JP6248825B2 - Push-button switch - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a push button switch, and more particularly to a self-illuminated push button switch capable of changing an illumination area.

  Conventionally, as a self-illuminated push button switch capable of changing the illumination area, for example, a mark for transmitting information to a user is provided on a part of the push button, and between the switch body and the push button. An illumination unit having a light guide plate provided and a light source for a mark is provided, and a mark diffusion unit for diffusing incident light is provided on a portion of the light guide plate facing the mark. There is one in which light enters the light guide plate toward the mark diffusion portion (Patent Document 1).

International Publication Number WO2010 / 092679

However, in the push button switch, as shown in FIGS. 8 and 9, it is necessary to receive the light from the mark light source 20 and the main light source 19 from the side end face of the light guide plate 18, and the structure is complicated. Easy to manufacture and not easy to manufacture.
In particular, the push button switch has a problem that it is not easy to cause the mark 17 to emit light when the mark 17 is arranged in the center of the push button 15.
In view of the above-described problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a push button switch that can emit a mark arranged at the center or around the center of the push button and that has a simple structure and is easy to manufacture.

In order to solve the above-described problems, a push button switch according to the present invention includes at least one first light emitting element that is lit when not operated, and a plunger that includes an opening located above the first light emitting element. The light guide plate located above the plunger, at least one second light emitting element disposed adjacent to the side end surface of the light guide plate, and a push button located above the light guide plate, A push button switch in which at least the second light emitting element is lit among the first light emitting element and the second light emitting element by depressing the push button,
The light transmission restricting portion is provided on the upper side of the first light emitting element and on the lower side of the light guide plate.

According to the present invention, when illuminating a part of the push button, the first light emitting element may be turned on. When illuminating the entire push button, the second light emitting element is illuminated. A push button switch that is simple in structure and easy to manufacture is obtained.
Further, since the light transmission restricting portion is provided above the first light emitting element, it is possible to obtain a push button switch in which the luminance is uniform and a portion of the luminance is remarkably high, so that no so-called eyeball phenomenon occurs.

  As an embodiment of the present invention, a light passage restricting portion may be provided in an opening provided in the plunger.

  According to this embodiment, since the brightness of light passing through the plunger is made uniform, a push button switch that does not cause a so-called eyeball phenomenon can be obtained.

  As other embodiment of this invention, you may provide the reflection sheet provided with the light transmission control part, or the diffusion sheet between the said plunger and a light-guide plate.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to make the luminance uniform by the light transmission restriction portion of the reflection sheet or the diffusion sheet, and so-called eyeball phenomenon does not occur.

  In particular, the reflection sheet is disposed below the light guide plate. For this reason, since the light leaked from the light guide plate is reflected by the reflection sheet and emitted from the push button side, there is an effect that a push button switch with good luminous efficiency can be obtained.

FIGS. A, B, and C are a perspective view of the push button switch according to the first embodiment of the present invention, viewed from different viewpoints before the operation, and a perspective view after the operation. FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the push button switch illustrated in FIG. 1A. FIG. 1B is an exploded perspective view of the push button switch illustrated in FIG. 1B. FIGS. A and B are a perspective view showing a state in which internal components are incorporated in a base and a perspective view of a movable spring member. FIGS. A and B are perspective views of the plunger shown in FIG. 2 viewed from different angles. FIGS. A and B are a perspective view and a cross-sectional view showing a state where the internal components are assembled to the plunger shown in FIG. FIGS. A, B, and C are a cross-sectional view before and after the operation of the push button switch shown in FIG. It is the schematic for demonstrating the principle of operation of the pushbutton switch shown in FIG. It is a partial exploded perspective view which shows 2nd Embodiment of the pushbutton switch which concerns on this invention. FIGS. A and B are a perspective view showing a state in which internal components are incorporated in a base according to a second embodiment, and a perspective view of a movable spring member. FIGS. A and B are cross-sectional views showing before and after operation of the push button switch according to the second embodiment. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows 3rd Embodiment of the pushbutton switch which concerns on this invention. It is the disassembled perspective view which looked at 3rd Embodiment of the pushbutton switch which concerns on this invention from a different angle. FIGS. A and B are a perspective view and a partially exploded perspective view showing a state in which internal components are assembled to the base shown in FIG. FIGS. A and B are sectional views showing before and after operation of the push button switch shown in FIG. FIGS. A and B are partially exploded perspective views showing a fourth embodiment of the push button switch according to the present invention as seen from different angles. FIGS. A and B are a transverse sectional view and a longitudinal sectional view according to the embodiment shown in FIG. FIGS. A and B are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining Example 1 and graphs illustrating calculation results. FIGS. C and D are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining Example 2 and luminance distributions based on the calculation results. FIG. FIGS. A and B are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining Comparative Example 1 and graphs illustrating calculation results. FIGS. C and D are schematic cross-sectional views for explaining Comparative Example 2 and luminance distributions based on the calculation results. FIG.

