AU2017279754A1

AU2017279754A1 - Push-button switch

Info

Publication number: AU2017279754A1
Application number: AU2017279754A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Dahai Zhang
Original assignee: Schneider Electric Australia Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Schneider Electric Australia Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2016-12-30
Filing date: 2017-12-21
Publication date: 2018-07-19
Anticipated expiration: 2037-12-21
Also published as: CN206639730U; ZA201708741B; AU2017279754B2

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a push-button switch, including: a push button; an executing means accommodated in a cavity of the push button and configured to move in responding to pushing of the push button; a transmission means including a rotating shaft and pivotably connected to the push button through the rotating shaft, the rotating shaft be provided with at least two functional parts in such a way that when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the functional part corresponding to the pivoting direction is activated; and a rocker pivotably mounted to a housing of the push-button switch (100) and configured to pivot under driving of the executing means, to drive a moving contact to pivot through the pivoting of the rocker, so as to contact or to be separated from a fixed contact. Fig. 2B

Description

PUSH-BUTTON SWITCH

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The Embodiments of the present invention relates to a push-button switch. BACKGROUND

[0002] Currently, in a transmission apparatus generally used for a push-button switch in the market, a transmission means usually rotates around a rotating shaft. Fig. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a push-button switch. In Fig. 1, the transmission means rotates around the rotating shaft. When an angle a of the transmission means is greater than or equal to an angle b of a rocker, a self-locking phenomenon occurs.

That is, a sliding part stops sliding along a slope of the rocker or slides in a direction opposite to its initial direction of sliding on the slope of the rocker, thus affecting a normal use of the push-button switch of the switch.

SUMMARY

[0003] Embodiments of the present disclosure are intended to at least in part solve the above problems.

[0004] The present disclosure provides a push-button switch, comprising: a push button; an executing means accommodated in a cavity of the push button and configured to move in responding to pushing of the push button; a transmission means comprising a rotating shaft and pivotably connected to the push button through the rotating shaft, the rotating shaft being provided with at least two functional parts in such a way that when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the functional part corresponding to the pivoting direction is activated; and a rocker pivotably mounted to a housing of the push-button switch and configured to pivot under driving of the executing means, to drive a moving contact to pivot through the pivoting of the rocker, so as to contact or to be separated from a fixed contact.

[0005] With the push-button switch according to embodiments of the present disclosure, since the rotating shaft is provided with the at least two functional parts, when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the functional part corresponding to the pivoting direction can be activated, so as to increase a pivoting angle of the transmission means and avoid a self-locking phenomenon, thus ensuring a normal operation of the push-button switch.

[0006] In some embodiments, the push button is provided with an opening having a shaft-hole fit with the rotating shaft, and when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the at least two different portions of the rotating shaft contact the opening to form a pivot centre of the rotating shaft, and the two different portions are configured as the two functional parts.

[0007] In some embodiments, the rotating shaft has a polygon contour, the opening has a polygon shape configured to be fitted with the polygon contour, and when the transmission means pivots in different directions, at least one edge of the polygon shape of the opening is fitted with at least one edge of the polygon contour of the rotating shaft.

[0008] In some embodiments, a top surface of the executing means is provided with an indication portion configured to indicate on and off states of the push-button switch.

[0009] In some embodiments, the transmission means is engaged with the executing means, so that the transmission means is configured to drive the executing means to move when the transmission means pivots, so as to expose the indication portion at a display window of the push button.

[0010] In some embodiments, the push button is provided with a sliding rail, and the executing means is slidably mounted to the sliding rail.

[0011] In some embodiments, a top surface of the transmission means is configured as an arc-shaped surface contributing to pivoting of the transmission means.

[0012] In some embodiments, the transmission means includes an accommodating cavity, an elastic part accommodated in the accommodating cavity and a sliding part, an end of the sliding part is engaged with the elastic part, another end of the sliding part abuts against the rocker, and the sliding part is configured to enter or exit out of the accommodating cavity in responding to the pivoting of the rocker.

[0013] In some embodiments, the rocker includes a slant guiding surface, and when the executing means drives the rocker to pivot, the sliding part moves along the slant guiding surface.

[0014] The present disclosure also provides a socket, including the above push-button switch for controlling power-on and power-off of the socket.

