JP5597123B2 - Switch device - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a switch device in which a portion to be pushed is formed by a rubber member having elasticity and a portion to be visually recognized is illuminated.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been provided a switch device in which a portion to be pushed is formed by a rubber member having elasticity and a portion to be visually recognized is illuminated (for example, see Patent Document 1). In the switch device described in Patent Document 1, the rubber member has translucency, and a key top (operation unit), which is a part of the rubber member, is provided to be exposed from the case. The switch device is operated by pushing the operation unit.

  The switch device described in Patent Document 1 is configured such that an operation unit as a portion to be visually recognized is illuminated. In the above switch device, a light source and a light guide plate housed in the case are used to illuminate the operation unit.

JP 59-78416 A

  In the above-described configuration, the operation unit is illuminated by guiding light emitted from the light source to the entire case by the light guide plate. Therefore, in the said structure, in order to illuminate an operation part, in addition to the light source, the light-guide plate is needed extra.

  This invention is made | formed in view of the said reason, Comprising: It aims at providing the switch apparatus which can illuminate the part used as visual recognition, without using a light-guide plate.

The switch device of the present invention includes a substrate on which a plurality of pushbutton switches are mounted, a plurality of movable portions that move when pressed and press the pushbutton portion of the pushbutton switch and return to the original position when the pushbutton is not pressed, and have a mark marking the rubber member having a support portion for movably supporting said movable portion integrally by being elastically deformed in contact with the substrate, the visibility of the target, the label overlapping the rubber member, wherein and a light emitting element mounted on the substrate, at least the mark in the label has a light-transmitting property, wherein the rubber member is formed by a translucent material, the rubber member is on the substrate side An open cavity is formed, and a plurality of the movable parts are arranged in the cavity, and the number of the light emitting elements is smaller than the number of the movable parts arranged in the cavity. There is disposed between the movable part, the movable part is characterized by guiding the light of said light emitting element to the label.

  In this switch device, the push button switch is more preferably a light touch switch.

  In this switch device, the substrate and the rubber member are housed in a case, and the case is composed of a top case, one surface of which is disposed between the rubber member and the label, and a bottom case that supports the substrate. It is more preferable that a waterproof sealing member is provided at a connection portion with the bottom case.

  Here, the “object to be visually recognized” is various notations shown on the label, and includes not only the position of the operation unit but also characters, symbols (marks), scales, and the like indicating the operation object by the operation unit.

  The present invention has an advantage that a portion to be visually recognized can be illuminated without using a light guide plate.

It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the switch apparatus of embodiment. It is a perspective view same as the above. It is the disassembled perspective view seen from the front same as the above. It is the disassembled perspective view seen from the back same as the above. It is a cross-sectional view same as the above.

  In this embodiment, although the switch apparatus used for an agricultural machine is illustrated, using this switch apparatus for another use is not prevented. In the following description, the surface on which the label 5 is provided in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the switch device 1 includes a rectangular box-shaped case 2 (see FIG. 2) having a panel 21 on the front surface, a substrate 3 housed in the case 2, and between the panel 21 and the substrate 3. The rubber member 4 is disposed on the front surface of the panel 21 and the label 5 is attached to the front surface of the panel 21.

  The case 2 includes a top case 22 having a panel 21 and a bottom case 23 that supports the substrate 3. The panel 21 has a plurality of opening windows 211 that expose an operation portion 422 (see FIG. 1) of the rubber member 4 described later (see FIG. 3). The connection between the top case 22 and the bottom case 23 of the case 2 will be described later.

  As shown in FIG. 3, a push button switch 31 using a light touch switch, which is a small push button switch with a small stroke, and a light emitting element 32, which is an LED (light emitting diode) that emits visible light, are provided on the front surface of the substrate 3. Implemented. The push button switch 31 of the present embodiment is a momentary (automatic return type) switch, and a push button portion 311 projects from the front surface of the push button switch 31. The push button switch 31 is turned on only when the push button unit 311 is being pushed. The arrangement relationship of the push button switch 31 and the light emitting element 32 on the substrate 3 will be described later.

