JP2005093336A - Cover member for push-button switch - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cover member for a push-button switch which is not easily damaged by suppressing shape limitation to the minimum, improving the transparency of a push-button, and improving the surface hardness of the button. <P>SOLUTION: In this cover member 1 for the push-button switch wherein a decorated acrylic resin film 12 is arranged between a push-button 11 and a base material for supporting the push-button 11. The acrylic resin film 12 is transparent, and an adhesive surface with the base material of the acrylic resin film 12 is decorated. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is used as a part in mobile communication devices such as mobile phones and automobile phones, home phones, electronic notebooks, measuring devices, in-vehicle switches, remote controllers, computers, data input devices and switch devices of personal computers, and the like. The present invention relates to a pushbutton switch cover member, and more particularly, to a pushbutton switch cover member excellent in visibility such as a symbol or a shape of a symbol or a pattern.

  At present, as a cover member for a push button switch of a mobile communication device such as a mobile phone or a car phone, mainly an adhesion type of an injection molded resin push button and a rubber sheet shown in FIG. ), A film-molded push button and a rubber sheet bonding type described in FIG. 1 of Patent Document 2 (hereinafter referred to as Type 2), and an integrated type of the film-molded push button and rubber sheet illustrated in FIG. It is classified into three types of type 3).

  The injection-molded resin push button used in Type 1 is characterized in that the front or back surface is decorated with a combination of painting, printing, plating, vapor deposition, and laser cutting.

  In addition, the film forming pushbuttons used in types 2 and 3 are characterized in that they are decorated by a combination of printing, vapor deposition, and etching on the back or front surface of the film.

  Furthermore, pushbutton materials used in types 1 to 3 include ABS, PET, and the like, but these materials have certain limitations on formability, transparency, and surface hardness.

  In the case of the adhesive type of the push button and the base material such as type 1 or 2, when the push button switch cover member is incorporated in the outer case, it is necessary to form a flange (鍔) to prevent the push button from coming off. Further, in order to meet the needs for convenience when carrying such as downsizing and thinning of the above-described cellular phone, the cover member for the push button switch needs to be thinner, and the thickness of the flange is, for example, about 0.2 mm. It is requested. However, in the case of Type 1, it is technically difficult to mold the injection molding resin itself such as ABS and PET to a thickness of 0.2 mm or less.

  Further, in the case of types 2 and 3, since the decorated film is drawn into a three-dimensional push button shape, there are many dimensional constraints. In addition, since the decorated print layer may be deformed, there is a problem that there are more restrictions on the decoration content than the resin molded push button.

  Furthermore, in the case of types 2 and 3, the method of decorating the film uses screen printing or the like, but there is a problem that the printing position and the printing shape vary due to variations in the heat shrinkage rate of the film and variations in the shape of the drawing process. .

By the way, ABS, PET, etc., which are the materials of the above push buttons, cannot increase the transparency because the total light transmittance is about 85%, and the surface hardness is in the range of B to H with pencil hardness (conforming to JIS K5400). There is also a problem that it is easily damaged.
Japanese Patent No. 2893445 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-213892 JP-A-11-126536

  Provided is a cover member for a pushbutton switch which is hard to be damaged by minimizing the shape limitation by increasing the flange of the injection-molded resin pushbutton, increasing the transparency of the pushbutton, and further increasing the surface hardness of the pushbutton. Also provided is a pushbutton switch cover member with improved print quality on the film.

The invention according to claim 1 is a cover member for a pushbutton switch in which a decorated acrylic resin film is disposed between a pushbutton and a base material for supporting the pushbutton.
The acrylic resin film is transparent, and a surface of the acrylic resin film bonded to the base material is decorated.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that the push button is an acrylic resin.

  The invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that the decoration on the adhesive surface is formed by digital printing.

  The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that, in the decoration on the adhesive surface, the shape is corrected in advance according to the shrinkage rate of the acrylic resin film.

