DE202004001508U1 - Three dimensionally shaped film, comprises point and/or surface illumination, a decorative three dimensional shape formed e.g. by deep drawing, and raised sections - Google Patents

Abstract

A three dimensionally shaped film (I)(1), comprises point and/or surface illumination for operating and/or design surfaces. The outside of (I) has a decorative three dimensional shape formed by deep drawing and/or thermally shaping the design and/or front film. The raised sections (2) formed are coated at rear and/or filled with inlays (16). The coating and/or inlays extend over lower side of (I). A three dimensionally shaped film (I)(1), comprises point and/or surface illumination for operating and/or design surfaces. The outside of (I) has a decorative three dimensional shape formed by deep drawing and/or thermally shaping the design and/or front film. The raised sections (2) formed are coated at rear and/or filled with inlays (16). The coating and/or inlays extend over lower side of (I). LED's (11) are located in the cut-outs, and a distancing layer (6) is used to stabilize (I).

Description

The invention relates to a full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D designed film with spot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces for foil-covered keyboards and / or membrane keyboards and / or displays and / or front panels, the 3-D design by integrating elastic caps and / or To complete of crests in the covering film is achieved, the 3-D design is achieved by a deep-drawing process and the caps and / or Tips from a solvent-free, low-viscosity, crystal-clear and / or colored polymeric coating material and / or are made with polyurethane and being by UV radiation the coating material is a transparent and very flexible coating with three-dimensional effect and high brilliance and the Coating over the underside of the film protrudes and from the side radiation on the underside protruding coating with LEDs a dot and / or circular-shaped and / or surface illumination the button is achieved.

Previously known front and / or design foils for foil-covered Keyboards and / or membrane keyboards and / or displays and / or are flat and / or slightly embossed executed. That is why blind operation of the foil-covered keyboards and / or Membrane keyboards not possible, and no raised logo or similar is possible with front panels. Besides, is surface illumination for these keyboards very difficult to implement.

Out DE 297 03 194.5 membrane keyboards with domes made of polyurethane mass are known, the domes being glued to the foil or being cast directly thereon. However, these crests do not stop and come off; when using appropriate solvents. The interfaces are also prone to dirt. Area lighting is not feasible.

Next are full area and / or partially segmental, from soft elastic to hard, 3 D coated film for operating and / or design surfaces known in which the coating is based on polymers with thioether structural units and through structural variations the starting components and / or their molar ratios as well as the curing mechanical properties of the coating of soft elastic until hard to vary according to the requirements of each application, so that transparent, soft elastic to hard, protective and / or decorative 3-D coatings be produced, the film over the entire surface and / or only in certain predefined segments is coated. A disadvantage of this solution is that on the one hand edge embossing is required and secondly, in that the coating on the outside the coating can be detached by solvents, or through mechanical processes. Moreover the interfaces are prone to dirt.

Out DE 298 10 862 U1 a method for deep drawing for films made of thermoplastic or cold-stretchable plastic is known. The decorative foil is embossed and a plastic inlay is inserted into the embossing process, which results in a better load distribution on the snap disk. The disadvantage of this solution is that the base area of the plastic inlay is flat and thus no good tactile behavior is achieved and that the key stroke is not mechanically limited by the plastic inlay. In the worst case, the snap disk can be destroyed. In addition, no area lighting is possible.

Out DE 198 51 731 C1 A deep-drawing process for films made of thermoplastic or cold-stretchable plastic is known, in which the film is provided with fillers at the points where the deep-drawn profiles are produced during the subsequent deep-drawing process, the contours and profile thicknesses of which approximate the contours and / or profile depths the deep-drawing cavities are designed and aligned accordingly. A disadvantage of this method, since it is a negative molding process, is that the film is stretched very much at the edges and is therefore very thin and can no longer be mechanically stressed, ie the keyboard is not very hard-wearing. Another disadvantage is that the use of dimensionally stable, non-positive fillers does not result in elastic behavior of the film and the film can easily be destroyed in the area of the edges. In addition, no lens effect and surface illumination can be achieved.

