JP2019061568A - Operation device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an operation device enabling reduction of components in order to obtain a thermal sensation of warmth and coldness when touching an operation button with a finger.SOLUTION: The operation device 1 includes a first operation button 30, a second operation button 31, and third operation buttons 32-39. The first operation button 30 is formed of a material different in thermal conduction from materials for the second operation button 31 and the third operation buttons 32-39, and the second operation button 31 is formed of a material different in thermal conduction from materials for the first operation button 30 and the third operation buttons 32-39.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an operating device for operating an electric device.

  For example, a remote controller for operating an indoor unit of an air conditioner is present in a conventional operation device for an electric device. The remote control includes a plurality of operation buttons for controlling the operation of the air conditioner indoor unit. As the operation buttons, a heating button, a cooling button, a temperature increase button, a temperature decrease button and the like are arranged on the surface of the remote control case.

  Among such operating devices, one having an operating button that feels warm and an operating button that feels cold is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). This is to enable the elderly, the visually impaired, and even in dark places to intuitively recognize what operation button it is when touched with a finger. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for making the operation button feel warm or cold by a heat generating device such as a Peltier element and a cooling device. Moreover, as an example of the operation button arrange | positioned at the control panel of the remote control of an air conditioner, what applied the operation button felt warmly to a temperature rising button and the operation button felt cold is a temperature fall button. By touching the temperature increase button or the temperature decrease button with a finger, it is possible to intuitively recognize what operation button is.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-49459

  However, in the operating device of Patent Document 1, in order to make the operating button feel warm and cold, components such as a heat generating device and a cooling device, and an operating circuit for operating these devices are required. As a result, the structure of the operating device becomes complicated, leading to an increase in cost. In addition, power supply is required to operate the heat generating device and the cooling device.

  SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an operating device capable of realizing reduction in the number of components in order to obtain a thermal sensation of warmth or coldness when touching the operation button with a finger. To aim.

  In order to solve the above problems, the operating device of the present invention has two or more operating buttons, and at least one of the operating buttons is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity different from that of the other operating buttons. It is characterized by

  According to the operating device of the present invention, since the operation button is formed of materials having different thermal conductivity, a component for enabling temperature sensation of warmth or coldness to be obtained when the operation button is touched with a finger. Can be reduced.

It is a top view which shows the operating device of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the application example of the 1st operation button of the operating device of this invention, and a 2nd operation button.

<Overall Configuration of Operation Device>
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the attached drawings. 1 and 2 are diagrams for explaining the configuration of the operating device in the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, this operation device 1 is, for example, a remote control for operating an indoor unit of an air conditioner which is an electric device. In addition, this invention is not limited to the following embodiment, It is possible to deform | transform variously in the range which does not deviate from the main point of this invention.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the controller device 1 in the present embodiment includes a remote control housing 2 formed of a synthetic resin. A plurality of operation buttons 30 to 39 for controlling the operation of the air conditioner indoor unit and a display panel for displaying the operation information and setting information of the air conditioner indoor unit on the surface 21 of the remote control housing 2 It has four.

<Multiple operation buttons>
As shown to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, several operation button 30-39 of the operating device 1 is equipped with the 1st operation button 30, the 2nd operation button 31, and the 3rd operation button 32-39. The first operation button 30 is an operation button that makes the user feel warm when touched by a finger compared with the second operation button 31 and the third operation buttons 32 to 39 which are other operation buttons. The second operation button 31 is an operation button that makes the user feel cold when touched by a finger compared to the other operation buttons, the first operation button 30 and the third operation buttons 32-39.

<First operation button>
Hereinafter, an example in which the first operation button 30 is a heating button for setting the operation of the indoor unit of the air conditioner to the heating operation mode will be described. The first operation button 30 is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity lower than that of the second operation button 31 and the third operation buttons 32-39, at least the contact surface 30a touched by a finger. Materials having low thermal conductivity are, for example, felt, PS (polystyrene), PP (polypropylene), the thermal conductivity of felt is 0.046 to 0.052 [W / mk], and the thermal conductivity of PS is The thermal conductivity of 0.10 to 0.14 [W / mk] and PP is 0.125 [W / mk]. The first operation button 30 may have a contact area with a finger, for example, by making the shape of the contact surface 30a formed of a material having a low thermal conductivity concave along the inside of the finger. You may In addition, the first operation button 30 is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity lower than that of the second operation button 31 and the third operation buttons 32 to 39, which are at least the contact surface 30a touched by a finger. However, the entire first operation button 30 may be formed of a material having a low thermal conductivity.