  The invention according to claim 5 is characterized in that, in addition to the configuration according to claim 3, prior color correction corresponding to the degree of yellowing is performed in the decoration on the adhesive surface.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, in the pushbutton switch cover member in which the decorated acrylic resin film is disposed between the pushbutton and the base material for supporting the pushbutton, the acrylic resin film is transparent. In addition, since the decorative surface of the acrylic resin film with the base material is decorated, it is easy to reduce the thickness of the bag. Therefore, it is possible to provide a push button switch cover member that is reduced in size and thickness.

  According to invention of Claim 2, in addition to the effect of Claim 1, since the said pushbutton is an acrylic resin, since an adhesive agent is unnecessary with the same material as the film for decoration, more Thinning of the bag becomes easy. In addition, since the push button has a high surface hardness, it is possible to provide a push button switch cover member that is not easily damaged. Furthermore, since the push button and the film are highly transparent, a highly visible push button switch cover member can be provided.

  According to the invention of claim 3, in addition to the effect of claim 1 or 2, since the decoration on the adhesive surface is formed by digital printing, the cover for a pushbutton switch having high design A member can be provided.

  According to the invention described in claim 4, in addition to the effect described in claim 3, in the decoration on the adhesive surface, the shape correction is performed in advance according to the shrinkage rate of the acrylic resin film, so printing A high-quality pushbutton switch cover member can be provided.

  According to the fifth aspect of the invention, in addition to the effect of the third aspect, in the decoration on the adhesive surface, the advance color correction according to the degree of yellowing is performed, so that the push button with higher print quality is obtained. A switch cover member can be provided.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.
Embodiment 1 of the Invention

  1 to 3 show a first embodiment of the present invention.

  FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a pushbutton switch cover member according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

  First, the configuration of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

  The pushbutton switch cover member 1 includes a pushbutton 11 for pressing, a printing sheet 10 under the pushbutton 11, and a silicone rubber base material 16 for supporting the pushbutton 11.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of FIG.

  The print sheet 10 includes a receiving layer 13, a print layer 14, and a protective layer 15 for protecting the print layer 14.

  The push button 11 and the print sheet 10 are preferably made of a transparent member so that the decorated print layer 14 can be identified.

  FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram of on-demand printing. The printer 21 connected to the on-demand printing computer 22 has read data relating to shape correction and color correction. By receiving an instruction from the on-demand printing computer 22 and executing printing for producing the printing sheet 10, the shape and color correction of the printing layer 14 can be easily performed at the time of decoration.

Hereinafter, although shape correction and color correction during on-demand printing according to the present invention will be described in detail, the present invention is not limited to this.
[Example 1]

  In order to perform shape correction, shape correction data of lot-to-lot variation in thermal shrinkage during processing of the printing film 12 was collected in advance.

  Specifically, two lots of acrylic resin films (trade names: Technoloy S001: manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., thickness 125 μm) with different production lots were cut into 120 mm × 120 mm with a cutter (JIS K7133) Film 1 and Film 2 It was. Here, the film 1 corresponds to a film used as a reference when performing shape correction, and the film 2 corresponds to a printing film that actually performs shape correction. At this time, an arrow is attached so that the longitudinal direction and the width direction of the roll film can be understood. In addition, ten films (1, 5 steps) were prepared for each of the films 1 and 2 in total.

  Next, a 30 mm long cut was made so that the marked line distance was 100 mm in each of the MDi direction (longitudinal direction) and the TDi direction (width direction) of the films 1 and 2. Here, i = 1, 2, which is a subscript corresponding to films 1 and 2.

  Furthermore, a hot-air circulating dryer (trade name DX400: manufactured by Yamato Scientific Co., Ltd.) was used for a total of 4 films 1 and 2 films 2 at 90, 110, 130, 150, and 160 ° C. The sheet was put in, heated for 10 minutes, and left at room temperature for 1 hour. Thereafter, the distance between the marked lines in the MDi direction and the TDi direction was measured using a caliper (trade name CD-S20CT: manufactured by Mitutoyo Corporation).

Here, MDi direction shrinkage (%) of _Y MDi, the TDi direction shrinkage rate (%) and _{Y TDi,} can each expressed as follows.

