JP7194330B2 - instrumentation - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an instrument device mounted on a vehicle or the like.

In conventional instrument devices, it is known to provide a key top to indirectly press a switch provided on a circuit board. This keytop is covered with a cover, and the user indirectly presses the switch by pressing the keytop through the cover.

JP 2017-49027 A

The cover is supported by various members provided on the front side of the switch, such as a case member, a display panel, a panel member, and a light-transmitting panel arranged in the foreground. However, when the switch is far from the point where the user's input operation is received, that is, the end of the key top facing the switch, the length of the cover is lengthened accordingly. Various members provided on the front side of the switch support the cover, but if the length of the cover is long, there is a possibility that the cover cannot be supported sufficiently. In particular, when the cover is made of a flexible material such as rubber, the shape of the cover cannot be maintained without a member for supporting the cover, and the cover may be deformed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide an instrument device that does not impair the degree of freedom in design.

In order to solve the above-described problems, the instrument display device according to the present invention provides a circuit board having a switch that receives an input when pushed in a first direction, one end in the first direction facing the switch, the a keytop having a second end in the first direction that indirectly receives an input to the switch; a cover that covers the keytop; a cylindrical shape having an axial direction in the first direction; a support member having a corresponding outer shape and arranged inside the cover to support the cover, the support member supporting the key top movably in the first direction; It has one end in the first direction with a chamfered corner on the side facing the cover .

The instrument device according to the present invention does not impair the degree of freedom in design.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The front view of the measuring instrument device which is embodiment of the measuring instrument device which concerns on this invention. Sectional drawing which follows the II-II line of FIG. Sectional drawing which follows the III-III line of FIG. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the key top from the operation receiving surface side; The perspective view which shows a cover from a top surface side. (a) is a perspective view showing the support member from the front end side, and (b) is a perspective view showing it from the brim side.

An embodiment of a measuring instrument device according to the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings. A measuring instrument device according to the present invention is mounted, for example, on vehicles such as automobiles and two-wheeled vehicles, ships, agricultural machinery, and construction machinery.

FIG. 1 is a front view of an instrument device 1 that is an embodiment of an instrument device according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line II--II of FIG.
FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line III--III in FIG.

In the following description, "front (front)", "back (back)", "upper", "lower", "right", and "left" are defined as "Fr." Re.", "To.", "Bo.", "R", and "L".

The instrument device 1 has a display unit 2 realized by a speedometer, a warning display unit, a display panel, etc., and displays various information through these.

The instrument device 1 mainly has a circuit board 10 , a case 20 and a switch unit 30 .

The circuit board 10 mainly has a switch 11 and a control section including a driver for the switch 11, the display section 2, and the like.

The switch 11 is soldered on the front surface 10a of the circuit board 10, and receives an input when pushed in the first direction from the front to the rear. The switch 11 receives an instruction to change the display content of the display unit 2, for example.

The control unit has a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc., and executes predetermined arithmetic processing according to a program written in the ROM, for example. The control unit acquires various vehicle information from various sensors and the like via an ECU (Electronic Control Unit) of the vehicle, for example. The control unit drives the display unit 2 based on the acquired various information including the instruction from the switch 11 .

The case 20 has a lower case 21 , an upper case 22 , a middle case 23 and a dial member 24 .

The lower case 21 and upper case 22 are made of resin (for example, black polypropylene). The lower case 21 and the upper case 22 are firmly fixed to each other by, for example, a fitting structure. Thereby, the lower case 21 and the upper case 22 form an internal space, and the display section 2, the circuit board 10, and the switch unit 30 are accommodated in this internal space.

The upper case 22 has an opening 22a covered with a translucent plate 25. As shown in FIG. The light-transmitting plate 25 is made of a light-transmitting resin (for example, polycarbonate resin), and is provided to protect the display section 2 and the circuit board 10 inside the case 20 from dust and the like. The transparent plate 25 is formed in an area substantially corresponding to the display area of the display section 2 .

