JP2003346590A - Key top mounting structure - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a key top mounting structure which can reduce the number of components and can be decreased in size and thickness. <P>SOLUTION: The key top mounting structure comprises: deflecting parts 31, 37 provided on a film plate 20 having flexibility so that the plate 20 is fixed onto a mounting base 10 in the state that the parts 31, 37 are deflected upward in an arc state; and a key top 60 mounted on the parts 31, 37. Thus, the top 60 is vertically movably supported to the plate 20. The plate 20 includes a switch contact S, the parts 31, 37 disposed at both sides of the contact S, and a pressing part 61 installed on an inverting plate 50 on the contact S to constitute a switch mechanism. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key top mounting structure in which a key top is installed on a film plate such as a flexible switch substrate.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a switch mechanism in which a key top is provided on a switch board is, for example, as shown in FIG.
A switch board 110 made of a film board is mounted on the base 100, and a key top 130 is provided on an inversion plate 121 of a switch contact 120 provided on the switch board 110. Here, the key top 130 is connected to the frame 135 via a hinge 131 integrally formed therewith. When the key top 130 is pressed, the hinge 131 is bent and lowered, whereby the reversing plate 121 is reversed and the switch contact 120 is turned on.

However, in the switch mechanism having the above-described structure, since the hinge 131 is made of molded resin, a predetermined length is required for the hinge 131 to be easily bent. 13
Since 1 requires durability and cannot be made so thin, there is a limit in reducing the thickness of the switch mechanism.

Therefore, as shown in FIG.
A switch mechanism in which the key top 130 and the frame 135 are connected by the hinge plate 137 instead of the hinge plate 137 made of a flexible resin film is also considered. With this configuration, the key top 1
Even if the distance between the frame 30 and the frame body 135 is short, the hinge plate 137 is easily bent and its thickness is small, so that the size and thickness of the switch mechanism can be reduced.

However, this switch mechanism requires the hinge plate 137, so that the number of parts increases and the cost of parts increases. Further, there has been a demand for further miniaturization and thinning of the switch mechanism.

[0006]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a key top mounting structure capable of reducing the number of parts and reducing the size and thickness.

[0007]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a key top mounting structure according to the present invention has a flexible film plate provided with a bent portion, and the bent portion is bent upward. In this state, the film plate is fixed to the fixed member, and the key top is attached to the bent portion bent upward, whereby the key top is supported to be vertically movable with respect to the film plate.

Further, the present invention is characterized in that a switch mechanism is provided by providing a switch contact on the film plate and placing a pressing portion of a key top attached to the bending portion facing the switch contact. .

Thus, the present structure can be easily manufactured by using a single film plate as a mechanical hinge and an electric circuit board.

In particular, it is preferable that the bending portions are provided on both sides of the switch contact, the key tops are attached to the bending portions, and the pressing portions are provided between both mounting portions of the key tops.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a switch mechanism using a key top mounting structure according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the switch mechanism is mounted on a fixed member (hereinafter referred to as “mounting base”) 10.
A film plate 20, a reversing plate 50, and a key top 60 are attached. Hereinafter, each component will be described.

The mounting base 10 is made of a rigid synthetic resin plate and has four small projection-shaped fixing portions 11, 1 at predetermined positions.
2, 13, and 14 are provided.

The film plate 20 is provided with a switch contact S on the upper surface of a flexible synthetic resin film (for example, polyethylene terephthalate film) 21, and a pair of bent portions 31, 37 on both sides of the switch contact S. It is configured. The switch contact S is the central contact pattern S
1 and a ring-shaped contact pattern S2 surrounding the periphery thereof. Leading patterns 23 and 27 are drawn from both contact patterns S1 and S2, respectively. An insulating pattern 25 is covered on a part of the lead pattern 23 that is drawn from the contact pattern S1. The bending portions 31 and 37 are formed in a band shape by cutting the film 21 into a substantially “U” shape, thereby forming one end (tip) thereof.
Is a free end a1, and the other end (end) is a fixed end a2. Mounting portions 33, 35, 39, 4 each formed of a small hole are provided at the distal end and the central portion of each bending portion 31, 37, respectively.
1 is provided. On the other hand, the bending portion 31, of the film 21,
Attachment parts 43 and 45 consisting of small holes at predetermined positions other than 37
Is provided.

The reversing plate 50 is a movable contact plate in this embodiment. The reversing plate 50 is formed of a resilient metal plate in a dome shape, and its outer periphery is formed to have a size to be mounted on the contact pattern S2.

The key top 60 is formed by molding a synthetic resin into a substantially disk shape.
A pressing portion 61 for pressing 0 is provided, and small protrusion-like fixing portions 63 and 65 are provided on both sides of the pressing portion 61.