An embodiment of a push button switch according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings of FIGS.
As shown in the attached drawings of FIGS. 1 to 8, the push button switch according to the first embodiment is a box shape incorporating a printed board 20, a connection cable 25, a rotation link mechanism 30, and a movable spring member 40. A plunger 50 is assembled to the base 10. The plunger 50 is assembled with a belt-like printed circuit board 60 having LEDs arranged in a line, a light guide plate 70, a diffusion sheet 71, a character sheet 72, and a push button 73.

  As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the box-shaped base 10 has four caulking protrusions 11 protruding from the bottom surface. Further, the box-shaped base 10 has a pair of support portions 12 and 13 projecting from opposing inward surfaces, and engaging receiving portions 14 are provided on both sides thereof, while the remaining one of the remaining inward surfaces. One is provided with a mounting hole 15.

The printed circuit board 20 has a planar shape that can be fitted to the box-shaped base 10, and has LEDs 21 that are solid-state light emitting elements provided on the surface thereof. A connector receiving portion 22 and an internal wiring connecting portion 23 are provided.
The number of LEDs 21 is not limited to one, and a plurality of LEDs 21 may be arranged as necessary.

  The connection cable 25 is a cable that can be bent in a substantially J shape, and electrically connects one end portion 26a thereof to the internal wiring connection portion 23 of the printed circuit board 20, and the other end portion 26b of the band-shaped printed circuit board 60 described later. The internal wiring connection portion 62 is electrically connected.

  The rotary link mechanism 30 is configured such that both end portions of link members 31 and 32 made of elastic metal wire bent in a substantially gate shape are connected to connecting members 33 and 33 so as to be rotatable.

  As shown in FIG. 4B, the movable spring member 40 is a flat belt-like material punched from a conductive plate and pressed, and has a substantially rectangular opening 41 at the center thereof, and the opening 41 is the center. A pair of movable contact pieces 42 and 43 are cut out so as to face each other. Further, the movable spring member 40 is bent and raised at both ends in the same direction to form engaging claws 44 and 45.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the plunger 50 has a planar shape that can be fitted to the box-shaped base 10, and has a square opening 51 at the center thereof, and a light passage restricting portion at the opening 51. 52 is provided. The light transmission restricting portion 52 extends in the cross direction around the shielding portion 53a, a plurality of similar rectangular frame-shaped ribs 53b around the shielding portion 53a, and the shielding portion 53a as the center. And ribs 53c.

As shown in FIG. 5A, the plunger 50 is provided with an annular step portion 54 along an inner peripheral corner portion of a white outward surface that easily reflects light. The annular stepped portion 54 is provided with a pair of locking protrusions 55 for locking a push button 73 (described later) at the corners of the opposing sides.
Further, as shown in FIG. 5B, the plunger 50 has a pair of position restricting protrusions 56a and 56b protruding from the inward surface at positions facing each other with the light passage restricting portion 52 in between. A pair of engaging claw portions 57a and 57b are projected. Next, the plunger 50 has a pair of caulking projections 58 for protruding and fixing a band-like printed circuit board 60 to be described later at the corners adjacent to the inward surface.
Next, the plunger 50 has a pair of engaging claws 59 and 59 projecting from the opposite outer surfaces.

