JP2006092907A - Pushing switch mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve operability of a pushing switch mechanism of a kind generating a click feeling with the use of an elastic material, by making the click feeling clearer while maintaining at a high level a peak load right before generation of the click feeling. <P>SOLUTION: An elastic material 20 is made intercalated between a switch knob 14 receiving a pushing operation and a circuit board 18 having a board-side contact. The elastic material 20 includes a base spread on the circuit board 18, a pressure displacement part 24 displaced in a pushing operation direction inside through-holes 22a, 22b, and a coupling part 26 coupling the base 22 with the pressure displacement part 24, of which, the coupling part 26 is to generate a click feeling by allowing the pressure displacement part 24 to displace itself by bending deformation and deform in buckling as the displacement reaches a certain volume. A plurality of pairs of the coupling parts 26 and the pressure displacement parts 24 are fitted for one switch knob 14, whereby, a click feeling is improved through thinning of the coupling parts while securing the peak load right before generation of the buckling deformation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a push switch mechanism provided on an operation panel of an automobile or the like.

  Conventionally, as an operation mechanism provided in an instrument panel or the like of an automobile, a pressing displacement portion made of an elastic material such as rubber is interposed between an operation member that receives a pressing operation and a contact point of a circuit board disposed on the back side thereof. In addition, there has been known one in which a click feeling is generated by using elastic deformation of the elastic material when the operation member is operated.

  As an example, FIG. 5 shows the shape of an elastic material used in the switch mechanism described in Patent Document 1 below. The illustrated elastic material has a plate-like base 1, and this base 1 is disposed on a circuit board (not shown). The base 1 is provided with a circular through hole 5, and a columnar pressing displacement portion 6 is arranged in an area inside the through hole 5, and the pressing displacement portion 6 is connected to the through hole 5 via the connecting portion 2. Connected to the peripheral edge of the upper end. The connecting portion 2 is thin and has a truncated cone shape with a small thickness t, and is inclined by an angle α with respect to the axial direction of the pressing displacement portion 6, that is, the pressing operation direction.

  In the figure, the upper end of the pressing displacement portion 6 is an operation member side contact portion 3 that contacts an operation member (not shown) (for example, a switch knob provided on the operation panel), and the lower end is a contact point provided on the circuit board. It is set as the movable contact part 4 which contact | abuts. The shape and position of the connecting portion 2 are set so that the movable contact portion 4 of the pressing displacement portion 6 is separated from the contact on the circuit board by a distance δ in an undeformed state as illustrated. .

  In this structure, when an operation member (not shown) is pressed, the pressing displacement portion 6 starts to be displaced downward in the drawing while the connecting portion 2 is bent and deformed by the pressing force, and the displacement reaches a certain amount. When the connecting portion 2 buckles at this stage, the pressing load is suddenly reduced to give the operator a click feeling. Then, the movable contact portion 4 of the pressing displacement portion 6 reaches the contact on the circuit board, and the switch is switched by applying a pressing force as it is.

  The relationship between the pressing stroke and the pressing load at this time is shown in FIG. In the figure, the pressing resistance is large at the initial pressing stage, and the increasing rate of the pressing load with respect to the pressing stroke is large. However, when the pressing stroke reaches S1, buckling occurs in the connecting portion 2, and the pressing load decreases rapidly. By doing so, a feeling of clicking is given to the operator. Specifically, the pressing load suddenly decreases from the pressing load F0 at the time of buckling to the minimal load F1 regardless of an increase in pressing stroke from the time when the buckling occurs. In this way, when the pressing stroke reaches S2 equal to the distance δ, the movable contact portion 4 of the pressing displacement portion 6 contacts the contact of the circuit board, and thereafter, until the final stroke S3 is reached. The pressing load greatly jumps from F1 to the final value F2. The relationship between the pressing stroke and the pressing load in this final region (the region where the pressing stroke is S2 to S3) is almost equal to the elastic deformation characteristic of the pressing displacement portion 6.