In order to assemble the switch mechanism, first, the reversing plate 50 is connected to the contact pattern S of the film plate 20.
2 Next, key top 60 is attached to film plate 2
And the fixing portions 63 and 65 provided on the key top 60 are attached to the mounting portions 35 provided on the bending portions 31 and 37.
41 and fixed by heat caulking on the back side. Next, the film plate 20 is placed on the mounting table 10, and the fixing portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the mounting table 10 are
No. 0 is inserted into each of the mounting portions 33, 39, 43, and 45, and the tip is fixed by heat caulking. Thus, the switch mechanism shown in FIG. 2 is completed.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where the key top 60 is removed from the assembled switch mechanism. As shown in FIG. 3, both bending portions 31 and 37 are fixed to the mounting base 10 in a state of bending upward in an arc shape. That is, the film plate 20 is fixed on the mounting base 10 by the fixing portions 13 and 14, whereby the fixed ends a2 and a of the bending portions 31 and 37 are fixed.
2 has a fixed position on the mounting base 10, while the free end a
The fixing portions 1 and a1 are slightly shifted toward the fixing ends a2 and a2 to be fixed, so that the bending portions 31 and 37 are bent upward.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line AA of the switch mechanism shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, the key top 60 is installed so as to be located slightly above the switch contact S provided on the film plate 20 by the bending portion 31 (37). 50 abuts. When the key top 60 is pressed, the bending portion 3
1 (37) is deformed and lowered, and the pressing portion 61 presses the reversing plate 50 to reverse it, and turns on the contact patterns S1 and S2 of the switch contact S. When the pressing on the key top 60 is released, the key top 60 is automatically returned to the original position by the elastic return force of the bending portion 31 (37) and the elastic return force of the reversing plate 50, and the switch contact S is turned off.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a switch mechanism using a key top mounting structure according to another embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing an assembled switch mechanism. In this switch mechanism, the same or corresponding parts as those of the switch mechanism are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof will be omitted. This switch mechanism is also configured by mounting a film plate 20, a reversing plate 50, and a key top 60 on a fixed-side member (hereinafter, referred to as a "mounting base") 10.

The difference between this embodiment and the above embodiment is the structure of the film plate 20. That is, in the film plate 20 of this embodiment, two surfaces (a switch contact forming surface 28 and a bent portion forming surface 29) are provided on a flexible synthetic resin film 21 and these two surfaces 28, 29 are bent along a bending line K. The point is that it is configured to be bent at a part.
The switch contact forming surface 28 is provided with mounting portions 47, 48, and 49 each including three small holes.
Attachment parts 51, 52, 53 consisting of two small holes are provided. By providing a hole (may be a notch) 54 inside the bending portion forming surface 29, the band-shaped portions on both sides thereof are formed as bending portions 31 and 37. Mounting portions 35 and 41 are provided in both bending portions 31 and 37. The distance L2 between the mounting portions 51, 52 and the mounting portion 53 of the bending portion forming surface 29 is slightly longer than the distance L1 between the mounting portions 47, 48 and the mounting portion 49 of the switch contact forming surface 28. (L1 <L2).

A key top 60 is mounted on the lower surface side of the bending portion forming surface 29 in the same manner as in the above embodiment, a reversing plate 50 is mounted on the switch contact S, and the switch contact forming surface 28 is mounted on the mounting base 10. The fixing portions 11, 12, 13 provided on the mounting base 10 are inserted into the mounting portions 47, 48, 49, and further, as shown in FIG.
8, the bending portion forming surface 29 is folded back and overlapped to fix the fixing portion 1.
The switch mechanism is completed by inserting the fixing portions 11, 12, and 13 into the mounting portions 51, 52, and 53 and thermally caulking the tips of the fixing portions 11, 12, and 13, respectively. At this time, since there is a relationship of L1 <L2, the bending portions 31 and 37 bend upward.

With this configuration, the external dimensions of the film plate 20 to which the key top 60 is mounted can be further reduced.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the claims and the technical idea described in the specification and the drawings. Is possible. Note that any shape, structure, or material not directly described in the specification and drawings is within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention as long as the effects and effects of the present invention are exhibited. For example, in the above embodiment, a pair of bending portions is provided, but one or three or more bending portions may be provided.

In the above embodiment, the film plate 20 is provided as a switch substrate by providing the switch contact S on the film plate 20. However, the switch contact S is not necessarily provided on the film plate 20, and By separately arranging a switch board or the like on the side, the film plate 20 may have only a holding function of fixing the key top 60 so as to be vertically movable. In the above embodiment, the switch is configured by installing the reversing plate 50 on the switch contact S. However, the reversing plate 50 may be omitted in some cases. In this case, a switch is formed by providing a conductive layer on the lower surface of the pressing portion 61 of the key top 60, or the like. Further, depending on the structure of the switch, the reversing plate 50 may be used as a click plate instead of a movable contact plate.

[0025]

As described in detail above, the present invention has the following effects. Since the key top mounting structure can be configured simply by fixing the key top to the bending portion provided on the film plate, the structure and assembly are simple, and the number of parts can be reduced.

Since the bending portion is located below the key top, the size can be reduced.

Since the bending portion is a part of the film plate and can be formed thin, the thickness can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a switch mechanism using a key top mounting structure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a switch mechanism.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state where a key top 60 is removed from a switch mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the switch mechanism shown in FIG. 2 taken along the line AA.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a conventional switch mechanism.

FIG. 6 is a view showing a conventional switch mechanism.

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view showing a switch mechanism using a key top mounting structure according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing a state where the switch mechanism shown in FIG. 7 is assembled.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 Mounting base (fixed side member) 11, 12, 13, 14 Fixed part 20 film board 21 Film S switch contact S1, S2 contact pattern 23, 27 withdrawal pattern 31, 37 Flexure a1 free end a2 Fixed end 33, 35, 39, 41, 43, 45 mounting part 50 reversing plate 60 key top 61 Pressing part

Continuation of front page    F term (reference) 5G006 AA02 AB25 AC07 BA01 BA02                       BA09 BB03 BC04 CB09 CD04                       DB03 FB04 LB01

Claims (2)

[Claims] A flexible film plate is provided with a bent portion, and the film plate is fixed to a fixed member in a state where the bent portion is bent upward, and the bent portion bent upward. A key-top mounting structure characterized by supporting the key-top up and down with respect to the film plate by mounting the key-top. 2. A switch mechanism comprising: a switch contact provided on the film plate; and a pressing portion of a key top attached to the bending portion is installed facing the switch contact. 1. The key top mounting structure according to 1.