The opening 51 is not limited to a square, but may be a circle. The opening 51 is not necessarily provided at the center, and may be provided at the center periphery or corner.
Further, the light transmission restricting portion 52 is not limited to being formed by a rib having a quadrangular basic pattern, but may be formed by a rib having a concentric circle as a basic pattern. Further, the shielding part 53a is for eliminating the so-called eyeball phenomenon that occurs due to the highest luminance of the central part of the LED, but it may be provided as necessary and is not necessarily required.

  The belt-like printed circuit board 60 has a plurality of LEDs 61 arranged in a row on one side and an internal wiring connecting portion 62 arranged on the other side, and both ends of the band-like printed circuit board 60 via caulking projections 58 of the plunger 50. It is fixed by caulking.

  The light guide plate 70 has a planar shape that can be accommodated in the annular step portion 54 among the inward surfaces of the plunger 50. And the said light-guide plate 70 radiates | emits the light of the said LED61 input from the side toward an outward surface by arrange | positioning the side end surface in the position adjacent to LED61 of the said strip | belt-shaped printed circuit board 60. FIG.

  The diffusion sheet 71 has a planar shape that covers the surface of the light guide plate 70, and diffuses the light emitted from the light guide plate 70 to further uniform the luminance.

  The character sheet 72 is made of a transparent sheet having a planar shape whose outer peripheral edge can be placed on the annular stepped portion 54. For example, only the numeral “8” is used so that light can pass through the central portion. It is printed with ink.

  The push button 73 is formed with an annular rib 74 at the outer peripheral edge thereof, thereby having a planar shape that can be placed on the annular step portion 54 of the plunger 50 and a shallow recess 75 (FIG. 3) on the inward surface side. ) Is formed. The annular rib 74 is provided with a notch 76 that can be locked to the locking protrusion 55 of the plunger 50.

Next, a method for assembling the push button switch will be described.
First, as shown in FIG. 4A, the printed circuit board 20 to which the one end 26 a of the connection cable 25 is connected is attached to the box-shaped base 10.
On the other hand, both end portions of the link members 31, 32 are rotatably connected to the connecting members 33, 33, and the engaging claws 44, 45 of the movable spring member 40 are engaged with the link members 31, 32, respectively. Hang over. Next, the link members 31 and 32 are positioned by engaging with the support portions 12 and 13 of the box-shaped base 10. At this time, the LED 21 can be seen through the opening 41 of the movable spring member 40 (FIG. 4).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 6A, the belt-like printed circuit board 60 is fixed by caulking through the caulking protrusion 58 of the plunger 50, and the other end portion 26b of the connection cable 25 is connected to the internal wiring connecting portion 62 of the belt-like printed circuit board 60. Make electrical connections. Next, the engagement claw portion 59 of the plunger 50 is engaged with the engagement receiving portion 14 of the box-shaped base 10 to be integrated. Further, after the light guide plate 70, the diffusion sheet 71, and the character sheet 72 are sequentially stacked on the plunger 50, the notch 76 provided on the annular rib 74 of the push button 73 is locked to the locking protrusion 55 of the plunger 50. Integrate. At this time, as illustrated in FIGS. 7A and 7C, the LED 21 and the shielding portion 53 a of the light passage restriction portion 52 are opposed to each other through the opening 41 of the movable spring member 40. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the side end surface of the LED 61 is adjacent to the light guide plate 70.