  The rubber member 4 is formed of a translucent material having rubber elasticity. The rubber member 4 is provided with a support portion 41 that comes into contact with the substrate 3, and a hollow portion 44 that is open to the rear surface side is formed at the main portion of the support portion 41. The front wall of the hollow portion 44 forms a connecting portion 43, and the connecting portion 43 holds a movable portion 42 formed in a columnar shape via a thin flexible portion 45. The flexible portion 45 is continuous over the entire circumference of the movable portion 42 in the middle portion of the movable portion 42 in the front-rear direction. At least one movable part 42 is disposed in one cavity 44.

The movable portion 42 has a central portion at the rear end surface in contact with the front surface of the push button portion 311 in the push button switch 31, and when the operation portion 422, which is the front surface of the movable portion 42, is pushed, the push button is moved via the movable portion 42. The push button portion 311 of the switch 31 is pushed. Further, the movable portion 42, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of restricting piece 42 1 are projected spaced in the peripheral portion of the rear end surface in the circumferential direction. Restricting piece 42 1, at all times, and the rear end face remote from the substrate 3, by the operating portion 422 is press operation, when the movable portion 42 is moved backward, by the rear end surface is brought into contact with the substrate 3 The amount of movement of the movable portion 42 to the rear is restricted.

  The flexible portion 45 is curved in a shape bulging forward, and biases the movable portion 42 forward with respect to the support portion 41. Therefore, if the pressing force is removed from the operation unit 422 after the operation unit 422 is pushed to move the movable unit 42 rearward, the return force of the push button unit 311 in the push button switch 31 and the return of the flexible unit 45 due to elasticity. The force acts on the movable part 42, and the movable part 42 returns to the original position.

  Hereinafter, the positional relationship among the push button switch 31 and the light emitting element 32 and the rubber member 4 will be described.

  In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, an example in which ten pushbutton switches 31 are mounted on the substrate 3 is shown. The rubber member 4 is provided with ten movable portions 42 corresponding to the push button switches 31 respectively.

In the present embodiment, a plurality of push button switches 31 are mounted on the board 3 in close proximity (in FIG. 3, two, four, two, and two push button switches 31 from the bottom are close to each other. doing). Here, a plurality of movable portions 42 are arranged close to each other in the rubber member 4 in correspondence with the arrangement of the push button switch 31 (in FIG. 3, two, four, two, two, from the bottom) The movable parts 42 are close to each other). Therefore, the cavities 44 formed around the adjacent movable parts 42 are adjacent to each other, and in this embodiment, the cavities 44 formed around the adjacent movable parts 42 are communicated. As a result, as shown in FIG. 4, four hollow portions 44 are formed in the rubber member 4 .
The light emitting elements 32 are mounted on the substrate 3 so that at least one light emitting element 32 is disposed in each of the hollow portions 44. As shown in FIG. 3, when two push button switches 31 are arranged in the cavity 44, one light emitting element 32 is arranged in the middle of each push button switch 31 (the center of the cavity 44). . When four pushbutton switches 31 are arranged in the cavity 44, each of the two pushbutton switches 31 (in FIG. 3, the pushbutton switches 31 on the upper side, the right side, and the left side and the lower side) are respectively provided. One light emitting element 32 is arranged at a time. That is, in the present embodiment, six light emitting elements 32 are mounted on the substrate 3.

  By the way, the movable part 42 and the operation part 422 have translucency, and the movable part 42 guides the light from the light emitting element 32 to the operation part 422 (see FIG. 5). That is, light from the light emitting element 32 (arrows toward the upper right and upper left in FIG. 5) becomes light toward the operation unit 422 by the movable part 42 (an arrow toward each movable part 42 in FIG. 5). As described above, the light from the light emitting element 32 is guided by the movable portion 42, so that the operation portion 422 is illuminated.

  The label 5 is attached to the front surface of the panel 21 of the case 2 so as to overlap. As shown in FIG. 2, the label 5 is provided with a dome-shaped embossed portion 51 that floats forward from the other part of the label 5. In the present embodiment, the embossed portion 51 is provided at a location (10 locations) that overlaps with the operation portion 422 of the rubber member 4 (see FIG. 3). The embossed portion 51 is provided with a translucent mark (not shown) on which a symbol or character as a target of visual recognition is written.

