JP4620636B2 - Rotation operation type output device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a rotary operation type output device having an improved rotary knob and guide structure of a moving element.

  Conventionally, as a rotary operation type output device, for example, there are a volume and a switch used for selecting an intermittent operation time in an intermittent wiper of a vehicle such as an automobile. 8 and 9 show the conventional structure itself, and a cylindrical rotary knob 2 is provided on the outer periphery of the base 1 so as to be rotatable. Although the substrate 1 is partially shown in FIG. 8 in detail, it has an H shape when viewed in the axial direction of the rotary knob 2, and its four end portions 1 a are connected to the inner peripheral surface 2 a of the rotary knob 2. The curved surfaces have substantially the same curvature, and the rotary knob 2 is slidably contacted with the inner peripheral surface 2a to guide the rotation.

  The base body 1 is provided with a guide case 3 whose bottom surface is opened by integral molding or separately attached, and the slider 4 is accommodated in the guide case 3 so as to be linearly movable in the axial direction of the rotary knob 2 from below. Furthermore, an insulator 5 is addressed below the insulator 5, and the insulator 5 is fixed to the guide case 3 by a screw 6 outside the moving range of the moving element 4. The mover 4 has a movable contact 7 on the lower surface, and the insulator 5 has a fixed contact 8 on the upper surface by, for example, printed wiring of copper foil.

  The movable element 4 has a protrusion 4 a on the upper side. The protrusion 4 a protrudes through a groove 9 formed on the upper part of the guide case 3, and is formed in a groove 10 formed on the inner peripheral surface portion of the rotary knob 2. Is engaged. In this case, as shown in FIG. 9, the groove 9 extends in the axial direction of the rotary knob 2 without being inclined, and the groove 10 extends in the axial direction of the rotary knob 2 while being inclined.

In this configuration, if the rotary knob 2 is rotated, the protrusion 4a is pushed by the inclined side 10a of the groove 10 in the rotation in the direction of arrow A, so that the movable element 4 is guided by the guide case 3 and the insulator 5 and is rotated. It is linearly moved in the axial direction of the knob 2 as indicated by an arrow X. Further, in the rotation in the direction of the arrow B, the protrusion 4 a is pushed by the inclined side 10 b of the groove 10, so that the movable element 4 is also guided by the guide case 3 and the insulator 5 and is indicated by the arrow Y in the axial direction of the rotary knob 2. Is linearly moved. Due to the linear movement of the moving element 4 in the directions of the arrows X and Y, the movable contact 7 comes in contact with and separates from the fixed contact 8, and an output corresponding to each of them is generated.
In addition, a publicly known document corresponding to the problem to be solved by the present invention could not be found.

  In the case of the above-mentioned conventional one, the base body 1 is required to guide the rotation of the rotary knob 2, and in addition, the guide case 3, the insulator 5 and the screw 6 are required to guide the linear movement of the moving element 4. The parts cost was high and the assembly cost was high. In addition, due to the large number of parts, it has been difficult to obtain high assembly accuracy.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and therefore the object thereof is to guide the rotary knob and the mover with a small number of parts, thereby reducing the part cost and the assembly cost. Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary operation type output device capable of obtaining high assembly accuracy.

  In order to achieve the above object, the rotary operation type output device of the present invention converts the operation rotation of the rotary knob into a linear movement of the moving element by the operation converting means, and obtains an output corresponding to the linear movement of the moving element. In this configuration, a base is provided inside the rotary knob, and the base has a first guide surface that guides the rotation of the rotary knob, and a second guide surface that guides the linear movement of the slider. The moving element is closely packed in a space between the second guide surface of the base and the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob.

  According to the above means, the rotary knob can be guided by the base, and the moving member can be guided by the base and the rotary knob. Therefore, it is possible to guide the rotary knob and the mover with a small number of parts, and it is possible to reduce the parts cost and the assembling cost and to obtain high assembling accuracy.

Hereinafter, an embodiment (one embodiment) of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
First, FIG. 3 shows the overall configuration of a lever combination switch device for a vehicle, particularly an automobile, and a lever 22 is provided on the switch body 21 in a protruding manner. The lever 22 can be turned up and down from the switch body 21, and the up and down rotation of the lever 22 controls the front wiper of the automobile. For this reason, the lever 22 has a front wiper of the automobile. A control mark 23 is provided, and the switch body 21 has a contact (not shown) that switches according to the vertical rotation of the lever 22.

