CN221176043U - Reed-switch type shaft switch - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model discloses a magnetic reed switch shaft body. The shaft body switch comprises: the shell comprises an upper shell and a lower shell, wherein the upper shell and the lower shell are mutually buckled to form an accommodating space, and the upper shell is provided with a through hole; a shaft core which is arranged to pass through the through hole of the upper shell and can move from an initial first position to a second position for triggering the shaft body switch circuit to conduct under the action of downward pressure; and a return spring disposed between the lower housing and the hub, the return spring being capable of returning the hub from the second position to the first position. The shaft body switch further comprises a reed switch arranged in the accommodating space, the shaft core is provided with a magnet, and the shaft body switch is arranged as follows: when the shaft core is in the first position, the reed switch is in an off state, and when the shaft core is in the second position, the reed switch is in an on state.

Description

Reed-switch type shaft switch

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a shaft switch, in particular to a reed switch type shaft switch for a mechanical keyboard.

Background

In 1983, the germany Cherry company proposed MX axis body switches for keyboards. In the last 40 years, the key switches in the mechanical keyboards used by people worldwide were MX-axis or MX-like-axis switches. Its size and trigger form have become current industry specifications.

One exemplary structure for a MX-like axis body switch is illustrated in fig. 8. The shaft body switch 100 includes a case composed of an upper case 101 and a lower case 102, the upper case 101 and the lower case 102 being fastened to each other to form an accommodation space inside; the shaft core 103 passes through a through hole arranged in the central area of the upper shell 101 and can move from an initial position to a trigger position under the action of downward pressure when a user clicks the key cap; the return spring 104 is provided between the upper surface of the lower housing 102 and the spindle 103, and can return the spindle 103 from the trigger position to the initial position. The shaft body switch 100 further comprises a spring plate 105 arranged on the side surface of the shaft core 103, and a protrusion 108 is arranged on the corresponding side surface of the shaft core 103. When the shaft 103 moves downward, the protrusion 108 moves downward, and the tip 106 of the spring 105 abutting the protrusion 108 moves toward the shaft, making contact with a contact (not shown) connected to the pin 107, thereby turning on the switching circuit.

The above structure has a plurality of problems. 1. In the process of downward movement of the shaft core, mutual friction exists between the bulge and the elastic sheet, so that the problem of no triggering or multiple triggering is caused due to abrasion of parts and metal fatigue after long-time use. 2. When the shaft core is pushed back by the return spring, the shaft core is in collision contact with the end of the elastic sheet, so that noise is generated. 3. The triggering stroke of the shaft switch is not adjustable. 4. The spring plate is always in a biased state when the spring plate does not move, so that the shaft core always bears a force perpendicular to the axial direction of the spring plate, a shaft core column needs to be arranged on the shaft core to be sleeved on the inner side of the reset spring, a shaft core support needs to be arranged on the base to assist in positioning of the shaft core, the height of the shaft core support is usually about 4mm, but friction is generated between the shaft core column and the outer surface of the shaft core support and the reset spring in the movement process of the shaft core, and accordingly key feel is poor.

Disclosure of utility model

In order to solve or alleviate at least a part of the technical problems mentioned in the background art, the utility model provides a novel shaft body switch.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present utility model, there is disclosed a shaft switch including: the shell comprises an upper shell and a lower shell, wherein the upper shell and the lower shell are mutually buckled to form an accommodating space, and the upper shell is provided with a through hole; a shaft core which is provided to pass through the through hole of the upper case and is movable from a first position to a second position by a downward pressure; and a return spring disposed between the lower housing and the hub, the return spring being capable of returning the hub from the second position to the first position. The shaft body switch further comprises a reed switch arranged in the accommodating space, the shaft core is provided with a magnet, and the shaft body switch is arranged as follows: when the shaft core is in the first position, the reed switch is in an off state, and when the shaft core is in the second position, the reed switch is in an on state.