The object of the invention is therefore a full area and / or partially segmented 3-D designed Foil with spot and / or area illumination for operating and / or design surfaces to create the type mentioned that the user when pressing the button foil-covered keyboards and / or membrane keyboards an extremely good one tactile shift feel mediated and enables blind operation, in which the 3-D coating be carried out over the entire surface can and / or is only executed in small predetermined sub-segments and wherein the mechanical properties of the coating correspond to the respective Requirements of the respective application can be adjusted, variable from soft elastic to hard and impact-resistant with a three-dimensional effect, resistant and is elastic and chemical resistant like the base film is, as well non-yellowing and UV-resistant is and enables luminous, optically magnifying displays and both point and / or ring and / or surface illumination of the touch fields allows and which may have raised decorative logos and / or symbols. Besides, should the 3-D coating should be simple, reproducible and inexpensive.

These problems are solved with the below Protection claim 1 listed, full-area and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with point and / or ring and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces solved in that a front and / or design film made of PVC , Polyester, metallic, polycarbonate and polyurethane foils can consist of one or more tactile full-area and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped elevations in the form of domes and / or areas and / or logos and / or symbols, these 3 -D-shaped elevations is achieved by a thermoforming process of the design and / or front film and the elevation obtained by these processes is coated on the back and / or is filled with inlays and the coating with a solvent-free, low-viscosity, crystal-clear and / or colored polymeric coating material and / or with polyurethane and the coating and / or inlays protrude beyond the underside of the film and spot and / or ring and / or surface illumination of the tactile surface is achieved by means of LEDs by lateral irradiation into the protruding coating and / or protruding inlay.

The full-area and / or partial segment according to the invention 3-D designed film with spot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces is therefore uneven and has one or more crests and / or raised Areas and / or volumetric forms, i.e. outward projections that are so high that they are felt clearly can be. The crests can mark locations on foil-covered keyboards and foil keyboards, on those by depressing the 3-D coated front and / or design film, a button is pressed. Therefore, the tops of keyboards are preferably above the Keys arranged, which enables blind operation, as is the case with conventional foil-covered keyboards does not take place.

The 3-D protective coating can also in other places that are not motivated by pressing a button the film, especially under the possible optical effect of 3-D design and creating logos and / or symbols and / or holding aids.

The full-area and / or partial segment according to the invention 3-D designed film for Operating and / or design surfaces offers all the advantages of previously used foils. she draws have good mechanical and chemical resistance, has an excellent point and / or surface illumination of the touch fields from, and can be used practically in all areas of application of conventional front and / or design foils for foil-covered keyboards and / or membrane keyboards and / or displays and / or front panels be used.

A preferred embodiment the full area and / or partially segmented 3-D designed Foil with spot and / or area illumination for operating and / or design surfaces has one and / or several 3-D-shaped crests on the front which are produced by positive molding under vacuum, with Shapes with a depth / diameter ratio of 4: 1 are to be formed. This Raised crests are fitted from the back with inlays over the Stick out the bottom of the film. Using LEDs on the switching film are arranged by projecting into the protruding side Coating and / or protruding Inlay a point and / or ring and / or surface illumination of the touch surface is achieved becomes.

The inlays are preferably as Injection molded parts executed and are elastic, colorless and / or translucent and / or elastic diffuse.

An improvement in tactile behavior is by coating the ridges from the back ago achieved with a material that corresponds to the mechanical Properties and liability structurally from elastic soft until hard is varied and one in the 3-D-shaped surfaces flat recessed 3-D surface. By that Material is softly elastic, the key press deforming increase, the i. a. means a mechanical weakening of the material, not claimed, so an essential extension the life of the film is reached.

An optical improvement with a magnifying effect for reading the label of the film is achieved in that by designing the increase and / or crests in sections of convex curvatures an optical lens effect is achieved. That is why the crests are also suitable, signal lights and visually support control lights.

The 3-D protective coating is preferred in the crests with the film so firmly that they move away from this not non-destructively can be solved and exists from a solvent-free, low viscosity, crystal clear, polymeric coating material, the transparent and very flexible protective coatings due to UV radiation with three-dimensional effect and high brilliance.

The floor plan of the 3-D designed Increase and / or Peaks on the slide can be designed almost freely and can both the shape of the buttons or the design wear. For example, the floor plan circular, oval, rectangular or be square with or without corner rounding or symbol outlines or Logo outlines and areas represent. However, all possible floor plans are also conceivable here.

By attaching one and / or several LEDs with the same and / or different colors per touch surface become tactile surfaces with changing colors.