The middle case 23 is made of resin (for example, white polypropylene), and fixes or supports the internal structure of the display unit 2, the circuit board 10, and the supporting member 40 (described later) in the internal space of the case 20. .

The dial member 24 is made of a light-shielding resin (for example, black ABS resin), covers the light-shielding region other than the light-transmitting region of the light-transmitting plate 25, and shields unnecessary structures.

The switch unit 30 is provided to receive an input operation to the switch 11 from the user. The switch unit 30 has a key top 31 , a cover 35 and a support member 40 .

Here, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the key top 31 from the operation receiving surface 33 side.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the cover 35 from the top surface 36 side.
6A is a perspective view showing the support member 40 from the front end 41a side, and FIG. 6B is a perspective view showing it from the collar 42 side.

The keytop 31 is made of resin (for example, white polypropylene) and has a main body 32 , an operation receiving surface 33 , and supported pieces 34 .

The main body 32 is a rod-like member extending in the front-rear direction as the first direction, having a front end 32a and a rear end 32b. The main body 32 has a length corresponding to a point from the switch 11 to receive an input operation from the user. The rear end 32b functions as one end facing the switch 11 in the first direction.

The operation receiving surface 33 is provided at the front end 32 a of the main body 32 so as to be substantially perpendicular to the main body 32 . The operation reception surface 33 functions as the other end in the first direction that indirectly receives an input to the switch 11 .

The supported piece 34 is a portion supported by the support member 40 and prevents the main body 32 from rotating with respect to the support member 40 .

The cover 35 is made of flexible, deformable rubber (for example, black ethylene-propylene-diene rubber (EPDM)) and covers the key top 31 . The cover 35 has a top surface 36, side walls 37, and a flange 38, and has a structure in which the surface facing the top surface 36 is open.

The top surface 36 faces the operation receiving surface 33 of the key top 31, covers the operation receiving surface 33, and is mainly pressed by the user.

Side walls 37 extend from top surface 36 along key top 31 . Specifically, the side wall 37 has a plane direction substantially in the front-rear direction along the direction in which the main body 32 of the key top 31 extends from the top surface 36 . In this embodiment, the surface of the cover 35 perpendicular to the front-rear direction is the top surface 36, and the surface along the front-rear direction and the surface connecting the surface perpendicular to the front-rear direction and the surface along the front-rear direction are the side walls 37. .

The flange 38 is formed at a rear end 37b (FIG. 5) facing the front end 37a of the side wall 37 on the side of the top surface 36 in the front-rear direction. Collar 38 is a support surface supported by collar 42 of support member 40 .

The support member 40 is made of resin (white polypropylene, for example), and is arranged inside the cover 35 to support the cover 35 . Further, the support member 40 supports the keytop 31 so as to be movable in the front-rear direction. The support member 40 is supported by the middle case 23 . The support member 40 has a tubular portion 41 and a collar 42 .

The tubular portion 41 has a substantially trapezoidal tubular shape whose axial direction is the front-rear direction, and has a front end 41a and a rear end 41b (FIG. 6). The tubular portion 41 has an outer shape corresponding to the inner shape of the cover 35 . The front end 41 a is one end in the front-rear direction and has a gap 43 with respect to the top surface 36 of the cover 35 . Further, the front end 41a has a notch 44 that enlarges the gap 43 at a portion where the side wall 37 is exposed without being covered by other members. Another member covering the side wall 37 is, for example, an instrument panel 50 (FIG. 2) of a vehicle to which the instrument device 1 is fixed. The notch 44 is, for example, U-shaped and is preferably cut out to the boundary 51 covered by the instrument panel 50 . Further, the front end 41a is chamfered at a corner 41c on the side facing the cover 35. As shown in FIG. Thereby, workability when inserting the support member 40 into the cover 35 can be improved.

The cylindrical portion 41 has a support structure 46 for supporting the key top 31 inside. The support structure 46 has a space with some play corresponding to the contours of the main body 32 and the supported piece 34 . A structure 46 a that supports the main body 32 of the support structure 46 protrudes from the rear end 41 b of the tubular portion 41 . As a result, the support structure 46 allows the key top 31 to stand upright in the front-rear direction, and at the same time restricts its rotation about the front-rear direction.