According to another exemplary embodiment, the reed switch comprises a horizontally arranged reed switch body and two pins located on both sides of the reed switch body, respectively, the reed switch is arranged on the side of the shaft core, and the height of the reed switch body is lower than the height of the center point of the magnet when the shaft core is in the second position.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the spindle is provided with a recess in which the magnet is mounted.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the recess extends in a horizontal direction, and the direction of extension of the recess is perpendicular to the direction of extension of the reed switch body.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the recess is provided with a plurality of mounting locations along its extension, the magnet being mounted at one of the plurality of mounting locations.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, a positioning groove is provided at each mounting position, and a positioning protrusion is provided on the magnet.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the magnet is a flexible magnet.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the shaft core is provided with a plurality of grooves, and the vertical distance of each groove from the reed switch body is different from each other.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, a return spring positioning hole is arranged at the lower end of the shaft core, the return spring positioning hole is a conical hole, and the diameter of the open end is larger than that of the bottom end.

According to a further exemplary embodiment, the lower housing is provided with a return spring positioning protrusion, which is an annular protrusion with a protrusion height of 1.5mm or less.

Drawings

Exemplary embodiments of the present utility model will be described below with reference to the following drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a shaft switch according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the shaft switch of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the shaft switch of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a mandrel according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the mandrel of FIG. 4 from another direction;

FIG. 6 is a top view of the mandrel of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a magnet according to an exemplary embodiment;

fig. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a shaft switch of prior art design.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present utility model more apparent, one or more embodiments of the present utility model will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be appreciated that in this specification, terms of orientation, direction or positional relationship such as "longitudinal", "transverse", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "clockwise", "counterclockwise" and the like are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, are merely for convenience of description of the present utility model, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed and operated in a particular orientation unless specifically stated otherwise herein.

The prefixes "first", "second", etc. of technical features are merely used to distinguish different individuals of the same kind of technical features, and do not imply importance or order between them, and may have different configurations according to the specific embodiments.

Exemplary embodiments of the shaft switch of the present utility model will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Fig. 1 to 3 illustrate a configuration of a shaft switch according to an exemplary embodiment. As shown in fig. 1 to 3, the shaft switch 200 includes a housing, which may include an upper housing 201 and a lower housing 202, the upper housing 201 and the lower housing 202 are fastened to each other to form an accommodating space, and a through hole is provided in the upper housing 201. The shaft switch 200 further comprises a shaft core 203, the shaft core 203 being arranged to pass through a through hole in the upper housing 201 and being movable under a downward pressure from a first position (initial position or rest position) to a second position (or trigger position) triggering the shaft switch circuit to conduct. The return spring 204 is provided between the lower housing 202 and the shaft core 203, and can return the shaft core 203 from the second position to the first position.

The shaft body switch 200 further includes a reed switch 205 disposed in the accommodating space, and the shaft core 203 is mounted with a magnet 206. The shaft switch 200 is provided with: when the shaft core 203 is at the initial position, the reed switch 205 is in an off state; when the hub 203 is in the triggered position, the reed switch 205 is in the on state.

Reed switch is also called reed switch, which is an electric switch operated by applying a magnetic field. The basic form is to seal two magnetic reeds in a glass tube, and the two magnetic reeds are overlapped but have a small gap in the middle. When the magnet is close to the reed pipe, the two magnetic reeds are contacted when in an external magnetic field, so that the reed pipe is conducted; once the magnet is pulled away, the magnetic reed in the reed switch is reset, turning off the reed switch.

The spring trigger switch is replaced by the reed switch to trigger, so that the problems of mutual friction among components, collision noise of the spring and biased shaft core in the prior art can be solved.

The return spring 204 may be the same as in the prior art, using a coil spring. A connection post 2034 is provided on the upper surface of the shaft core 203 for connection with a key cap (not shown). Reed switch 205 may be disposed in any suitable location in the receiving space, and accordingly, magnet 206 may be mounted in any suitable location on shaft 203, as long as the magnetic force of magnet 206 is sufficient to turn Reed switch 205 on and off during the downward movement of shaft 203.

In addition, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the firing stroke between the initial position of the spindle and the firing position at which the firing of the spindle switch circuit is initiated is not necessarily equal to the maximum stroke (key stroke) of the spindle. Typically, the maximum travel of the shaft core of a MX-like shaft-body switch is set to 4mm, with a trigger travel of about half the maximum travel, i.e., 2mm. The reed switch will always be in a conductive state from a trigger position where the core initially begins to trigger the reed switch to conduct to any position between the maximum travel position. The length of the key stroke and the trigger stroke affects the hand feeling of the user to some extent, so that another aspect of the present utility model is how to flexibly change the trigger stroke within the range of the key stroke, which will be described in detail below.