[0015]

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF DRAWINGS

[0016] The features and advantages of the present disclosure will be easily understood from descriptions of example embodiments in the drawings, in which: [0017] Fig. 1 shows a cross-sectional view of a push-button switch; [0018] Fig. 2A shows a cross-sectional view of a push-button switch according to embodiments of the present disclosure; [0019] Fig. 2B shows a perspective structural view of a push-button switch according to embodiments of the present disclosure; [0020] Fig. 3 shows a structural view of a bottom of an executing means according to embodiments of the present disclosure; [0021] Fig. 4 shows a perspective structural view of a rocker according to embodiments of the present disclosure; [0022] Fig. 5 shows a structural view of a bottom of a push button according to embodiments of the present disclosure; [0023] Fig. 6 shows a side view of an engaging structure of a push button, an executing means and a transmission means according to embodiments of the present disclosure; [0024] Fig. 7 A shows a relationship of rotating angles of various parts in a direction; [0025] Fig. 7B shows a relationship of rotating angles of various parts in another direction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS

[0026] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example Embodiments. It will be understood that these embodiments are described solely to illustrate the present disclosure and assist those skilled in the art in understanding and carrying out the disclosure, but are not intended to suggest any limitation to the scope of the present disclosure. The present disclosure described herein may be implemented in various ways other than the ways described below.

[0027] As used herein, the term “including/comprising” and its various variants may be understood as open-ended terms, which means “including/comprising but not limited to”. The term “based on” may be understood as “at least partially based on”. The term “an embodiment” may be understood as “at least one embodiment”. The term “another embodiment” may be understood as “at least one other embodiment”.

[0028] Fig. 2A shows a cross-sectional view of a push-button switch 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure, and Fig. 2B shows a perspective structural view of a push-button switch 100 according to the embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 2A and Fig. 2B, the push-button switch 100, includes: a push button 1; an executing means 2 accommodated in a cavity of the push button 1 and configured to move in responding to pushing of the push button 1; a transmission means 3 including a rotating shaft 31 and pivotably connected to the push button 1 through the rotating shaft 31, the rotating shaft 31 being provided with two functional parts 310 in such a way that when the transmission means 3 pivots in different directions, the functional part 310 corresponding to the pivoting direction is activated; and a rocker 4 pivotably mounted to a housing of the push-button switch 100 and configured to pivot under driving of the executing means 2, to drive a moving contact 5 to pivot through the pivoting of the rocker 4, so as to contact or to be separated from a fixed contact 6. The push-button switch 100 is on, when the moving contact 5 contacts the fixed contact 6, and the push-button switch 100 is off, when the moving contact 5 is separated from the fixed contact 6.

[0029] Fig. 3 shows a structural view of a bottom of the executing means 2 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, the executing means 2 is provided with an engaging portion 21 and a driving portion 22 at the bottom thereof, the executing means 2 is coupled to the transmission means 3 based on the engaging portion 21 and the connecting means 35 of the transmission means 3. The driving portion 22 is configured to drive the rocker 4 to pivot in a plane parallel to a pushing direction of the push button 1.

[0030] Fig. 4 shows a perspective structural view of the rocker 4 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 4, the rocker 4 is provided with a driven portion 41 and a rotation shaft 42, and the driven portion 41 responses to the driving of the driving portion 22 of the executing means 2, so as to drive the rocker 4 to pivot around the rotation shaft 42 in the plane parallel to the pushing direction.

[0031] The transmission means 3 includes an accommodating cavity 32, an elastic part 33 accommodated in the accommodating cavity and a sliding part 34. An end of the sliding part 34 engages the elastic part 33, and another end of the sliding part 34 abuts against the rocker 4. The sliding part 34 is configured to enter or exit out of the accommodating cavity 32 in response to the pivoting of the rocker 4.

[0032] It should be noted that an end of the sliding part 34 can be accommodated in the accommodating cavity 32 through the elastic part 33 (like a spring), and another end of the sliding part 34 can smoothly slide at a slope of the rocker 4. As shown in Fig. 1, the sliding part may be a bullet-shaped part, but the sliding part may have other shapes. For example, the end of the sliding part 34 abutting against the rocker 4 may be a slidable part, such as a spherical part or the like. The specific shape of the sliding part 34 is not limited in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0033] When the push button 1 is pushed down, the executing means 2 moves along the same direction with the pushing direction in response to the pushing of the push button 1, and pushes an end of the rocker 4, and the rocker 4 pivots in response to the driving of the executing means 2, so that the sliding part 34 slides along the slope of the rocker 4. When the push button 1 is released, the sliding part 34 slides along the slope of the rocker 4 to drive the transmission means 3 to pivot in the plane parallel to the pushing direction, and an elastic force of the elastic part 33 and the pivoting of the transmission means 3 drive the executing means 2 to move in a plane perpendicular to the pushing direction.

[0034] In some embodiments, the rocker 4 includes a slant guiding surface. When the executing means 2 drives the rocker to pivot, the sliding part 34 moves along the slant guiding surface.

