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Various inventive features are disclosed for efficiently generating regulation-compliant audible alerts, including but not limited to 520 Hz square wave alert/alarm signals, using an audio speaker. One such feature involves the use of a non-linear amplifier in combination with a voltage boost regula

Various inventive features are disclosed for efficiently generating regulation-compliant audible alerts, including but not limited to 520 Hz square wave alert/alarm signals, using an audio speaker. One such feature involves the use of a non-linear amplifier in combination with a voltage boost regulator to efficiently drive the audio speaker. Another feature involves speaker enclosure designs that effectively boost the output of the audio speaker, particularly at relatively low frequencies. These and other features may be used individually or combination in a given alarm-generation device or system to enable regulation-compliant audible alerts to be generated using conventional batteries, such as AA alkaline batteries. Various examples of efficiently generated regulation-compliant audible alerts and further enhancing such audible alerts by utilizing speaker enclosure designs are provided.

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1. A alarm device, comprising: a detection device configured to detect an alarm condition;a voltage boost regulator, said voltage boost regulator configured to generate a boosted DC power signal by boosting a DC input voltage from a battery source, said boosted DC power signal having at least a thre

1. A alarm device, comprising: a detection device configured to detect an alarm condition;a voltage boost regulator, said voltage boost regulator configured to generate a boosted DC power signal by boosting a DC input voltage from a battery source, said boosted DC power signal having at least a threshold DC voltage associated with a threshold sound intensity;a non-linear amplifier configured to amplify a signal, said non-liner amplifier powered by the boosted DC power signal generated by the voltage boost regulator;signal processing circuitry that is configured to receive an alarm condition detection signal from the detection device and in response to the signal, generate an output signal to the non-linear amplifier such that the non-liner amplifier generates an amplified output signal; anda speaker that is configured to receive the amplified output signal from the non-linear amplifier and output an audible alert signal, said speaker comprising a diaphragm driven by a coil. 2. The alarm device of claim 1 wherein the output signal generated by the signal processing circuitry is substantially a square wave with a frequency of approximately 520 Hz. 3. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the voltage boost regulator regulates a degree of DC voltage boost such that an intensity of the audible alert signal is maintained at a level of at least 85 dBA as measured at 10 feet from the alarm device. 4. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the signal processing circuitry comprises a microprocessor. 5. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the voltage boost regulator is configured to boost a DC voltage from two AA batteries to approximately 5.5 volts. 6. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the alarm condition is the presence of smoke or carbon monoxide. 7. The alarm device of claim 1, further comprising a speaker enclosure structure to which the speaker is mounted, said speaker enclosure structure comprising a cylindrical, tubular section that is sealed at one end with a substantially flat rear wall. 8. The alarm device of claim 7 wherein the threshold voltage is approximately 5.5 V. 9. The alarm device of claim 7 wherein the threshold voltage is approximately 9 V. 10. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the battery source consists of two AA batteries. 11. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the battery source consists of four AA batteries. 12. The alarm device of claim 1 wherein the speaker has a diameter in the range of 2.5 to 3 inches. 13. The alarm device of claim 1 wherein the speaker has a diameter of approximately 2.5 inches. 14. The alarm device of claim 1 wherein the speaker has a diameter of approximately 3 inches. 15. The alarm device of claim 1 wherein the speaker has a diameter of approximately 4 inches. 16. The alarm device of claim 1 further comprising an enclosure structure that is attached to the speaker to form a sealed speaker enclosure. 17. The alarm device of claim 1 wherein the non-linear amplifier is a Class D audio amplifier. 18. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the speaker is mounted to a speaker enclosure to form a speaker assembly, said speaker assembly having a fundamental resonance frequency in the range of 400 to 700 Hz. 19. The alarm device of claim 18, wherein the output signal supplied to the non-linear amplifier has a fundamental frequency in said range of 400 to 700 Hz. 20. The alarm device of claim 19, wherein the output signal is a square wave signal. 21. The alarm device of claim 18, wherein the audible alert signal resulting from the speaker assembly has a boosted intensity at the fundamental frequency, said boosted intensity resulting at least partly from a transfer of energy from one or more harmonics of the amplified output signal to a fundamental frequency of the amplified output signal. 22. The alarm device of claim 1, wherein the alarm condition comprises an audio signal from a separate alarm device, and the detection device is configured to detect the audio signal from the separate alarm device. 23. The alarm device of, claim 1, wherein the amplified output signal has a fundamental frequency in the range of 400 to 700 HZ and multiple harmonics, and the speaker is coupled to a speaker enclosure to form a sealed speaker enclosure assembly, said sealed speaker enclosure assembly configured to transfer energy downward in frequency from at least one of said harmonics to the fundamental frequency. 24. An alarm device, comprising: a detection device configured to detect an alarm condition;a voltage boosted regulator configured to convert a DC input voltage from a battery source to a DC output voltage that is higher than the DC input voltage;circuitry configured to generate an audio alarm signal in response to the detection device detecting an alarm condition, said audio alarm signal having a fundamental frequency in the range of 400 to 700 Hz and having multiple harmonics;a non-liner amplifier configured to receive and amplify the audio alarm signal, said non-liner amplifier powered by the DC output voltage from the voltage boost regulator; andan audio speaker coupled to the nonlinear amplifier such that the audio speaker converts the amplified alarm signal into corresponding sound waves, said audio speaker having a diaphragm that is driven by a coil. 25. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the voltage boost regulator is configured to regulate a degree of DC voltage boost such that on intensity of the sound waves is maintained at a level of at least 85 dBA as measured at 10 feet from the alarm device. 26. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the voltage boost regulator is configured to boost a DC voltage from two AA batteries to approximately 5.5 volts. 27. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the audio speaker is mounted to a sealed speaker enclosure structure that is configured to boost an audio output at said fundamental frequency. 28. The alarm device of claim 27, wherein the sealed speaker enclosure structure comprises a cylindrical, tubular section that is sealed at one end with a substantially flat rear wall. 29. The alarm device of claim 27, wherein the sealed speaker enclosure structure is configured to boost said audio output, at least in part, by transferring energy downward in frequency from at least one of said harmonics to the fundamental frequency. 30. The alarm device of claim 27, wherein the audio speaker and sealed speaker enclosure structure collectively have a resonance frequency in said range of 400 to 700 Hz, said resonance frequency being dependent upon dimensions of the sealed speaker enclosure structure. 31. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the audio speaker has a diameter of approximately three inches. 32. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the fundamental frequency of the audio alarm signal is approximately 520 Hz. 33. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the audio alarm signal is approximately a square wave signal. 34. The alarm device of claim 24, wherein the non-liner amplifier is a Class D audio amplifier. 35. The alarm device of claim 24, further comprising a circuit that controls the voltage boost regulator.