  Further, the embossed portion 51 can be retracted by pressing from the front. Therefore, by pushing the embossed portion 51, the operation portion 422 is pushed, and the rear end of the movable portion 42 pushes the push button portion 311 of the push button switch 31. When the pressing force is removed from the embossed portion 51, the embossed portion 51 returns to its original shape. By providing the embossed portion 51 on the label 5, a click feeling is given, and the operation feeling when performing a pressing operation can be improved.

  The label 5 is attached to the outer surface of the panel 21 of the case 2 with a double-sided tape. As a result, the label 5 can be reattached to the case 2 and the switch device 1 including the label 5 provided with various types of marks can be easily manufactured.

  Here, a manner of coupling the top case 22 and the bottom case 23 constituting the case 2 will be described.

  The top case 22 includes a panel 21 and an upper portion 221 that extends rearward from the edge thereof. The rear end edge of the upper part 221 has a concave part 222 (see FIG. 5) with the central part recessed forward over the entire circumference. Further, an insertion hole 223 is provided in the upper portion 221 extending from one end (the lower end in FIG. 3) of the panel 21 in the longitudinal direction, and the lead wire 6 is inserted into the insertion hole 223.

  The bottom case 23 of the case 2 includes a rectangular plate-shaped bottom portion 231 and a lower side portion 232 extending forward from the end edge thereof. An insertion piece 233 extending forward and thinner than the thickness of the lower side 232 is formed at the front end edge of the lower side 232 (see FIG. 5).

  The top case 22 and the bottom case 23 are joined by inserting the insertion piece 233 of the bottom case 23 into the recess 222 of the top case 22 and screwing it. In the above coupling, by introducing a sealing agent (not shown) as a sealing member into the concave portion 222 of the top case 22, the case 2 can be sealed to improve the waterproofness of the switch device 1. As the sealing member, a member having rubber elasticity may be used.

  Moreover, the opening window 211 of the panel 21 which the operation part 422 of the four adjacent movable parts 42 exposes is open, and the cross window 212 is formed in the panel 21 (refer FIG. 3).

  In the present embodiment, a mark is provided on the embossed portion 51 of the label 5 as a part to be visually recognized. However, a mark may be provided at another part of the label 5. The mark may contain a light diffusing material. This makes it easy to see the mark from a direction other than the front and efficiently illuminates the mark.

  A resist such as white or silver may be formed on a part or the whole of the front surface of the substrate 3. Thereby, since the light irradiated to the board | substrate 3 side from the light emitting element 32 can be reflected to the panel 21 side of the rubber member 4, the operation part 422 of the rubber member 4 can be illuminated.

  On the front surface of the rubber member 4, a convex portion (not shown) extending forward to surround each operation portion 422 may be provided. Thereby, after storing the rubber member 4 in the case 2, it is possible to enhance the waterproof property by pressing the convex portion to the inner surface of the panel 21. The rubber member 4 may contain a light diffusing material. Thereby, the operation part 422 can be illuminated efficiently.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Switch apparatus 2 Case 22 Top case 23 Bottom case 3 Board | substrate 31 Pushbutton switch 311 Pushbutton part 32 Light emitting element 4 Rubber member 41 Support part 42 Movable part 44 Cavity part 5 Label

Claims (3)

A substrate on which a plurality of pushbutton switches are mounted;
Moves when the push operation is performed, pushes the push button portion of the push button switch, returns to the original position when the push operation is stopped, and the movable portion is movable by contacting the substrate and elastically deforming. A rubber member integrally having a support portion for supporting
And labels have a mark marking the visibility of the object, overlapping the rubber member,
A light emitting device mounted on the substrate,
In the label, at least the mark has translucency,
The rubber member is formed of a translucent material,
The rubber member is formed with a hollow portion opened on the substrate side,
A plurality of the movable parts are arranged in the hollow part,
In the cavity, the number of the light emitting elements smaller than the number of the movable parts arranged in the cavity is arranged between the movable parts,
The movable unit guides light of the light emitting element to the label . The switch device according to claim 1, wherein the push button switch is a light touch switch . The substrate and the rubber member are housed in a case, and the case includes a top case disposed between the rubber member and the label, and a bottom case that supports the substrate. switching device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the sealing member having a waterproof property is provided at the connection portion between the case and the bottom case.

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