[0035] With the push-button switch 100 according to embodiments of the present disclosure, since the rotating shaft 31 has two functional parts 310, when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the functional part 310 corresponding to the pivoting direction can be activated, so as to increase a pivoting angle of the transmission means 3 and avoid a self-locking phenomenon. In addition, the increase of the pivoting angle of the transmission means 3 can also increase a movement distance of the executing means 2 in the plane perpendicular to the pushing direction, so as to ensure that the executing means 2 can drive the rocker 4 to pivot, thereby ensuring a normal operation of the push-button switch 100.

[0036] Fig. 5 shows a structural view of a bottom of the push button 1 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, the push button 1 is provided with an opening 11 having a shaft-hole fit with the rotating shaft 31. The transmission means 3 can pivot around the rotating shaft in the plane parallel to the pushing direction of the push button 1, based on the shaft-hole fit of the rotating shaft 31 and the opening 11.

[0037] Fig. 6 shows a side view of an engaging structure of the push button 1, the executing means 2 and the transmission means 3 according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 6, when the transmission means 3 pivots in different directions, at least two different portions of the rotating shaft 31 contact the opening 11 so as to form a pivot centre of the rotating shaft 31. The two different portions are configured as the two functional parts 310.

[0038] According to embodiments of the present disclosure, the rotating shaft 31 has a polygon contour, and the opening 11 has a polygon shape configured to be fitted with the polygon contour. When the transmission means 3 pivots in different directions, at least one edge of the polygon shape of the opening 11 is fitted with at least one edge of the polygon contour of the rotating shaft 31.

[0039] In some embodiments, a top surface of the transmission means 3 is an arc-shaped surface contributing to pivoting of the transmission means 3.

[0040] Taking Fig. 6 as an example, the rotating shaft 31 shown in Fig. 6 has a quadrilateral contour, and four comers of the quadrilateral have an arc-shaped surface. The opening 11 is shaped to accommodate the polygon contour of the rotating shaft 31, and has enough space for the rotating shaft 31 to rotate in the opening. For example, a cross section of the opening in Fig. 6 has a trapezoid shape, and an upper base of the trapezoid can be engaged with an upper edge of the rotating shaft 31. That is, when the corner of the rotating shaft 31 has an arc-shaped surface, two corners of the upper base of the opening also have an arc-shaped surface, and thus the upper base of the opening can be seamlessly engaged with the upper edge of the rotating shaft, such that the two arc-shaped surfaces of the upper edge of the rotating shaft can be configured as the two functional parts 310 of the rotating shaft 31. Thus, when the transmission means 3 pivots in different directions, different functional parts 310 can be activated to serve as the pivot centre of the transmission means 3, for the purpose of increasing a pivoting angle of the transmission means 3.

[0041] Fig. 7 A shows a relationship of rotating angles of various parts in a direction, and Fig. 7B shows a relationship of rotating angles of various parts in another direction. As shown in Figs. 7A and 7B, when the transmission means 3 is pivoted to a left side of an illustrated first axis, the functional part 310 at a right side of the first axis and in contact with the opening 11 to form the pivot centre is activated; when the transmission means 3 is pivoted to the right side of the illustrated first axis, the functional part 310 at the left side of the first axis and in contact with the opening 11 to form the pivot centre is activated.

[0042] Fig. 7A shows the relationship of the rotating angles of the various parts when the transmission means 3 is pivoted to the left. Angle a is an included angle between the sliding part 34 and the first axis, angle b is an included angle between the pivoted rocker 4 and an illustrated second axis, and angle c is an included angle between the activated functional part 310 and the first axis. When the angle of the rocker 4 is fixed, for example, when angle b is 9 degrees, and when the functional part 310 of the rotating shaft 31 at the right side of the illustrated first axis pivots to the maximum angle (angle c is 4.9 degrees), the maximum pivoting angle of the transmission means 3 increases with respect to the maximum pivoting angle of the transmission means in the structure shown in Fig. 1 (angle a is 12 degrees).

[0043] Similarly, in Fig. 7B, when the functional part 310 of the rotating shaft 31 at the left side of the first axis pivots to the maximum angle, the maximum pivoting angle of the transmission means 3 increases with respect to the maximum pivoting angle of the transmission means in the structure shown in Fig. 1.

[0044] Two different portions of the transmission means 3 contacting the opening 11 to form the pivot centre of the rotating shaft 31 serve as the two functional parts 310, when the transmission means 3 pivots in different directions. Therefore, when the transmission means turns to different directions, different functional parts 310 can be activated as the pivot centre so as to increase the pivoting angle of the transmission means 3. Therefore, a height or a radius of the transmission means 3 can be decreased in the premise that the same maximum pivoting angle is ensured. That is, a distance between the rotating shaft 31 and the connecting means 35 of the transmission means 3 may be decreased, so as to decrease a height of the push-button switch 100 and hence reduce an installation space occupied by the push-button switch 100.

