CN114974970A

CN114974970A - Key structure

Info

Publication number: CN114974970A
Application number: CN202110217009.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈弘基; 谢铮玟
Original assignee: Acer Inc
Current assignee: Acer Inc
Priority date: 2021-02-26
Filing date: 2021-02-26
Publication date: 2022-08-30

Abstract

The invention provides a key structure which comprises a base, a carrying platform, a scissors structure, a heat conducting piece, an elastic piece and a keycap. The scissors structure is movably pivoted between the base and the carrying platform. The heat conducting piece is arranged on the carrying platform. The elastic piece is arranged on the base and structurally abuts against the heat conducting piece through the opening of the carrying platform. The keycap is configured on the carrying platform so as to clamp the heat conducting piece between the keycap and the carrying platform.

Description

Key structure

Technical Field

The invention relates to a key structure.

Background

The conventional heat dissipation system in the notebook computer mainly uses air cooling, i.e. a fan is used to suck cold air outside the computer body or discharge hot air inside the computer body, but the conventional keyboard structure is mainly a film keyboard, wherein the film can block heat transfer and cannot dissipate heat by using the keyboard.

However, the heat dissipation paths are mostly concentrated on the side and the bottom of the body, and the heat dissipation means as described above cannot be provided for the keyboard on the body. For the keyboard of the notebook computer, a Rubber dome (Rubber dome) is generally used for elastic reset, but heat is easily concentrated in a contact area between the Rubber dome and the key cap, and when the keyboard is observed by an infrared camera, a hot spot (hot spot) is obviously seen on the surface of each key of the keyboard, and this phenomenon easily causes that a user can obviously feel that the temperature of a specific (central) area of the key cap is high when touching the key cap, so that the touch feeling of the user when operating the keyboard is damaged.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention is directed to a key structure, which has both heat dissipation efficiency and beautiful appearance.

According to an embodiment of the invention, the key structure comprises a base, a carrying platform, a scissors structure, a heat conducting piece, an elastic piece and a keycap. The scissors structure is movably pivoted between the base and the carrying platform. The heat conducting piece is arranged on the carrying platform. The elastic piece is arranged on the base and structurally abuts against the heat conducting piece through the opening of the carrying platform. The keycap is configured on the carrying platform so as to clamp the heat conducting piece between the keycap and the carrying platform. .

Based on the above, the key structure further includes a carrier and a heat conducting member disposed between the elastic member and the key cap, wherein the elastic member is disposed on the base and passes through the opening of the carrier to abut against the heat conducting member, so that heat at the base can be smoothly transferred to the heat conducting member via the elastic member, and the scissors structure and the carrier form a basic structure for supporting the heat conducting member and the key cap. Therefore, the key structure has beautiful appearance, and simultaneously, the heat is homogenized and dissipated to the space where the key structure is located by the contact of the heat conducting piece and the elastic piece.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a key structure according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the key structure of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the key structure of FIG. 1;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a key structure according to an embodiment of the invention. Fig. 2 is an exploded view of the key structure of fig. 1. Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the key structure 100 is suitable for an electronic device to be used as an input interface of a user to operate the electronic device, and the following embodiments will be further described. The key structure 100 includes a base 140, a carrier 150, a scissors structure 130, a heat conducting member 120, an elastic member 160, and a key cap 110. The scissors structure 130 is movably pivoted between the base 140 and the stage 150. The heat conductive member 120 is disposed on the stage 150. The elastic member 160 is disposed on the base 140 and configured to abut against the heat conductive member 120 through the opening 151 of the stage 150. The key cap 110 is disposed on the carrier 150, so that the heat conducting member 120 is sandwiched between the key cap 110 and the carrier 150.

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the key structure of fig. 1. Referring to fig. 2 and fig. 3, the heat conducting member 120 is substantially nested on the inner surface of the key cap 110, the material of the heat conducting member 120 is metal, and the material of the key cap 110 is plastic, so that the key cap 110 of the present embodiment is integrally formed with the heat conducting member 120 by insert injection molding (insert molding). Moreover, the manufactured keycap 110 and the heat conducting member 120 are substantially detachably assembled on the carrier 150 by a snap-fit structure, so that a user can also disassemble and assemble the keycap 110 and the heat conducting member 120 therein relative to the carrier 150, thereby facilitating maintenance or replacement according to use requirements.

In addition, as the key structure 100 of the embodiment is configured in the electronic device, a part of the heat generated by the electronic components inside the electronic device is necessarily transmitted to the key structure 100, and is therefore collected in the key structure 100 and not easy to dissipate. Accordingly, the key structure 100 of the present embodiment has the configuration of the components as described above, and particularly, the elastic member 160 passes through the opening 151 of the carrier 150 and is configured to abut against the heat conducting member 120.

Here, the elastic member 160 is, for example, a rubber dome (rubber dome), and the contact area of the elastic member 160 with the structure of the heat conducting member 120 is smaller than the area of the heat conducting member 120, and the elastic member 160 has a body 161 and a heat conducting medium layer 162 disposed outside the body, so that the heat of the base 140 can be transmitted to the heat conducting member 120 and uniformly diffused to the heat conducting member 120. In other words, since the heat conducting member 120 has a good thermal conductivity coefficient, the heat can be prevented from being confined to the contact surface between the heat conducting member 120 and the elastic member 160, and the heat can be further dissipated to the keycap 110 or the environment thereof through the heat conducting member 120, thereby increasing the heat dissipation path. Meanwhile, the heat conducting member 120 has a better heat conducting effect, so that the possibility of adverse operation touch feeling of a user due to heat concentration can be avoided. In another embodiment, not shown, the elastic member 160 may also be made of an elastic material with a high thermal conductivity.