Thereafter, when the pressing of the operation member is released, the pressing displacement portion 6 returns to the initial position shown in FIG. 5 by the elastic return force of the elastic material itself. In this case, as shown in FIG. The relationship between the pressure load and the pressing load reverses along a trajectory similar to the trajectory during the pressing operation.
JP-A-7-2012249

  In the switch mechanism, in order to make the click feeling due to buckling of the connecting portion 2 clearer, the drop (F0-F1) between the load F0 immediately before the buckling occurrence and the subsequent minimal load F1 should be increased as much as possible. . As means for enlarging such a load drop, it is conceivable to a) reduce the thickness t of the connecting portion 2 or b) reduce the inclination angle α of the connecting portion 2 with respect to the axial direction.

  However, when the wall thickness t of the connecting portion 2 is reduced, the peak load F0 immediately before the occurrence of buckling (that is, immediately before the click feeling is generated) is reduced by that much, giving a sufficient operational feeling to the operator. It becomes difficult. Further, if the inclination angle α with respect to the axial direction of the connecting portion 2 is too small, buckling may not occur, and there is a limit in setting the inclination angle α to be small.

  In view of such circumstances, the present invention provides a push switch mechanism that uses an elastic material to generate a click feeling, and operates with a clear click feeling while maintaining a high peak load immediately before the click feeling is generated. The purpose is to improve the performance.

  As means for solving the above-described problems, the present invention provides an operation member that is provided on an operation panel and receives a pressing operation, a circuit board that is disposed on the back side of the operation panel and has a substrate-side contact, An elastic material having a movable contact corresponding to a substrate-side contact of the circuit board, the elastic material having a shape spreading on the circuit board. A base having a through hole penetrating in the thickness direction and a shape that can be inserted into the through hole, and a pressing force applied to the operation member interposed between the operation member and the circuit board And a connecting portion for connecting the pressing displacement portion and the base to hold the pressing displacement portion at a position away from the circuit board. , Bending of the connecting part The pressure displacement portion is allowed to displace in the operation direction of the operation member by deformation and reach the circuit board, and a click feeling is generated by buckling deformation when the displacement reaches a certain amount. The operation member is provided with a plurality of the through-holes, the pressing displacement portion, and the connecting portion, and the movable member is provided on at least one pressing displacement portion of the plurality of pressing displacement portions. A contact is provided, and the substrate-side contact is provided at a position where it can come into contact with the movable contact.

  According to this configuration, since a plurality of pressing displacement portions and connecting portions are provided for one operating member, the peak load immediately before the connecting portions buckle is kept high even if the thickness of each connecting portion is reduced. Further, by reducing the thickness of the connecting portion, the load drop from the peak load to the minimal load after occurrence of buckling can be enlarged, and thereby the click feeling can be made clearer. That is, according to this configuration, it is possible to achieve both a clear click feeling and a high peak load.

  Here, in order to provide a plurality of pressing displacement portions and connecting portions for one operating member, for example, a plurality of elastic materials having a single pressing displacement portion and connecting portion may be provided for one operating member. However, if one elastic member is provided for one operation member, and the through hole, the pressing displacement portion, and the connecting portion are provided at a plurality of locations on the base of the elastic member, The number of parts can be reduced to simplify the structure and facilitate the assembly work.

  Further, the location where the connecting portion is connected to the base can be set as appropriate, but the connecting portion is connected to a location on the inner side of the through hole on the back side from the opening on the operation member side, If the thickness of the base is larger than the distance from the location to the back of the base, the distance from the connection location to the back of the base is reduced to reduce the amount of compressive deformation of this portion, and the entire base By securing a large thickness and increasing its strength, it is possible to effectively prevent the connecting portion between the base and the connecting portion from being displaced in the pressing direction (that is, to escape) due to elastic deformation of the elastic material during the pressing operation. Thus, the pressing stroke in which the buckling of the connecting portion occurs can be stabilized.