[0045] In some embodiments, a top surface of the executing means 2 is provided with an indication portion to indicate on and off states of the push-button switch 100. Features provided on the executing means 2 to indicate the on and off states of the push-button switch 100 may be two different colours respectively located at two sides of a central line of the top of the executing means 2, so as to indicate the on and off states of the push-button switch 100. For example, the two different colours can be red and blue, blue indicates off, and red indicates on. Embodiments of the present disclosure do not specifically limit how the colours indicating the on and off states of the push-button switch 100 are attached to the executing means 2 and what colours are used herein.

[0046] In some other embodiments, the transmission means 3 may also be engaged with the executing means 2, so that the transmission means 3 can drive the executing means 2 to move when the transmission means 3 pivots, so as to expose the indication portion at a display window of the push button 1, and thus the user can check the on and off states of the push-button switch 100 through the display window.

[0047] The present disclosure also provides a socket, including the above push-button switch 100 for controlling power-on and power-off of the socket.

[0048] In general, although details of a number of implementations are included in the discussion above, these should not be interpreted as any limitations to the scope of the present disclosure, but rather descriptions of features only for specific embodiments. Certain features that are described in some separate embodiments can also be performed in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or through any suitable sub-combinations.

[0049] For example, the present disclosure is not intended to provide any limitation to installation positions and orientations as well as sizes of the above current sensor 301 and the above overcurrent detection circuit 302, and does not provide any limitation to any possible combinations or integrations of various components.

[0050] The reference to any prior art in this specification is not, and should not be taken as, an acknowledgement of any form of suggestion that such prior art forms part of the common general knowledge.

[0051] Although the present disclosure has been described in terms of specific structural features, it can be understood that the scope of the technical solution defined by attached claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features described above. In other words, what have been described above are merely optional embodiments of the present disclosure. For those skilled in the art, embodiments of the present disclosure may have various modifications and changes. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present disclosure are included in the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims

1. A push-button switch, comprising: a push button; an executing means accommodated in a cavity of the push button and configured to move in responding to pushing of the push button; a transmission means comprising a rotating shaft and pivotably connected to the push button through the rotating shaft, the rotating shaft being provided with at least two functional parts in such a way that when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the functional part corresponding to the pivoting direction is activated; and a rocker pivotably mounted to a housing of the push-button switch and configured to pivot under driving of the executing means, to drive a moving contact to pivot through the pivoting of the rocker, so as to contact or to be separated from a fixed contact.

2. The push-button switch according to claim 1, wherein the push button is provided with an opening having a shaft-hole fit with the rotating shaft, and when the transmission means pivots in different directions, the at least two different portions of the rotating shaft contact the opening so as to form a pivot centre of the rotating shaft, and the two different portions are configured as the two functional parts.

3. The push-button switch according to claim 2, wherein the rotating shaft has a polygon contour, the opening has a polygon shape configured to be fitted with the polygon contour, and when the transmission means pivots in different directions, at least one edge of the polygon shape of the opening (11) is fitted with at least one edge of the polygon contour of the rotating shaft.

4. The push-button switch according to claim 1, wherein a top surface of the executing means is provided with an indication portion configured to indicate on and off states of the push-button switch.

5. The push-button switch according to claim 1, wherein the transmission means is engaged with the executing means, so that the transmission means is configured to drive the executing means to move when the transmission means pivots, so as to expose the indication portion at a display window of the push button.

6. The push-button switch according to claim 1, wherein the push button is provided with a sliding rail, and the executing means is slidably mounted to the sliding rail.

7. The push-button switch according to claim 1, wherein a top surface of the transmission means is configured as an arc-shaped surface contributing to pivoting of the transmission means.

8. The push-button switch according to claim 1, wherein the transmission means comprises an accommodating cavity, an elastic part accommodated in the accommodating cavity and a sliding part, an end of the sliding part is engaged with the elastic part, another end of the sliding part abuts against the rocker, and the sliding part is configured to enter or exit out of the accommodating cavity in responding to the pivoting of the rocker.

9. The push-button switch according to claim 8, wherein the rocker comprises a slant guiding surface, and when the executing means drives the rocker to pivot, the sliding part moves along the slant guiding surface.

10. A socket, comprising a push-button switch according to any of claims 1-9 for controlling power-on and power-off of the socket.