In a preferred embodiment, as shown in fig. 2 and 3, the reed switch 205 includes a horizontally disposed reed switch body 2051 and two pins 2052 on each side of the reed switch body, the reed switch 205 being disposed on the side of the hub 203, and the height of the reed switch body 2051 being lower than the height of the center point of the magnet 206 when the hub 203 is in the firing position.

The reed switch 205 is disposed on the side of the shaft core 203, especially at the position of the spring in the prior art, and the pin 2052 of the reed switch 205 can be in the same manner as the pin of the spring, so that the housing of the existing shaft switch can be utilized in a minimally modified manner, and the manufacturing cost of the shaft switch is effectively reduced.

The magnet 206 may be mounted or secured to the hub 203 by various means, such as insert molding, adhesive, heat pressing, and the like. In a preferred embodiment, as shown in fig. 4 to 7, a recess 2032 is further provided on the upper surface of the shaft core 203, and the magnet 206 is mounted in the recess 2032.

In a preferred embodiment, not shown, a plurality of grooves may be provided on the shaft core, and each groove may be spaced apart from the reed switch body by a different vertical distance, and a magnet may be insertedly installed in any one of the grooves. By inserting the magnets into different grooves, the magnetic force generated by the magnetic field of the magnets on the magnetic reed in the reed switch can be changed. For example, where the magnet is inserted into a recess closest to the reed switch, the hub may only need to be moved downward a short distance, the magnet being sufficient to turn on the reed switch, resulting in a reduced actuation stroke of the keyboard key. Conversely, in the case where the magnet is inserted into the recess furthest from the reed switch, the shaft core may need to be moved a longer distance down to turn on the reed switch, thereby increasing the trigger stroke of the keyboard key. By changing the key trigger stroke, different key handfeel can be provided, and the requirements of different users are met.

In another preferred embodiment, as shown in fig. 3-7, the recess 2032 extends in a horizontal direction, and the direction of extension of the recess 2032 is perpendicular to the direction of extension of the reed switch body 2051. The magnet 206 may be inserted at any position in the extending direction of the recess 2032. For example, the width of the magnet 206 and the width of the groove 2032 may be set to be an interference fit, so that the magnet 206 may be fixed at any position in the extending direction of the groove 2032.

In a further preferred embodiment, a plurality of mounting locations may be provided in the recess 2032 along its extension, with the magnet 206 being mountable in one of the plurality of mounting locations. For example, a positioning groove 2033 may be provided at each mounting position, and a positioning protrusion 2061 may be provided on the magnet 206. When the positioning boss 2061 is received in one of the positioning slots 2033, the magnet 206 may be positioned in a corresponding installation position.

Similar to the previous embodiment, by changing the mounting position of the magnet 206 on the recess 2032, the distance between the magnet 206 and the reed switch 205 can be changed, thereby adjusting the magnetic force exerted by the magnet on the magnetic reed in the reed switch 205 to be small, and thus changing the trigger distance of the shaft switch.

In a further preferred embodiment, the magnets 206 may be made of a flexible material in order to facilitate changing the mounting location of the magnets on the recess 2032. In this way, the magnet may be directly moved by a thin lever or needle without pulling the magnet out of the recess, changing the mounting position of the magnet 206. Thus, the keyboard can be conveniently modified by users (such as mechanical keyboard fever friends) themselves.

Although in the embodiment shown in fig. 4, the recess 2032 is formed in the upper surface of the hub 203, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the formation of the recess 2032 in other surfaces of the hub 203 can also achieve the objects of the utility model. For example, when the recess 2032 is formed in the side surface of the shaft core 203, the extending direction of the recess 2032 may be set to the vertical direction, so that changing the positioning of the magnet in the recess 2032 can also change the magnetic force applied by the magnet to the magnetic reed in the reed switch. It will be equally readily appreciated by those skilled in the art that such an arrangement is disadvantageous in terms of changing the positioning of the magnets in the recesses.