Next, the operation of the push button switch will be described with reference to FIGS.
When the push button 73 is not pressed, the LED 21 is lit by an external circuit (not shown). For this reason, among the light emitted from the LED 21, light having high luminance is blocked by the shielding part 53 a, while the remaining other emitted light is scattered through the light transmission restriction part 52. Then, the light incident on the light guide plate 70 passes through the diffusion sheet 71 and is further scattered and passes through the character sheet 72, and the characters printed on the character sheet 72 are lifted and pass through the push button 73.
Further, when the push button 73 is not pushed, the link members 31 and 32 of the rotary link mechanism 30 are in the valley folded state by the tensile force of the movable spring member 40 as shown in FIG. The contact pieces 42 and 43 are not in contact with the printed circuit board 20.

When the push button 73 is pushed down, the plunger 50 is pushed down, and the link members 31 and 32 of the rotary link mechanism 30 are pushed down together with the engaging claws 44 and 45 of the movable spring member 40. At this time, the link members 31 and 32 rotate with the support portions 12 and 13 as fulcrums, and the connecting member 33 is lifted. For this reason, the movable contact pieces 42 and 43 of the movable spring member 40 are pushed down and contact a fixed contact (not shown) of the printed circuit board 20 to close the circuit. For this reason, a control signal flows through the external circuit, and the current flowing through the LED 21 is interrupted, while the current flows through the LED 61 and turns on. The light emitted from the LED 61 is incident from the side end face of the light guide plate 70, reflected and emitted to the outward surface, passes through the diffusion sheet 71 and the character sheet 72, and is emitted from the push button 73.
In particular, since light leaking from the light guide plate 70 toward the inward surface is reflected and emitted by the plunger 50 to the outward surface, a self-illuminated button switch with high luminous efficiency can be obtained.

  Next, when the depression of the operation button is released, the link members 31 and 32 are pulled inward by the spring force of the movable spring member 40 to return to the valley folded state.

  As shown in FIG. 8, a tensile force F acting in the horizontal direction and an operating force f in the vertical direction act on both ends of the link members 31 and 32 of the rotation link mechanism 30. When the assembly angle of the link members 31 and 32 is θ, the operating force f corresponds to a component force in the vertical direction of the assembly angle θ of the tensile force F. For this reason, the operating force f1 in the return state is larger than the operating force f2 in the operating state, and the operating resistance rapidly decreases during the pushing operation, so that the operator feels a click feeling on the finger.

As shown in FIGS. 9 to 11, the second embodiment is substantially the same as the first embodiment described above, and the main difference is the shape of the movable spring member 40.
That is, as shown in FIG. 10B, the movable spring member 40 is a flat belt-shaped material that is punched from a conductive plate and pressed, and has a substantially rectangular opening 41 at the center thereof. A movable contact 46 is projected and formed in the vicinity of the outer peripheral corner. Further, the movable spring member 40 is bent and raised at both ends in the same direction to form engaging claws 44 and 45.
Of course, the printed circuit board 20 is provided with a fixed contact to which the movable contact 46 can be contacted and separated. The other parts are almost the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.
According to this embodiment, since the movable contact piece is not cut out from the movable spring member 40, the mechanical strength of the movable spring member 40 is high, and fatigue damage or the like is unlikely to occur. There is an advantage that

  In the third embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 12 to 15, the plunger 50 is assembled to the box-shaped base 10 incorporating the printed circuit board 20, the connection cable 25, the rotation link mechanism 30, and the movable spring member 40. It is attached. The plunger 50 is assembled with a belt-like printed board 60 in which LEDs are arranged in a row, a reflection sheet 65, a light guide plate 70, a diffusion sheet 71, a character sheet 72, and a push button 73.