  The lever 22 is provided with a rotary knob 24 that is coaxially rotatable. In this case, the rotary knob 24 is used for selecting the intermittent operation time of the front wiper of the automobile. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, a double cylindrical shape of the knob outer body 24a and the knob inner body 24b is used. It consists of members and they rotate together. In addition, as shown in FIG. 3, the knob outer body 24a is provided with an uneven portion 25 for improving the user's finger engagement on the outer peripheral surface, and an instruction mark 26 corresponding to it. The lever 22 is provided with a sign 27 indicating an increase or decrease in the intermittent operation time of the front wiper of the automobile.

  On the other hand, in the knob inner body 24b, as shown in FIG. 5, FIG. 2, and FIG. 1, in addition to FIG. The convex portion 28 protrudes in the radial direction (centripetal direction) of the knob inner body 24b. In addition, a large number of moderation valleys 29 are provided on the end surface portion on one side (in this case, the side opposite to the switch body 21 side) of the knob inner body 24b in the axial direction (left-right direction in FIGS. 4 and 5). It is formed in a semi-annular arrangement.

On the other hand, the base body 30 is disposed inside the knob inner body 24b. The base body 30 has a main body portion 30a having a rectangular flat plate shape, and has arm portions 30b and 30c projecting upward and downward at both side edges of the main body portion 30a. The leg part 30d which protrudes in this is provided. Further, the arm portion 30b, the lower surface of the outer surface and the leg portion 30d of 30c is Ho and the inner peripheral surface 24b ₁ of the knob inner body 24b Isuzu forms a curved surface having the same curvature, in this configuration, they arm 30b, while sliding the bottom surface of each outer surface and leg portion 30d of 30c on the inner peripheral surface 24b ₁ of the knob inner body 24b, is inserted the whole of the substrate 30 in the interior of the knob inner body 24b.

As a result, the rotary knob 24 slidably contacts the inner peripheral surface 24b ₁ (the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob 24) of the knob inner body 24b with the outer surfaces of the arms 30b and 30c of the base 30 and the lower surface of the leg portion 30d. Therefore, the rotation of the rotary knob 24 is guided by the outer surfaces of the arm portions 30b and 30c of the base 30 and the lower surface of the leg portion 30d. It functions as 31.

  In addition, a plurality of fixed contacts 32 are embedded in the upper surface portion of the main body 30a of the base body 30 so as to expose only the surface of a conductor such as a copper plate, or a printed wiring such as a copper foil, or an FPC (flexible printed circuit board). ), And the movable element 33 is disposed on the upper surface thereof so as to be linearly movable in the axial direction of the knob inner body 24b. In this case, the moving element 33 is also in sliding contact with the inner surfaces of the arm portions 30b and 30c on the main body portion 30a of the base body 30 and linearly moves in the axial direction of the knob inner body 24b. The upper surface of the main body 30a of the base body 30 and the inner surfaces of the arm portions 30b and 30c on the main body 30a function as a second guide surface 34 that guides the linear movement of the moving element 33.

Further, in this case, the moving element 33 has a generally semi-cylindrical shape, and the moving element 33 includes the second guide surface 34 of the base body 30 and the knob inner body 24b which is the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob 24. In the space 35 (see FIGS. 1 and 2) surrounded by the inner peripheral surface 24b _{1 of} the base member 30, that is, in the second guide surface 34 of the base body 30 and the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob 24. It is stored closely. That is, the moving element 33 has a shape that can be accommodated in the space 35 closely, and thereby, the linear movement in the axial direction of the moving element 33 in the knob inner body 24b is guided without any difficulty. Therefore, the linear movement of the moving element 33 in the axial direction is guided also on the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob 24.

  A movable contact 36 is mounted on the lower surface of the movable element 33. Accordingly, the movable element 33 is a contact holder that holds the movable contact 36. The movable contact 36 corresponds to the fixed contact 32, and the movable element By the movement of 33, the contact with the fixed contact 32 is changed, and an output for increasing / decreasing the intermittent operation time of the front wiper of the automobile is generated.

