JPH0722818Y2 - Illuminated membrane switch - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION "Industrial application field" The present invention relates to an illuminated membrane switch for use in equipment used in places where direct illumination of light is prohibited at night, such as in the wheelhouse of a ship.

"Prior Art" In a membrane switch, as is well known, two insulating sheets are joined via an insulating spacer, and these two insulating sheets are arranged facing each other with a gap of the thickness of the insulating spacer being maintained.
Electrodes are adhered and formed on the surfaces of the opposing insulating sheets, and a contact signal is transmitted by bringing the electrodes into contact with each other by a pressing operation.

In order to use the membrane switch with such a structure in a dark place, that is, when the light source is arranged on the inside, that is, on the back side, the pressing operation part is illuminated by the light of the light source, and the function of the pressing operation part is displayed, , The electrodes must be transparent.
However, it is desirable to avoid the use of transparent electrodes if possible due to the reasons that they are expensive and that there is a problem with durability for long-term use.

Therefore, as a structure for illuminating using the opaque conductive layer, each operation unit 10 is divided into a function display unit 11 showing a function and a switch pressing operation unit 12 as shown in FIG. A structure is conceivable in which an electrode is provided in the portion of the pressing operation portion 12 of the switch without providing an electrode in that portion.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] In the illuminated membrane switch having the structure shown in FIG. 6, the positions of the function display section 11 and the pressing operation section 12 do not match,
It has the drawback of poor operability. That is, when operating in a dark place, it is common to press the function display unit 11 illuminated by light. For this reason, even if you intend to operate the switch,
Actually, it happens that the switch is not operated. Especially when displaying the symbol mark specified by the IMCO standard (intergovernmental maritime council) shown in FIG.
Since the operator pays attention to the symbol mark, the operator tends to push only the symbol mark portion.

Therefore, in the switch shown in FIG. 6, when the function display is a symbol mark, it should have been operated, but it is likely that the switch is not actually operated.

Similarly, when the structure shown in FIG.
There is also a drawback that the area of the operation unit 10 becomes large because the switch 11 and the switch pressing operation unit 12 are separately arranged. In particular, when the symbol mark shown in FIG. 7 is used, the shape of the symbol mark is specified by the IMCO standard to be 9 mm or more in diameter. For this reason, the area of the function display unit 11 cannot be reduced, and the area of the operation unit 10 increases, which impedes downsizing of the device.

An object of the present invention is to propose a structure of a membrane switch capable of illuminating the symbol mark by drawing a symbol mark on the entire push button portion while using a non-light-transmitting electrode material.

"Means for Solving the Problem" In the present invention, a symbol mark is drawn as a light-transmissive portion at a position where a pressing operation is to be performed, and a top sheet having a plurality of push button portions formed by displaying these symbol marks; Electrodes attached to the back surface of the sheet and selected in a shape avoiding the position of the light-transmissive portion are formed inside the symbol mark drawn on the push button on the facing surfaces of the flexible transparent sheets facing each other. , A membrane sheet for transmitting a contact signal when electrodes are contacted by being pressed through the top sheet, and a transparent support plate which is attached to the back side of the membrane sheet and supports the membrane sheet and the top sheet on a flat surface. And a light source that is arranged behind this transparent support plate and provides light to the light transmission part of the top sheet through the transparent support plate and the membrane sheet. Is obtained by configuring the membrane switch me.

[Operation] According to the configuration of the present invention, since the electrode is formed inside the symbol mark or the character, the symbol mark can be drawn over the entire pressing operation portion.

Therefore, according to the illumination type membrane switch of the present invention, the positions of the function display portion and the pressing operation portion can be matched with each other, so that the switch is always operated when the portion where the function is displayed is pressed. Therefore, despite the operation, there is no inconvenience of not being operated.

Since the entire area of the pressing operation section can be used as the function display section, the area of the pressing operation section can be reduced.

In addition, the structure is simple because the top sheet, the membrane sheet, and the supporting plate made of a transparent plate may be joined together. Therefore, there is an advantage that it can be manufactured at low cost.