The flange 42 is formed at the rear end 41 b of the tubular portion 41 . The brim 42 is a support surface supported by the middle case 23 .

Such a switch unit 30 is assembled as follows.

First, the support member 40 is supported by the middle case 23 via the flange 42 . Next, the keytop 31 is supported by the support structure 46 of the support member 40 . After that, the support member 40 is covered with the cover 35 , and the flange 38 of the cover 35 is arranged in front of the flange 42 of the support member 40 . Finally, the switch unit 30 is fixed by fitting the convex portion 22b of the upper case 22 with the flange 38 of the cover 35. As shown in FIG.

Such a measuring instrument device 1 does not impair the degree of freedom in design by having the switch unit 30 described above. That is, in the instrument device 1, even if the length of the cover 35 is increased as the length of the key top 31 in the front-rear direction increases, deformation of the cover 35 is reduced by supporting the shape of the cover 35 with the support member 40. can do. Therefore, the distance from the switch 11 to the top surface 36 of the cover 35 does not limit the degree of freedom in designing the instrument device 1 including the switch unit 30 .

When the switch unit 30 is assembled, if the support member 40 is not provided, the operator must support the key top 31 with the cover 35 covering the key top 31 until the upper case 22 is fitted. be. In this case, there is a risk that the key top 31 will fall off, which may impair workability during assembly. On the other hand, in the instrument device 1 according to the present embodiment, the support member 40 can support the key top 31, so workability during assembly can be improved.

Furthermore, when the user performs an input operation, the pressing point may deviate from the top surface 36 of the cover 35 toward the side wall 37, that is, the cover 35 may not be pushed in the front-rear direction. On the other hand, since the front end 41a of the cylindrical portion 41 has the gap 43, the force pushing the side wall 37 of the cover 35 is transmitted to the operation receiving surface 33 of the key top 31 without being blocked by the front end 41a. In particular, the front end 41a corresponding to the portion where the side wall 37 of the cover 35 is only partially exposed has a notch 44 which is cut out in a U-shape to make the gap 43 larger than the other gaps 43 . Therefore, an input operation can be accepted in the area of the cover 35 that can be touched by the user (the area where the cover 35 is exposed from the case 20 or the instrument panel 50). Therefore, even if the instrument device 1 has the support member 40, the operability is not deteriorated.

While several embodiments of the invention have been described, these embodiments have been presented by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. These novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, replacements, and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. These embodiments and modifications thereof are included in the scope and gist of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

1 instrument device 2 display unit 10 circuit board 11 switch 20 case 21 lower case 22 upper case 22a opening 22b convex portion 23 middle case 24 dial member 25 translucent plate 30 switch unit 31 key top 32 main body 32a, 37a, 41a front end 32b, 37b, 41b rear end 33 operation reception surface 34 supported piece 35 cover 36 top surface 37 side wall 38, 42 collar 40 support member 41 cylindrical portion 41c corner 43 gap 44 notch 46 support structure 50 instrument panel 51 boundary

Claims (3)

a circuit board having a switch that receives an input when pushed in a first direction;
one end in the first direction facing the switch;
a key top having a second end in the first direction that indirectly receives an input to the switch;
a cover that covers the key top;
a support member having a cylindrical shape with the first direction as an axial direction and an outer shape corresponding to an inner shape of the cover, the supporting member supporting the cover by being arranged inside the cover;
with
The support member operably supports the key top in the first direction, and has one end in the first direction with a chamfered corner facing the cover . the cover has a top surface facing the other end,
The instrument device according to claim 1, wherein the support member has one end in the first direction that is spaced from the top surface. the cover has a side wall extending from the top surface along the key top;
3. The instrument device according to claim 2 , wherein said one end of said support member has a notch for enlarging said gap at a portion where said side wall is exposed without being covered by another member.

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