  As described above, according to the present invention, in the press switch mechanism that generates a click feeling using an elastic material, the click feeling is further cleared while maintaining a high peak load immediately before the click feeling is generated. There is an effect that operability can be improved.

  A preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 1 shows an operation panel 10 installed in an automobile or the like. The operation panel 10 is provided with four switch knobs 12, 14, 15, and 16 as operation members that receive a pressing operation.

  These switch knobs 12, 14 to 16 are held on the operation panel 10 so as to be movable in the pressing direction (the depth direction in FIG. 1A and the upward direction in FIG. 1B). Among these, the switch knob 12 has a circular shape when viewed from the front, and switch knobs 14 to 16 are arranged in the circumferential direction so as to surround the switch knob 12, and the entire switch knobs 14 to 16 have a donut shape surrounding the switch knob 12. ing.

  On the other hand, on the back side of the operation panel 10, a circuit board 18 (FIG. 1B) is disposed substantially parallel to the operation panel 10. On the circuit board 18, switch contacts are provided corresponding to the switch knobs 12, 14 to 16, and the drive pin 19 and the switch knobs 12, 14 to 16 are respectively provided between the switch contacts and the switch knobs 12, 14 to 16. An elastic material 20 is interposed.

  The drive pin 19 extends in the pressing operation direction of the switch knobs 12, 14 to 16, and is held by the operation panel 10 so as to be movable in the axial direction. The elastic material 20 is disposed on the surface of the circuit board 18 on the side facing the operation panel 10, and the switch knobs 12, A pressing force of 14 to 16 is transmitted to the circuit board 18.

  Next, the specific structure of each elastic member 20 will be described. Here, the elastic material 20 provided on the back side of the switch knob 14 will be described as an example with reference to FIGS. 2B and 2C and FIG.

  The elastic material 20 is made of an elastic material having an appropriate hardness such as silicone rubber, for example, and includes a base 22, a pressing displacement portion 24, and a connecting portion 26 that connects the pressing displacement portion 24 and the base 22 to each other. Is formed integrally. In addition, as a feature of the push switch mechanism, the drive pins 19 are provided at two positions on the left and right sides of the switch knob 14, and the press displacement portion 24 and the connecting portion 26 correspond to the positions of the drive pins 19. Are also provided at two locations on the left and right of the base 22, and each switch knob 14 includes two drive pins 19, a pressing displacement portion 24, and a connecting portion 26.

  In the present invention, the drive pin 19 is not necessarily provided separately from the operation member such as the switch knob 14. For example, the operation member may be in direct contact with the elastic member 20.

  The base 22 has a plate shape extending on the circuit board 18, and through holes are provided on the left and right sides of the base 22. In the example shown in FIG. 3, each through hole has a panel side (operation member side) through hole 22 a having a diameter Da and a circuit board side through hole 22 b having a diameter Db slightly smaller than that connected in the axial direction. Thus, there is a step at the boundary between the through holes 22a and 22b.

The pressing displacement portion 24 has a substantially cylindrical shape, and has an outer diameter smaller than the hole diameter of the through holes 22a and 22b so as to be inserted into the through holes 22a and 22b. The pressing displacement portion 24 is located at a position interposed between the driving pins 19 and the circuit board 18, and one end in the axial direction of the pressing displacement portion 24 contacts the end portion of the driving pin 19. A pressed portion 24 a is provided, and the other end is a substrate pressing portion 24 b that contacts and separates from the circuit board 18. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the pressed portion 24a is formed in a hollow cylindrical height h surrounding the circular hole of diameter d, the outer diameter D ₂ of the board pressing portions 24b is the outer diameter D of the pressed portion 24a It is set a little smaller than ₁ .

  The connecting portion 26 is thin and has a substantially truncated cone shape with a diameter decreasing toward the panel side (lower side in FIGS. 2B and 2C and left side in FIG. 3). Is connected to a location near the substrate pressing portion 24b on the outer peripheral surface of the pressing displacement portion 24, and the end portion on the circuit board side of the connecting portion 26 passes through the panel side on the inner peripheral surface of the through hole. It is connected to the step portion between the hole 24a and the circuit board side through hole 22b.