<Second operation button>
Hereinafter, an example of a case where the second operation button 31 is a cooling button for setting the operation of the indoor unit of the air conditioner to the cooling operation mode will be described. The second operation button 31 is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity higher than that of the first operation button 30 and the third operation buttons 32-39, which are at least the contact surface 31a touched by a finger. Materials having high thermal conductivity are, for example, aluminum and silver, the thermal conductivity of aluminum is 204 [W / mk], and the thermal conductivity of silver is 418 [W / mk]. The second operation button 31 may have a contact area with the finger, for example, by making the shape of the contact surface 31 a formed of a material having a high thermal conductivity concave along the inside of the finger. You may In addition, the second operation button 31 is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity higher than that of the first operation button 30 and the third operation buttons 32-39, at least the contact surface 31a touched by the finger being another operation button. However, the specific heat may be increased by forming the whole of the second operation button 31 with a material having a high thermal conductivity, and the cold sensation may be maintained.

<Third operation button>
The third operation buttons 32 to 39 may be any operation buttons that do not have to be able to recognize warmth or coldness as long as the thermal sensation when touched with a finger is between the first operation button 30 and the second operation button 31 It is. The third operation buttons 32-39 are, for example, operation / stop buttons for starting and stopping operation of the indoor unit of the air conditioner. The third operation buttons 32 to 39 such as the operation / stop button may be formed of a material having a thermal conductivity higher than that of the first operation button 30 and a thermal conductivity lower than that of the second operation button 31. As a material of this heat conductivity, it is ABS (styrene acrylonitrile butadiene), for example, and the heat conductivity of ABS is 0.19-0.36 [W / mk].

  According to the operation device 1 described above, even if the elderly or visually impaired person operates the first operation button 30 or the second operation button 31, or even in a dark place, the first operation button 30 or the second operation It is possible to intuitively recognize what operation button it is from the difference in thermal sensation when touching the contact surfaces 30a and 31a with the finger of the button 31, that is, the relative thermal sensation. The first operation button 30 can be recognized as a heating button by making it feel warm when touching the contact surface 30a with a finger, and the second operation button 31 feels cold when touching the contact surface 31a with a finger It can be recognized that it is a cooling button by making it.

  In the present embodiment, as in the combination 1 shown in FIG. 2, the case where both the first operation button 30 and the second operation button 31 are provided is illustrated, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It is sufficient if at least one of the operation button 30 and the second operation button 31 is provided.

  For example, as another embodiment, the first operation button is the operation / stop button 32 for performing the operation start and the operation stop of the indoor unit of the air conditioner as in the combination 2 shown in FIG. There may be no operation button. In this case, the first operation button can be recognized as the operation / stop button 32 by feeling warm when touching the contact surface with a finger, and can be easily distinguished from other operation buttons. Moreover, although the example in the case of providing the 3rd operation button 32-39 was shown in the above-mentioned embodiment, the case where the 3rd operation button 32-39 may not be sufficient may be sufficient.

  Furthermore, in the present embodiment, an example in which the first operation button 30 is a heating button and the second operation button 31 is a cooling button has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto. In the case of an operating device provided with a temperature increase button or temperature decrease button for instructing a drop, the first operation button 30 may be a temperature increase button, and the second operation button 31 may be a temperature decrease button.

<Operation and Effect Related to the Present Invention>
As described above, the operating device 1 according to the present invention has two or more operation buttons, and at least one of the operation buttons is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity different from that of the other operation buttons. It is characterized by

  Therefore, according to the operating device 1 of the present invention, since the operation button is formed of materials having different thermal conductivity, any operation can be performed from the difference in temperature sensation which is a kind of skin sensation when touching the operation button with a finger. It can be intuitively recognized whether the button. As a result, components such as heat generating devices and cooling devices such as Peltier elements and operating circuits for operating these devices can be reduced so that thermal sensations such as thermal sensation and cold sensation can be obtained when the operation button is touched with a finger. can do. In addition, cost reduction can be achieved by reduction of these components, power supply for operating these components becomes unnecessary, and energy saving can be realized.

1 operating device 2 remote control housing 21 surface 30 operation button (first operation button)
30a contact surface 31 operation button (second operation button)
31a contact surface 32 to 39 operation button (third operation button)
4 Display panel

Claims (1)

  An operating device comprising two or more operating buttons, wherein at least one of the operating buttons is formed of a material having a thermal conductivity different from that of the other operating buttons.

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