Referring to fig. 1 and fig. 2, in the present embodiment, the heat conducting member 120 is made of metal, and the surface thereof has an anodic treatment layer, and the key caps 110 are transparent, wherein the anodic treatment layer further forms a pattern (or character) 121, so that a user can see through the transparent key caps 110. In other words, the key structure 100 of the present embodiment does not need to form the required pattern or character on the key cap 110, but instead is on the heat conducting member 120. This can prevent the keycap 110 from wearing or falling off the pattern or character due to long-term use. Meanwhile, the heat conducting member 120 can have different colors or gloss by performing different processes of anodizing on the metal, thereby visually generating an identification effect.

In another embodiment, the patterns 121 (or characters) may be formed by disposing different color or gloss coatings on the surface of the heat-conducting member 120, and then forming the desired patterns 121 (or characters) by a laser engraving process.

As shown in fig. 3, the base 140 of the present embodiment includes a frame 142 and a thin film circuit 141, wherein the scissors structure 130 is pivoted and erected on the frame 142, and the elastic element 160 further includes a conductive layer 163 disposed on the inner surface of the body 161, which is substantially disposed on the supporting bottom 165 of the elastic element 160 and the abutting convex part 164 at the center of the dome, wherein the conductive layer 163 disposed on the supporting bottom 165 abuts and electrically abuts on the conductive pad a1 on the thin film circuit 141, and when the user applies force to press the key structure 100 to deform the elastic element 160 and the abutting convex part 164 abuts on the conductive pad a2, the conductive pad a1, the conductive layer 163 of the elastic element 160 and the conductive pad a2 can be electrically conducted with each other, so as to generate a trigger signal when the key structure 100 is pressed, and once the user no longer presses the key structure 100, the elastic force accumulated by the elastic element 160 due to the deformation is enough to drive the key cap 110 to reset, and the abutting convex portion 164 is restored to be suspended above the conductive pad a 2.

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the invention. Referring to fig. 4 and referring to fig. 1, in the present embodiment, the key structure 100 is suitable for a portable electronic device 10, taking a notebook computer as an example, the portable electronic device 10 includes a body 11 and at least one heat source 12 (two heat sources 12 are shown here as an example, but not limited to, a CPU and a GPU of a system of the notebook computer), the heat source 12 is disposed in the body 11, the key structure 100 is disposed on the body 11, and a portion of heat generated by the heat source 12 is transmitted to a base 140 of the key structure 100, wherein the elastic member 160 has a heat-conducting medium layer 162 as described above, so that the heat transmitted to the base 140 can be smoothly transmitted to the heat-conducting member 120 through the heat-conducting medium layer 162.

In summary, in the above embodiments of the invention, the key structure further includes a carrier and a heat conducting member disposed between the elastic member and the key cap, wherein the elastic member is disposed on the base and passes through the opening of the carrier to be structurally abutted against the heat conducting member, so that heat at the base can be smoothly transferred to the heat conducting member through the elastic member, and the scissors structure and the carrier form a basic structure for supporting the heat conducting member and the key cap.

Therefore, when the heat generated by the heat source disposed in the body of the portable electronic device is transferred to the base of the key structure, the heat can be transferred to the heat conducting member 120 through the heat conducting medium layer on the outer surface of the elastic member, and since the heat conducting member has a better heat conductivity coefficient and an area larger than a contact area between the elastic member and the heat conducting member, the heat transferred to the heat conducting member is not concentrated on a contact surface between the elastic member and the heat conducting member, thereby improving the hot spot. The key structure has beautiful appearance, and simultaneously, the heat is homogenized and dissipated to the space where the key structure is located through the contact of the heat conducting piece and the elastic piece.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A key structure, comprising:

a base;

carrying platform;

the scissors structure is movably pivoted between the base and the carrying platform;

a heat conducting member disposed on the stage;

an elastic member disposed on the base and configured to abut against the heat conductive member through the opening of the stage; and

a keycap configured on the carrier to hold the heat conducting member between the keycap and the carrier.

2. The key structure of claim 1, wherein the elastic member has a smaller structural abutment area with the heat conductive member than the area of the heat conductive member.

3. The key structure of claim 1, wherein the surface of the heat conducting member has an anodized layer, and the key cap is transparent.

4. The key structure of claim 1, wherein the surface of the heat conducting member has a pattern, and the key cap is transparent.

5. The key structure according to claim 4, wherein the surface of the heat-conducting member has a coating layer, and the coating layer forms the pattern by laser engraving.

6. The key structure of claim 1, wherein the thermal conductor is nested within an inner surface of the keycap.

7. The key structure of claim 1, wherein the heat conductive member is made of metal, the key cap is made of plastic, and the key cap and the heat conductive member are integrally formed by insert injection molding.

8. The key structure of claim 1, wherein the key structure is adapted to a portable electronic device, the portable electronic device has a body and at least one heat source, the heat source is disposed in the body, the key structure is disposed on the body, a portion of heat generated by the heat source is transmitted to the base of the key structure, and the elastic member has a heat-conducting medium layer for transmitting the heat transmitted to the base to the heat-conducting member.