Because the reed switch is used for replacing the common shrapnel switch in the prior art, the shaft core is not biased by the shrapnel, so that a shaft core column and a shaft core support which assist in positioning the shaft core in the prior art can be canceled, and friction between the shaft core column and the shaft core support and the reset spring can be further reduced.

Thus, in one exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 3 and 5, the lower end of the shaft core 203 is provided with a return spring positioning hole 2031, which is a conical hole with a diameter at the open end that is larger than the diameter at the bottom end. The upper end of the return spring 204 is positioned in the return spring positioning hole 2031, and friction does not occur between the hole wall and the return spring 204 due to the conical hole.

Further, in another embodiment, a return spring positioning projection 2021 is provided on the upper surface of the lower case 202, and the return spring positioning projection is an annular projection, and the projection height may be equal to or less than 1.5mm. The lower end of the return spring is sleeved outside the annular bulge. Since the annular projection no longer functions as a positioning for the axle core, only for positioning the return spring, the projection height can be significantly reduced. Since the height of the annular projection is very small, friction between the outer side of the annular projection and the return spring can be greatly reduced to a negligible amount even if the return spring is constantly changing between compression and return. In addition, since the height (equal to or less than 1.5 mm) of the positioning boss 2021 of the present utility model is significantly reduced with respect to the height (typically about 4 mm) of the spindle mount employed in the prior art, the bottom dead center of the spindle stroke can be set lower, so that the overall height of the spindle switch can be made smaller by adopting the technical scheme of the present utility model, thereby being capable of being used for manufacturing a slim or ultra-slim mechanical keyboard.

Furthermore, while the preferred embodiments of the present utility model have been described by way of example in the foregoing description, it should be appreciated that various modifications or alterations to the embodiments disclosed in this specification, or obvious combinations or substitutions for such features, will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the teachings of the present utility model. Therefore, the scope of the utility model should not be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed in this specification. The scope of the utility model should be determined based on the claims.

Claims (10)

1. A shaft switch, comprising:

The shell comprises an upper shell and a lower shell, wherein the upper shell and the lower shell are mutually buckled to form an accommodating space, and the upper shell is provided with a through hole;

A shaft core which is arranged to pass through the through hole of the upper shell and can move from an initial first position to a second position for triggering the shaft body switch circuit to conduct under the action of downward pressure; and

A return spring disposed between the lower housing and the hub, the return spring being capable of returning the hub from the second position to the first position,

The utility model is characterized in that, the axis body switch is still including setting up the tongue tube switch in the accommodation space, the magnet is installed to the axle core, and the axis body switch sets up to: when the shaft core is in the first position, the reed switch is in an off state, and when the shaft core is in the second position, the reed switch is in an on state.

2. The shaft switch of claim 1, wherein the reed switch comprises a horizontally disposed reed switch body and two pins on each side of the reed switch body, the reed switch is disposed on a side of the shaft core, and the height of the reed switch body is lower than the height of the center point of the magnet when the shaft core is in the second position.

3. The shaft switch of claim 2, wherein the shaft core is provided with a recess in which the magnet is mounted.

4. A shaft switch as in claim 3, wherein the recess extends in a horizontal direction and the direction of extension of the recess is perpendicular to the direction of extension of the reed switch body.

5. The shaft switch of claim 4, wherein the recess is provided with a plurality of mounting locations along an extension thereof, the magnet being mounted to one of the plurality of mounting locations.

6. The shaft switch of claim 5, wherein a detent is provided at each of the mounting locations and a detent protrusion is provided on the magnet.

7. The shaft switch of claim 6, wherein the magnet is a flexible magnet.

8. A shaft switch as in claim 3, wherein the shaft core is provided with a plurality of grooves, and each groove is at a different vertical distance from the reed switch body.

9. The shaft switch according to claim 1, wherein a reset spring positioning hole is formed in the lower end of the shaft core, the reset spring positioning hole is a conical hole, and the diameter of the opening end is larger than that of the bottom end.

10. The shaft switch of claim 1, wherein the lower housing is provided with a return spring positioning protrusion, the return spring positioning protrusion being an annular protrusion having a protrusion height of less than or equal to 1.5mm.