Y _MDi = ((Distance between marked lines between MDi after test−Distance between marked lines between MDi before test) / (Distance between marked lines between MDi after test)) × 100

Y _TDi = ((Distance between marked lines between TDi after test−Distance between marked lines between TDi before test) / (Distance between marked lines between TDi after test)) × 100

The shrinkage rate (%) at each temperature was measured according to the above formula. Next, Y _MDi (X) and Y _TDi (X) at a temperature of X ° C. were determined by the method of least squares. That is, the inclination ( _aMDi , _aTDi ) and the intercept ( _bMDi , _bTDi ) were _{calculated |} required as _YMDi (X) = _aMDiX + _bMDi and _YTDi (X) = _aTDiX + _bTDi .

  Since the curing temperature of the adhesive used for bonding the push button 11 and the printing sheet 10 in the mass production process is 110 ° C., the heat shrinkage rate at 110 ° C. is obtained by substituting X into MD2 and TD2 based on MD1 and TD1. The shrinkage ratio was calculated.

  Next, actual production using the obtained shape correction data will be described.

  The printed film 12 was cut into an acrylic resin film A4 plate of the lot of the film 2, and this was set in a sublimation type transfer printer 21 (trade name color printer Trueprint 3500: manufactured by JVC) shown in FIG.

  Next, as the receiving layer 13, a vinyl acetate resin (trade name JP-D304F: manufactured by JVC) was set in the printer 21 and printed on an acrylic resin film.

  In forming the printing layer 14, a sublimation color ink ribbon (trade name JP-T340I: manufactured by Victor Company of Japan) is set in the printer 21 in order to further print the number “1” on the receiving layer 13. Then, from the reference value selection screen of the on-demand printing computer 22, the same production lot as the current reference film 1 is selected, and physical property data related to this production lot is read from a database connected to the computer 22. Further, the shrinkage rate obtained by using the above-described method was input, digital processing was performed, and the pattern was corrected before printing.

  Further, as the protective layer 15, a thermal transfer overcoat ink ribbon (trade name JP-T340I: manufactured by Victor Co., Ltd.) made of polyester resin is set on the printer 21 and printed so as to protect the printing layer 14, A printed sheet 10 was produced.

  In order to bond the printed sheet 10 and the push button 11 formed by an injection molding machine (trade name NS40-5A type: manufactured by Nissei Plastic Industry Co., Ltd.), a UV adhesive (trade name Chemiseal U-403: Chemtech Co., Ltd.) )) Was applied with an air dispenser, the push button 11 made of polycarbonate resin was placed on top, and UV was irradiated from the push button 11 side as a UV lamp at a metal halide lamp of 120 w / m, an irradiation distance of 15 cm, and an irradiation time of 15 seconds. Further, the printing sheet 10 and the silicone rubber base material 16 were bonded to produce the pushbutton switch cover member 1.

  In this embodiment, the thickness of the acrylic resin has been described by taking 125 μm as an example, but it may be 70 μm to 250 μm.

The printed layer 14 of the obtained pushbutton switch cover member 1 was prepared by performing digital processing in advance to correct the shrinkage rate of the base film even if the lot of the base film was changed. The cover member 1 for the push button switch that was held could be obtained.
[Example 2]

  Two lots of acrylic resin films (trade names: Technoloy S001: manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd., thickness: 125 μm) having different production lots were cut into 120 mm × 120 mm with a cutter (JIS K7133), and film 1 and film 2 were obtained. Here, the film 1 corresponds to a film used as a reference when performing shape correction, and the film 2 corresponds to a printing film that actually performs shape correction. Each was cut into 120 mm × 120 mm with a cutter (JIS K7133), and the yellowing degree (ΔYID) was measured according to JIS Z8709 using a spectrocolorimeter (trade name CM-3700d type: manufactured by Minolta Co., Ltd.). The yellowing degree (ΔYID) between lots of film 1 and film 2 was obtained.

  In forming the printing layer 14, a sublimation color ink ribbon (trade name JP-T340I: manufactured by Victor Company of Japan) is set in the printer 21 in order to further print the number “1” on the receiving layer 13. Then, from the reference value selection screen of the on-demand printing computer 22, the same production lot as that of the film 1 is selected, and physical property data related to this production lot is read from the database connected to the computer 22, and further obtained. The difference in yellowing degree was input, color correction was performed by digitization processing, and printing was performed.