As shown in FIG. 14B, the printed circuit board 20 is mounted such that a fixed contact member 27 and a movable contact member 28 having a gate section are stacked and a contact mechanism is arranged.
In other words, the fixed contact member 27 has fixed contacts 27a, 27b, and 27c cut out in parallel at one side edge portion thereof. On the other hand, the movable contact member 28 has a movable contact piece 29 cut out from one side edge portion thereof, and movable contacts 29a, 29b, and 29c are projected and formed at intermediate portions thereof. For this reason, by mounting the fixed contact member 27 and the movable contact member 28 on the printed circuit board 20 so as to overlap each other, the movable contacts 29a, 29b, 29c of the movable contact member 28 become the fixed contacts 27a, 27b. , 27c so as to be able to contact and separate.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 14A, the movable spring member 40 is a flat band-shaped material punched from a conductive plate material and press-processed, and has a substantially rectangular opening 41 at the center thereof. An operation hole 47 is provided on one side with the opening 41 in between, and a coil spring 49 is incorporated in a storage hole 48 provided on the other side. Further, the movable spring member 40 is bent at one end to form an engaging claw 44 that can be engaged with the link member 31, while the other end can be brought into contact with the link member 32. is there.

  The plunger 50 is substantially the same as that of the above-described embodiment, and the difference is that the light transmission restricting portion is not provided in the opening 51.

The reflection sheet 65 has a reflection surface that reflects light on the surface thereof, and a plurality of small holes are provided at a desired pitch in a region facing the opening 51 of the plunger 50 to form a light transmission restriction portion 66. It is.
The other parts are almost the same as those of the first embodiment, and the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and the description thereof is omitted.

  According to the third embodiment, since the fixed contact member 27 and the movable contact member 28 have a triple contact structure having three contacts, there is an advantage that contact reliability is high.

Next, the operation of the push button switch according to the third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.
When the push button 73 is not pressed, the LED 21 is lit by an external circuit (not shown). For this reason, the light emitted from the LED 21 passes through the light passage restricting portion 66 of the reflection sheet 65 and is scattered. Then, the light incident on the light guide plate 70 passes through the diffusion sheet 71 and is further scattered and passes through the character sheet 72, and the characters printed on the character sheet 72 are lifted and pass through the push button 73.
When the push button 73 is not pushed, the link members 31 and 32 of the rotary link mechanism 30 are valley-folded by the tensile force of the coil spring 49 attached to the movable spring member 40 as shown in FIG. 15A. The movable contacts 29a, 29b, 29c of the movable contact piece 29 are not in contact with the fixed contacts 27a, 27b, 27c of the fixed contact member 27.

When the push button 73 is pushed down, the plunger 50 is pushed down, the coil spring 49 is extended, and the link members 31 and 32 are rotated with the support portions 12 and 13 as fulcrums. For this reason, the link members 31 and 32 of the rotation link mechanism part 30 are pushed down, and the connecting member 33 is lifted. As a result, the link member 31 pushes down the free end portion of the movable contact piece 29 of the movable contact member 28. Then, the movable contacts 29a, 29b, 29c come into contact with the fixed contacts 27a, 27b, 27c to close the circuit. For this reason, a control signal flows through the external circuit, and the current flowing through the LED 21 is interrupted, while the current flows through the LED 61 and turns on. The light emitted from the LED 61 is incident from the side end face of the light guide plate 70, reflected and emitted to the outward surface, passes through the diffusion sheet 71 and the character sheet 72, and is emitted from the push button 73.
In particular, light leaking from the light guide plate 70 toward the inward surface is reflected by the reflection sheet 65 and radiated toward the outward surface. For this reason, a self-illuminated pushbutton switch with good luminous efficiency is obtained.

  Next, when the push-down of the push button 73 is released, the link members 31 and 32 are pulled inward by the spring force of the coil spring 49 of the movable spring member 40 to return to the valley folded state.

As a modification of the third embodiment, for example, the fixed contact member 27 and the movable contact member 28 are arranged upside down, the link member 31 pushes down the free end of the movable contact piece 29, and the contact is opened. The control circuit may be switched.
Further, instead of the reflection sheet 65, the area located directly above the LED 21 is printed with a dark ink, and the ink density is graded from the area so as to make the light transmittance uniform. A diffusion sheet may be used.