  That is, the connecting portion 26 is connected to a position on the inner side of the through holes 22a and 22b on the back side of the opening of the panel side (operation member side) through hole 22a. The thickness t1 (FIG. 3) of the base is larger than the distance up to.

  2B and 3, the connecting portion 26 is not deformed, and the substrate pressing portion 24b of the pressing displacement portion 24 is separated from the circuit board 18 by a distance δ in the axial direction, that is, the pressing direction. As shown, the shape that holds the pressing displacement portion 24 is formed. In addition, the connecting portion 26 is set to have a small thickness t2 and an inclination angle α with respect to the axial direction is secured to such an extent that bending deformation or buckling deformation as will be described later is reliably performed.

  A movable contact made of a carbon thin film or the like is provided on the substrate pressing portion 24b of one of the pressing displacement portions 24 (the right pressing displacement portion 24 in the example of FIG. 1B). Correspondingly, on the circuit board 18 side, a board-side contact 18a is provided at a position where the movable contact of the board pressing portion 24b contacts.

  Next, the operation of this push switch mechanism will be described.

  When the user presses the switch knob 14 from the initial state shown in FIGS. 1 (a), 1 (b), 2 (a), 2 (b) and FIG. 3, the switch knob 14 and the left and right The drive pin 19 is displaced and transmitted from each pin 19 to the pressed portion 24a of the pressing displacement portion 24, whereby the pressing displacement portion 24 is displaced in the pressing direction while the connecting portion 26 is bent. When the displacement reaches a certain amount, the connecting portion 26 is buckled and deformed as shown in FIG. 2 (c). At this time, the pressing load is suddenly reduced to transmit a click feeling to the operator. The pressing displacement portion 24 is rapidly displaced, and the substrate pressing portion 24b reaches the circuit board 18 side. The switch is switched from OFF to ON when the contact pressure between the movable contact of the pressing displacement portion 24 having the movable contact and the corresponding substrate-side contact 18a increases more than a certain level.

  Here, in order to clear the click feeling, as shown in FIG. 6, the drop from the pressing load (peak load) F0 immediately before the occurrence of buckling to the minimal load F1 after the occurrence of buckling is increased. In order to increase this drop, it is only necessary to reduce the wall thickness t2 of the connecting portion 26. Conventionally, however, only one set of the pressing displacement portion 24 and the connecting portion 26 is provided for a single operating member. Therefore, if the wall thickness t2 is reduced, the peak load F0 cannot be kept high. Therefore, there is a significant limitation in reducing the wall thickness t2. On the other hand, in the illustrated pressing switch mechanism, a plurality of sets (two sets in the illustrated example) of pressing displacement portions 24 and connecting portions 26 are provided for one operating member (switch knob 14 in the figure). Even if the wall thickness t2 of the portion 26 is reduced, the peak load F0 immediately before the occurrence of buckling can be kept high by the cooperation of the left and right pressing displacement portions 24 and the connecting portion 26. It becomes possible to achieve both clarification of feeling.

  In particular, the illustrated connecting portion 26 is connected to a position on the back side of the opening on the panel side (operation member side) through hole 22a (stepped portion between the panel side through hole 22a and the circuit board side through hole 22b in the drawing). Since the thickness t1 (FIG. 3) of the base is larger than the distance from the connection location to the base back surface 22c, the thickness t1 of the entire base 22 is secured from the connection location to the base. By suppressing the distance to the back surface 22c and reducing the deformation amount of the portion, the pressing stroke S2 and the pressing load F0 until the connecting portion 26 is buckled by suppressing the displacement of the connecting portion in the pressing direction are further stabilized. It becomes possible.