  Using the injection molding machine of Example 1, an acrylic molten resin (trade name Acrypet VH: Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd.) for arranging the printing sheet 10 on the core side of the mold and molding the printing sheet 10 and the push button 11 ), Integrated in the mold and gate-cut, and then the molded product in which the push button 11 and the print sheet 10 are integrated is taken out of the mold, and the ridge protruding from the outer shape of the push button 11 The printing sheet 10 was punched out in a state where the film forming push button 11 was produced. In this case, since no adhesive is required, manufacturing cost can be reduced. In addition, since the bag is formed using the printing sheet 10, it can easily cope with a design requirement of 0.2 mm thick compared with the injection molded resin push button (type 1) described in the background art. Can do. Further, the printing sheet 10 and the silicone rubber base material 16 were bonded to produce the pushbutton switch cover member 1.

  The printed layer 14 of the obtained pushbutton switch cover member 1 is produced by performing digital processing in advance for color correction of the base film even if the lot of the base film changes, so that the push button has a beautiful color and high print quality. The switch cover member 1 could be obtained.

  In Examples 1 and 2 described above, the shrinkage rate and yellowing degree of the reference film and the film actually used for printing are calculated in advance and obtained as correction values. Or a standard film value calculated using the film used so far as a population may be selected as a reference to perform shape correction or color correction.

  Also, as shown in FIG. 4, the reference pattern 31 printed on the reference print film 12a and the uncorrected pattern 32 printed on the print film 12b and read by the scanner are called to the on-demand printing computer 22, You may correct | amend, adjusting a shrinkage expansion value so that the pattern 32 before correction | amendment may correspond with the reference | standard pattern 31. FIG. By performing shape correction by such a method, it is possible to obtain the pushbutton switch member 1 with higher print quality without performing the measurement / calculation of the shrinkage rate of the film as described above. In the color correction, the push button switch member 1 with higher print quality can be obtained by visual correction using the same method.

  Further, the reference pattern 31 and the uncorrected pattern 32 may be cut out by digital processing, and a program capable of matching the reference pattern 31 and the uncorrected pattern 32 may be set in advance to automatically perform shape correction. In this case, human work can be reduced as compared with visual shape correction. Similarly, color correction may be performed by an automation program.

  In the present invention, a printing layer 14 may be formed on the top surface of the push button 11 as shown in FIG. In this case, decoration with a three-dimensional effect can be performed by separately performing decorative printing on the printing sheet 10 and the printing layer 14.

It is sectional drawing of the cover member for pushbutton switches which concerns on Embodiment 1 of this invention. It is a principal part enlarged view of FIG. 1 which concerns on the same Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram at the time of on-demand printing according to the first embodiment. It is explanatory drawing of the shape correction | amendment at the time of on-demand printing which concerns on the same Embodiment 1. FIG. It is sectional drawing of the cover member for pushbutton switches which concerns on the same Embodiment 1. FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Cover member for pushbutton switches 10 Print sheet 11 Pushbutton 12 Print film 13 Receiving layer 14 Print layer 15 Protective layer 16 Silicone rubber substrate 21 Printer 22 On-demand printing computer 31 Reference pattern 32 Pattern before correction

Claims (5)

In the pushbutton switch cover member in which the decorated acrylic resin film is arranged between the pushbutton and the base material for supporting the pushbutton,
The cover member for a push button switch, wherein the acrylic resin film is transparent, and a surface of the acrylic resin film bonded to the base material is decorated. The pushbutton switch cover member according to claim 1, wherein the pushbutton is made of an acrylic resin. The pushbutton switch cover member according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the decoration on the adhesive surface is formed by digital printing. The pushbutton switch cover member according to claim 3, wherein in the decoration on the adhesive surface, the shape is corrected in advance according to the shrinkage rate of the acrylic resin film. The pushbutton switch cover member according to claim 3, wherein in the decoration on the adhesive surface, prior color correction is performed according to the degree of yellowing.

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