons (negatively charged) - therefore has
a positive charge
● Doping: create and control the number of electron holes by adding other elements to
change properties - can make two separate types of semiconductors in one
● p-n junction: boundary between the two types - only allows current to pass through it
one way (diodes!)
● Electrons pass through one crystal to the other they fill electron holes → emit photons
(light)
Resistor

● Limits current through LED - right

amount
● Prevents LED from burning out
Battery
● two electrodes (anode (-) + cathode(+) ) and an electrolyte (chemical - dry
powder) in between them
○ packed inside a metal or plastic outer case for safety and convenience
● Two electrical terminals marked with a plus (positive) and minus (negative) on
outside connected to the electrodes that are inside
● Connect a battery's two electrodes into a circuit → electrolyte starts buzzing with
activity
● Chemicals inside it are converted into other substances
● Ions (atoms with too few or too many electrons) formed from materials in the
electrodes and take part in chemical reactions with the electrolyte
Battery Cont’
● Electrons go from one terminal to the other
through the outer circuit, powering whatever the
battery is connected to
● Process continues until the electrolyte is
completely transformed -- ions stop moving
through the electrolyte, the electrons stop flowing
through the circuit, and the battery is dead
● Recharge battery by passing a current though in
the opposite direction
Email to Company
Hello X-Mini Company,

I am a student at San Marin High School. We are doing a project where we need to
disassemble an object and then research it. The object my group and I took apart
was your X-Mini II speaker. I understand that you no longer make this product, but I
was wondering what type of metals and plastics you used. Thank you for your time
and help!

Best,

San Marin Students

Structure: Whole Object
Structure: Apart
Structure: Inside of Top and Bottom
Structure: PCB
Structure: PCB
Structure:
Schematic Typical circuit of portable speaker
Manufacturing Analysis
● Speaker’s permanent magnet is made by combining iron oxide and strontium,

grinding the substance into a fine powder

● Powder is mixed with a ceramic binder and closed in a metal die, put in a

furnace- mixture is bonded together

● Frame built from a plastic sheet that is transported into a machine-cuts holes

in the top and sides with a hydraulic press

Manufacturing Analysis Cont’
● Desired shape by the the hydraulic press

● Cone is made out of composite paper that is glued together

● Voice coil is constructed from multiple wires insulated with copper wound

together on a plastic bobbin then glued to the cone

● The permanent magnet and frame are bolted together

Manufacturing Analysis Cont’
● Cone is attached to the top of the frame with glue

● Printed circuit board and light make up the second half of the object

● The PCB is placed in the bottom part of the frame, secured with screws

● A plastic accordian is placed in between the two halves- protects the wires

running from the PCB to the voice coil

Conclusion
● Hypothesis was correct
○ An electrical signal is carried through the printed circuit board to the
speaker where sound is created when an audio cord is plugged in
● Object Redesign:
○ Battery with higher voltage
○ Wouldn’t have to charge as frequently
Works Cited
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-7/Stereo-Speaker.html https://www.pcbtrain.co.uk/blog/the-basics-of-printed-circuit-b

oards-design-components-and-construction
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Printed-Circuit-Board.ht

ml https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/integrated-circuits

http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=54 https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/capacitors

https://www.explainthatstuff.com/loudspeakers.html https://www.explainthatstuff.com/diodes.html

https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/pcb-basics https://www.explainthatstuff.com/batteries.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battery_charger#Simple_charger http://www.resistorguide.com/resistor-for-led/

s
http://www.edisontechcenter.org/LED.html
Thank You!