A groove portion 37 is formed on the upper surface portion that is the outer surface portion of the mover 33 that forms a mountain shape. The groove portion 37 is inclined in the axial direction with respect to the rotation direction of the knob inner body 24b (rotary knob 24), and the convex portion 28 of the knob inner body 24b is slidably engaged with the groove portion 37. The groove portion 37 and the convex portion 28 constitute an operation converting means 38 for converting the operation rotation of the rotary knob 24 into a linear movement of the moving element 33 as will be described later.
A moderation piece 39 is engaged with one of the moderation valleys 29 by being pressed by the spring force of the spring 40. The spring 40 is housed in a housing portion 41 formed inside the lever 22, and the moderation piece 39 protrudes from the housing portion 41.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 3, a rotary knob 42 different from the rotary knob 24 is rotatably provided at the tip of the lever 22. The rotary knob 42 is for controlling the rear wiper of the automobile, and an indicator 43 for that purpose is provided on the outer surface of the lever 22, and an instruction mark 44 is provided on the outer surface of the rotary knob 42. A contact (not shown) that changes in response is provided inside the lever 22.

  With the above configuration, if the user rotates the rotary knob 24, the protrusion 28 pushes the inclined surface 37a on the left side in FIG. 4 is moved linearly in the left axial direction X. On the other hand, in the rotation in the counterclockwise direction B in FIG. 4, the convex portion 28 pushes the inclined surface 37b on the right side in FIG. A straight line is moved in the right axial direction Y.

  Accordingly, the convex portion 28 of the rotary knob 24 and the groove portion 37 of the moving element 33 function as an operation converting means 38 for converting the operation rotation of the rotary knob 24 into the linear movement of the moving element 33, and the moving element 33 thereby. By the linear movement in the directions of arrows X and Y, the movable contact 36 held by the movable element 33 changes the contact with the fixed contact 32, and an output is generated to increase or decrease the intermittent operation time of the front wiper of the automobile. During this time, the moderation valley 29 changes the engagement position of the moderation piece 39, and the rotary knob 24 is locked by the engagement of the rotary knob 24 at the position after the rotation operation.

In the structure functioning in this way, the rotation guide of the rotary knob 24 can be provided by the first guide surface 31 of the base body 30, and the linear movement guide of the moving element 33 can be provided by the second guide surface 34 of the base body 30 and the rotary knob 24. The inner peripheral surface (the inner peripheral surface 24b ₁ of the knob inner body 24b). Therefore, the rotary knob 24 and the moving member 33 are not required to have many parts as in the conventional case, and the rotary knob 24 and the base 30 are not necessary. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the parts cost and the assembling cost, and to obtain high assembling accuracy from the small number of assembling parts.

The moving element 33 is not limited to the above-mentioned generally kamaboko shape, and may be changed to, for example, the one having the three peaks shown in FIG. 6 or the one having the two peaks shown in FIG. In particular, if this is done, the sliding resistance of the movers 51 and 61 due to the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob 24 (the inner peripheral surface 24b ₁ of the knob inner body 24b) can be reduced. Easy to slide. Further, the motion converting means 38 may be provided with the convex portion 28 and the groove portion 37 reversed (the convex portion 28 is provided on the moving element and the groove portion 37 is provided on the rotary knob 24). In particular, the moving element has the above-mentioned three peaks. In the case of the shape 51 or the shape 61 having two peaks, the convex portion 28 and the groove portion 37 are preferably provided in reverse.

  In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above and shown in the drawings. For example, the rotary knob may not be divided into a knob outer body and a knob inner body, and may have them integrally. In addition, the one that responds to the mover may be a variable resistor instead of a contact, and further, as a whole, it is not limited to a vehicle such as an automobile, and is appropriately modified within a range not departing from the gist. Can do.

Radial direction sectional view of the principal part showing one example of the present invention Perspective view of main parts Front view of the entire lever combination switch device for automobiles Axial sectional view of main parts Exploded perspective view of main parts FIG. 1 part equivalent enlarged view showing different examples of the mover FIG. 1 part equivalent enlarged view showing still another example of the mover 1 equivalent diagram showing a conventional example 2 equivalent diagram

Explanation of symbols

In the drawings, 24 is a rotary knob, 24b ₁ is an inner peripheral surface of the knob inner body (inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob), 30 is a base body, 31 is a first guide surface, 33 is a moving element, and 34 is a second guide. A surface, 35 is a space, and 38 is a motion converting means.

Claims (1)

In the operation rotation of the rotary knob is converted into a linear movement of the moving element by the action converting means, and an output corresponding to the linear movement of the moving element is obtained.
A base is provided inside the rotary knob, and the base has a first guide surface for guiding the rotation of the rotary knob and a second guide surface for guiding the linear movement of the moving element. A rotary operation type output device, characterized in that a mover is closely packed in a space between the second guide surface and the inner peripheral surface of the rotary knob.

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