"Embodiment" FIGS. 1 to 5 show an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 shows an implementation structure of a pressing operation portion drawn on a top sheet of an illuminated membrane switch according to the present invention.

That is, reference numeral 100 in the figure indicates the membrane switch portion according to the present invention. Reference numeral 200 denotes a portion to which a rotary shaft type operation device (for example, potentiometer, rotary switch, etc.) is attached and operated. That is, 201 is a through shaft hole of the rotary shaft type actuator, 2
Reference numeral 02 denotes a function display portion of each rotary axis type operation device. The function display unit 202 is also configured to illuminate with light from a light source provided on the back surface.

The featured structure of this device is the membrane switch unit 100.
In the above, in the function display unit 10 formed of a symbol mark or a character on substantially the entire area of each pressing operation unit 102 drawn on the top sheet 101.
In the function display portion 103 for drawing 3, the display line portion is, for example, a white light-transmitting portion, and the other portions are light-opaque.

In this invention, the electrodes constituting the membrane switch are formed so as to oppose the light opaque portion.

FIG. 2 shows an example thereof. The shaded portions in FIG. 2 indicate the electrodes 104 and 105. That is, 106A and 106B shown in FIG. 2 are transparent flexible sheets, and the transparent flexible sheets 106A and 1
On one surface of 06B, for example, a plurality of strip-shaped electrodes 104 and 105 containing silver and carbon as main components are formed. Transparent flexible sheet 1
The electrodes 104 and 105 formed on 06A and 106B are selected such that the longitudinal directions of the strips are orthogonal to each other, and a contact signal indicating the pressing operation position is transmitted by a so-called matrix method. The electrodes 104 and 105 formed of the silver / carbon conductive paint are impermeable to light. For this reason topsheet 1
The electrodes 104 and 105 having the same shape as the light transmitting portion of the function display portion 103 drawn in 01 are removed, and the top sheet 101 is attached to the electrodes 104 and 105.
A light transmitting portion having the same shape as the light transmitting portion of the function display portion 103 depicted in FIG.

The transparent flexible sheets 106A and 106B shown in FIG.
They are connected by 107B, and these portions 107A and 107B are folded back along the line AA so that the formation surfaces of the electrodes 104 and 105 face each other. The insulating spacer 108 shown in FIG. 3 is sandwiched between the transparent flexible sheets 106A and 106B.

The insulating spacer 108 is formed of a transparent plate having a larger thickness than the transparent flexible sheets 106A and 106B, and the portion of the through hole 109 is the electrode 10.
Transparent flexible sheets 106A and 106B are joined to both sides of the portion where the formation of 4,105 is opposed.

4 and 5 show a state in which the top sheet 101, the membrane sheet 121, and the transparent support plate 122 made of a transparent plate are laminated and combined. That is, the membrane sheet 121 is attached to the lower surface of the top sheet 101. This membrane sheet 1
Reference numeral 21 designates a structure in which the insulating spacer 108 is sandwiched between the transparent flexible sheets 106A and 106B described above to be united.

A support plate 122 for supporting the membrane sheet 121 and the top sheet 101 on a flat surface is attached to the lower surface of the membrane sheet 121.

As the support plate 122, for example, a transparent plate having high transparency such as an acrylic resin plate is used.

A light source 123 is arranged behind the transparent support plate 122. This light source
123 is supported by the printed circuit board 124, and the light emitted from the light source 123 is supported by the support plate 122 and the membrane sheet 121 as much as possible.
Is transmitted almost vertically.

[Modified Example]

This invention can be modified and implemented as follows.

(1) The membrane switch shown in FIG. 2 is formed by mixing the structure described above and the conventional structure shown in FIG. 6 so that they can be used properly according to the intended use.

(2) The illumination light source 123 of FIG. 4 is not arranged on the back side, but a part of the support plate 122 is hollowed out or arranged on the side surface side of the support indicating plate 122, and the rear surface of the support plate 122 or Light is emitted to the display surface side by providing a scattering reflection portion inside the support plate 122.