The invention is hereinafter in embodiments based on figures explained. It demonstrate:

1 a representation in section of an embodiment of the full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with point and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces

2 a plan view of the full-area and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with point and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces

3 a representation in section of an embodiment of full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with point and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces with a film-covered keyboard with snap disks

In 1 the full-area and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film according to the invention with point and / or area illumination for operating and / or design surfaces is shown in section. A polyester film serves as the base film 1 that an increase 2 has, the range of increase 2 in the case of membrane keyboards and / or membrane-covered keyboards is arranged above the key. The area of increase 2 is from the back with the solvent-free, low-viscosity, crystal-clear, polymeric coating material 3 poured out and by means of UV radiation it receives its three-dimensional effect and high brilliance. The coating protrudes 3 over the bottom of the slide 1 out.

2 shows a possible top view of the full-area and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film according to the invention with point and / or area illumination for operating and / or design surfaces. The ridges in the form of the tops 4 on the covering film 1 are circular in plan and have the shape of a spherical segment. The middle crests 5 on the film have a square plan with rounded corners, whereby they are flat at the top and convex at the edge with an approx. 90 ° curvature.

In 3 the full-area and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film according to the invention with point and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces is shown as a design film with a film-covered keyboard with integrated contacting snap disks and an integrated spacer layer on average. A stable spacer layer serves as the stabilizing element 6 with cutouts 8th for the snap disks 7 and the inlays 16 , as well as recesses for the LEDs 18 , On the underside of the spacer layer 6 becomes the switching foil 10 with the integrated LEDs 11 laminated on, the LEDs 11 into the recesses of the LEDs 18 protrude. The contacting snap disks 7 are in the recesses 8th the spacer layer 6 inserted and fixed in position. The covering film 1 with the increases 2 that with an inlay 16 are filled in, with the inlays over the bottom of the slide 1 protrude, will be on top of the spacer layer 6 laminated so that the protruding inlays 16 into the recesses for the snap disks and inlays 16 protrude and so through the lateral radiation from the LEDs 11 point and / or area lighting of the touch panel with the help of the inlays 16 is achieved. The side of the covering film facing the user 1 has crests on the outside 5 . 6 on.

Claims (20)

Full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with spot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces , characterized in that the outside of the film has a decorative 3-D design, which is achieved by a deep-drawing process and / or Thermoforming process of the design and / or front film is achieved and the increase obtained by these processes is coated on the back and / or filled with inlays, the coating and / or inlays projecting over the underside of the film. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to claim 1, characterized in that and the coating with a solvent-free, low-viscosity, crystal-clear and / or colored polymeric coating material and / or with polyurethane is, the coating material by UV radiation transparent and very flexible coating with three-dimensional Effect and high brilliance results. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that inlays made of elastically diffuse and / or elastically transparent Material are used. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that as films polycarbonate films and / or polyester films and / or Polyurethane films are used. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that for point and / or ring and / or surface illumination of the touch fields one and / or more identical and / or different colored LEDs for Come into play. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the point and / or ring and / or surface illumination of the touch fields by irradiating the LEDs from the side into the protruding one Coating and / or inlays is achieved. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the design and / or front film is printed on the back forth. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the foils are matt structured and / or selectively matt at the factory are structured. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that the film is shiny and / or at the factory selectively shiny is. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inlays as injection molded parts and / or Laser parts are made. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that that as a thermoforming process, vacuum deep drawing and / or positive molding and / or match mold shapes and / or pressure stretching dies and / or vacuum positive dies used become. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the 3-D design through increases in Form of spherical caps and / or tops is executed. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tops of membrane keyboards and / or foil-covered keyboards the buttons are arranged. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the tips optical lens effects have and / or are designed as holding aids. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the crests via signal lights and / or LED are arranged. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the crests are elastic. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the summits are circular or are oval and of the shape of a spherical element. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the summits are rectangular in plan or are square and flat at the top, and at the edge an approximately 90 ° curvature of convex shape to have. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the summits are rounded-rectangular in plan or rounded-square and flat at the top, and on the edge an approximately 90 ° - convex curvature To have shape. full-surface and / or partially segmented 3-D-shaped film with dot and / or surface illumination for operating and / or design surfaces any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the 3-D design in the form of lettering and Logos are designed with 3-dimensional effect, the shape of the Logos can be designed freely.