  In this embodiment, the movable contact is provided on the substrate pressing portion 24b of one of the two pressing displacement portions 24. For example, both the pressing displacement portions 24 are provided. Each of the substrate pressing portions 24b may be provided with a movable contact, and the substrate-side contact 18a may be provided at a position corresponding to each movable contact. In this case, for example, a setting may be made so that the switch is turned on only when both the contacts are closed or when at least one of the contacts is closed.

  In the present invention, the specific number and shape of the pressing displacement portions 24 can be set as appropriate regardless of the specific number or shape. The connecting portion 26 may have any shape as long as it allows the displacement of the pressing displacement portion 24 due to its flexural deformation and causes buckling at an appropriate timing. It may be intermittently arranged in the circumferential direction of the hole.

  The specific material of the elastic member 20 can also be set as appropriate. For example, ethylene propylene rubber (EPDM) or thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) can be applied in addition to the silicone rubber. Generally, an international rubber hardness (JIS K 6253) of about 60 to 70 is preferable.

  First, as a comparative example with respect to the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the pressing displacement portions 24 and the connecting portions 26 for one operating member is one, and the connecting portion 26 is a through hole of the base 22 as shown in FIG. An elastic material 20 'having a shape connected to the peripheral edge of the panel side opening (left side opening in the figure) is set with respect to the inner peripheral surface of 22b. It is not intended to exclude ′.) The specifications of the elastic material 20 'according to this comparative example are as follows.

-Material of elastic material 20 ': Silicone rubber (international rubber hardness 60)
・ Wall thickness t1 of base 22: 1.2 mm
・ Through hole: diameter Db = 5 mm only with circuit board side through hole 22b
-Height dimension H from the base back surface 22c to the top of the press displacement part 24: 5 mm
・ Outer diameter D ₁ of pressed part 24a: 4 mm
・ Inner diameter d of pressed part 24a: 2 mm
・ Outer diameter D ₂ of substrate pressing portion 24b 3 mm
・ Distance δ from the substrate pressing portion 24b to the circuit board 18... 1.2 mm
-Thickness t2 of connecting portion 26 ... 0.36 mm
-Inclination angle α of the connecting portion 26 with respect to the axial direction: 35 °
When a simulation was performed based on such specifications, the following results were obtained for the characteristics of the pressing stroke and the pressing load shown in FIG.

・ Peak load F0 ... 3.0N just before buckling occurs
・ Load drop from peak load F0 to minimal load F1 (F0-F1) ... 1.0N
・ Pressing stroke S1 until buckling occurs: 0.8mm
・ Stroke S2 (= δ) to reach the circuit board: 1.3 mm
・ Final pressing stroke S3 ... 1.8mm
・ Final pressing load F2: 10.0N
On the other hand, as an embodiment of the present invention, the number of pressing displacement portions 24 and connecting portions 26 for one operation member is two, and the connecting portion 26 is a base 22 as shown in FIGS. The following specifications are set for the elastic member 20 having a shape connected to the step portions of the through holes 22a and 22b with respect to the through hole. The material of the elastic material 20, the shape and size of the pressing displacement portion 24, the height dimension H from the base back surface 22c to the top of the pressing displacement portion 24, the distance δ from the substrate pressing portion 24b to the circuit board 18, and the axial direction The inclination angle α of the connecting portion 26 with respect to is exactly the same as in the comparative example.

-Base wall thickness t1 2 mm
-Panel side through-hole 22a diameter Da ... 6.2mm
・ Diameter Db of the through hole 22b on the circuit board side: 5.5 mm
-Thickness t2 of the connecting portion 26 ... 0.27 mm
When a simulation was performed based on such specifications, the following results were obtained for the characteristics of the pressing stroke and the pressing load shown in FIG.