(3) The shape of the light-transmitting portion of the electrode 104 and the shape of the light-transmitting portion of the electrode 105 shown in FIG. 2 are made slightly different from each other so that the transmission of light and the pressure contact of the electrode are improved.

[Effect of Device] As described above, according to this device, the light emitted from the light source 123 passes through the support plate 122 and the membrane sheet 121,
The back surface of the top sheet 101 is illuminated.

Light-transmitting portions having the same shape as the light-transmitting portions of the functional display portion 103 drawn on the topsheet 101 are formed on the electrodes 104 and 105 formed in a strip shape on the membrane sheet 121, so that light is transmitted to the functional display portion 103 of the topsheet 101. Symbol marks or letters that are transparent and indicate functions can be illuminated with light.

Since the rest of the electrodes 104 and 105 are left in a negative and positive relationship with respect to the light transmitting portion such as the symbol mark, the electrodes are formed inside the symbol mark and in the vicinity of the character in the case of the character. Therefore, if the transparent flexible sheet forming the membrane sheet 121 is pressed by applying a pressing force to the membrane sheet 121 through the top sheet 101, the electrode 1
04 and 105 are always in contact.

Therefore, the portion where the function display portion 103 is drawn is illuminated with light,
When this part is pressed, the electrodes always come into contact and the switch is operated. Therefore, the pressing operation and the operation of the switch can be surely made to correspond to each other, and the illumination type membrane switch having good operability can be provided.

Further, since the function display unit 103 can be drawn on the entire pressing operation unit 102, even when the IMCO standard symbol mark is used as a function display, the shape of the symbol mark can be extremely reduced even if the area of the pressing operation unit 102 is selected to be small. It doesn't get smaller. Therefore, it is possible to provide an illuminated membrane switch in which the display of the operation unit is large and easy to see.

In this invention, the transparent flexible sheets 106A facing each other are also provided.
And the strip-shaped electrodes 104 and 105 formed on 106B are formed in directions orthogonal to each other, and the contact signal representing the pressing operation position is transmitted by a so-called matrix method,
There is also an advantage that a large number of pressing operation portions can be easily provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a surface portion of a top sheet of a lighting type membrane switch according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view for explaining a structure of electrodes formed on a flexible sheet, and FIG. 3 is an insulating spacer. 4 is a plan view for explaining the structure of FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a sectional view for explaining the entire laminated structure according to the present invention, FIG. 5 is its enlarged sectional view, and FIG. 6 is for explaining a conventional technique. The plan view and FIG. 7 are diagrams for explaining the symbols of the IMCO standard. 100: Membrane switch part, 101: Top sheet, 102: Push operation part, 103: Function display part, 104, 105: Electrodes, 106A, 106B:
Flexible sheet, 108: Insulating spacer, 109: Hole

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An insulating spacer having through holes formed in a predetermined arrangement for constituting a pressing operation portion, and a transparent flexible member having folded and opposed surfaces laminated on both surfaces of the insulating spacer. The sheet and a plurality of light-impermeable first sheets formed on one surface of the transparent flexible sheet facing each other and in parallel with each other along the arrangement of the holes formed in the insulating spacer in a strip shape. One electrode and a plurality of strips formed on the other surface of the transparent flexible sheet that opposes each other along the arrangement of the holes formed in the insulating spacer in the direction orthogonal to the first electrode. In a membrane switch including a light-impermeable second electrode, a. The function of each pressing operation unit is displayed at a position facing the hole formed in the insulating spacer of the first electrode and the second electrode. Symbol to do A light-transmissive portion formed by removing the first electrode and the second electrode in the shape of a mark, a letter, or the like; b. A supporting plate composed of a transparent plate for supporting the sheet in a planar shape, and c. A light-transmitting part which is the same as the light-transmitting part formed on each of the electrodes laminated on the other outer surface of the transparent flexible sheet. And a top sheet having a function display section displaying a symbol mark, a character, etc. indicating a function by the light transmitting section, and d. Irradiating each through hole of the insulating spacer with light from the back surface of the supporting plate. Illuminated membrane switch composed of a light source.