As shown in FIGS. 16 and 17, the push button switch according to the fourth embodiment is substantially the same as that of the first embodiment described above. The main difference is that the printed circuit board 20 has two light emitting elements LED 21, 21 is a surface-mounted side by side. The plunger 50 has a lattice-shaped light passage restricting portion 52 formed in the opening 51 thereof, and two shielding portions 53a and 53a are juxtaposed at positions facing the LEDs 21 and 21 (FIG. 17B). . A partition wall 53d is provided between the shielding portions 53a and 53a. This is to prevent mutual interference of the light of the LEDs 21 and 21 and ensure uniform brightness.
Since the fixed contact member 27, the movable contact member 28, and the movable spring member 40 of the fourth embodiment are the same as those of the third embodiment described above, the same parts are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted. .
According to this embodiment, the use of the two LEDs 21 and 21 has an advantage that a push button switch that can uniformly illuminate a push button having a wider operation surface can be obtained.

  With respect to the push button switch according to the first embodiment, the brightness was calculated when only the LED was turned on (FIG. 16A). The calculation result is shown in FIG. 16B.

  As is apparent from FIG. 16B, it was found that the curve indicating the luminance is smooth and the so-called “eyeball phenomenon” in which the central portion becomes extremely bright does not occur.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 16C, the luminance distribution was calculated by lighting only the LEDs (not shown) arranged on the side of the light guide plate. The calculation result is shown in FIG. 16D.

  As is clear from FIG. 16D, it was found that the brightness of the area surrounded by the small rectangle and the brightness of the other areas were approximate, and there was little light leakage.

[Comparative Example 1]
Calculation was performed under the same conditions as in Example 1 described above for the case where the plunger was not provided with a light transmission restricting portion but was simply provided with a through hole (FIG. 17A). The calculation result is shown in FIG. 17B.

  As is clear from FIG. 17B, it has been found that since the curve indicating the luminance increases sharply in the center, the center portion becomes extremely bright and a so-called eyeball phenomenon occurs.

[Comparative Example 2]
Further, as shown in FIG. 17C, the luminance distribution was calculated by lighting only the LEDs (not shown) arranged on the side of the light guide plate. The calculation result is shown in FIG. 17D.

  As is clear from FIG. 17D, it was found that the difference between the luminance of the area surrounded by the small rectangle and the luminance of the other area was larger than that of Example 2 and there was much light leakage.

The present invention is not limited to the push button switch according to the above-described embodiment, and may be applied to other push button switches.
In particular, in the above-described embodiment, the first light emitting element and the second light emitting element may be turned on at the same time.
Further, the first light emitting element is not limited to illuminating the central portion of the push button, but may naturally illuminate the central peripheral portion and / or the corner portion.

10 Box base 20 Printed circuit board 21 LED
27 fixed contact member 28 movable contact member 30 rotation link mechanism 31 link member 32 link member 33 connecting member 40 movable spring member 41 opening 42 movable contact piece 43 movable contact piece 44 engagement claw portion 45 engagement claw portion 50 plunger 51 Opening 52 Light Transmission Restricting Unit 53a Shielding Unit 53b Rib 53a Rib 60 Strip Printed Circuit Board 61 LED
65 Reflective sheet 66 Light transmission restriction part 70 Light guide plate 71 Diffusion sheet 72 Character sheet 73 Push button

Claims (4)

At least one first light emitting element that is lit when not operated;
A plunger having an opening located above the first light emitting element;
A light guide plate located above the plunger;
At least one second light emitting element disposed adjacent to a side end surface of the light guide plate;
A push button located above the light guide plate,
A push button switch that turns on at least the second light emitting element among the first light emitting element and the second light emitting element by depressing the push button,
A push button switch, characterized in that a light passage restricting portion is provided above the first light emitting element and below the light guide plate.   The push button switch according to claim 1, wherein a light passage restricting portion is provided in an opening provided in the plunger.   The push button switch according to claim 1, wherein a reflection sheet having a light transmission restriction portion is provided between the plunger and the light guide plate.   The push button switch according to claim 1, wherein a diffusion sheet having a light transmission restricting portion is provided between the plunger and the light guide plate.