・ Peak load F0 ... 3.0N just before buckling occurs
・ Load drop from peak load F0 to minimum load F1 (F0-F1) ... 1.8N
・ Pressure stroke S1 until buckling occurs: 0.6mm
・ Stroke S2 (= δ) to reach the circuit board: 1.2mm
・ Final pressing stroke S3 ... 1.7mm
・ Final pressing load F2 ... 5.4N
As is apparent from comparison between this embodiment and the comparative example, in this embodiment, the thickness t2 of the connecting portion 26 is set to 0.27 mm, which is larger than the thickness t2 (= 0.36 mm) in the comparative example. Since the thickness is reduced to 0.09 mm, the load drop (F0−F1) can be increased from 1.0N to 1.8N in the comparative example, and the click feeling can be made extremely remarkable. Moreover, since two sets of the press displacement portion 24 and the connecting portion 26 are provided for one operating member, the peak immediately before the occurrence of buckling despite the fact that the thickness t2 of the connecting portion 26 is reduced as described above. The load F0 can be maintained at a load equivalent to that in the comparative example (= 3.0 N).

  Further, in the example, the thickness t1 of the entire base 22 is compared with 1.2 mm of the comparative example while keeping the distance from the connection portion between the connecting portion 26 and the inner peripheral surface of the through hole to the base back surface 22c as short as the comparative example. Can be significantly increased (2 mm in the embodiment), the strength of the base 22 is increased to prevent the connecting portion between the base 22 and the connecting portion 26 from being displaced in the pressing direction (that is, escaping in the pressing direction). Accordingly, the pressing stroke S1 from the start of pressing to the occurrence of buckling can be shortened from 0.8 mm in the comparative example to 0.6 mm, and a click feeling can be generated early.

(A) is a front view of the operation panel provided with the press switch mechanism of the present invention, and (b) is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA of (a). (A) is a front view of the elastic material provided in the said push switch mechanism, (b) is the BB sectional drawing of (a). (C) is sectional drawing equivalent to the said BB sectional drawing, Comprising: It is a figure which shows the state which the connection part of the said elastic material buckled. It is a cross-sectional side view which shows the main dimensions of the said elastic material. It is a cross-sectional side view which shows the main dimensions of the elastic material in a comparative example. It is sectional drawing which shows the shape of the elastic material in the conventional press switch mechanism. It is a graph which shows the relationship between the press stroke of a press switch mechanism using an elastic material, and a press load.

Explanation of symbols

10 Operation panel 12, 14-16 Switch knob (operation member)
18 Circuit board 20 Elastic material 22 Base 22a, 22b Through hole 24 Press displacement part 26 Connection part

Claims (3)

  An operation member that is provided on the operation panel and receives a pressing operation, a circuit board that is disposed on the back side of the operation panel and that has a board-side contact, and is disposed on a surface of the circuit board that faces the operation panel. Provided with an elastic material having a movable contact corresponding to the substrate-side contact of the circuit board, and the elastic material has a base having a through hole penetrating in the thickness direction in a shape spreading on the circuit board. A pressing displacement portion that has a shape that can be inserted into the through hole, and that is interposed between the operation member and the circuit board and transmits a pressing force applied to the operation member to the circuit board side, and A connecting portion that connects the pressing displacement portion and the base and holds the pressing displacement portion at a position spaced apart from the circuit board, the connecting portion being deformed by the bending deformation of the connecting portion; Operation of operation members The operation member has a shape that allows a click feeling by being buckled and deformed when the displacement reaches a certain amount. A plurality of the through holes, the pressing displacement portion, and the connecting portion are provided, and the movable contact is provided in at least one pressing displacement portion of the plurality of pressing displacement portions, and can be contacted with the movable contact A press switch mechanism, wherein the substrate side contact is provided at a position.   The press switch mechanism according to claim 1, wherein one elastic member is disposed for one operation member, and the through hole, the pressing displacement portion, and the connecting portion are provided at a plurality of locations on the base of the elastic member. A press switch mechanism characterized by being provided.   3. The press switch mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the connecting portion is connected to a position on the inner side of the through hole on the back side of the opening on the operation member side from the position to the back surface of the base. A pressure switch mechanism, wherein the thickness of the base is larger than the distance.

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