JPH0343639Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] <Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a tactile switch applied to industrial robots, machine tools, vending machines, and various other mechanical devices.

<Summary of the invention> This invention is equipped with an actuator that detects a workpiece at the upper end of a cylindrical base, a plunger in the inner hole of the base that moves up and down by tilting and vertical movement of the actuator, and a switch mechanism that opens and closes by the movement of the plunger. In this tactile switch, the actuator is composed of a mounting shaft supported on the upper end of a cylindrical base and a workpiece detector fixed to the mounting shaft, and the workpiece detector includes a contact portion that touches the workpiece using an elastic material; A seal cylindrical portion that seals the upper end of the cylindrical base is integrally formed, reducing the number of parts and labor-saving assembly work.

<Prior art> Conventionally, this type of tactile switch has an actuator at the tip of a cylindrical base that is activated by touching a workpiece, a plunger and return spring that move up and down in response to the actuator's operation, and a switch mechanism that opens and closes using the plunger. An elastic seal cylinder is fitted between the workpiece detector and the cylindrical base of the actuator to hermetically seal the switch mechanism and the driving part. The above-mentioned seal cylinder has an upper opening fitted into the detector and a lower opening fitted into the cylindrical base, but this assembly process requires a great deal of effort and the entire length of the seal cylinder is bent due to the tilting of the detector. In this case, there is an inconvenience that a gap is created between the upper and lower fitting parts.

<Purpose of the invention> The purpose of the invention is to provide a new tactile switch that simplifies assembly work and improves sealing performance.

<Configuration and Effects of the Invention> In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an actuator, a mounting shaft supported on the upper end of a cylindrical base, and a workpiece detector formed of an elastic material and fixed to the mounting shaft. A seal cylinder is integrally formed on the lower peripheral edge of the workpiece detector. According to the above configuration, the number of parts is reduced by integrating the workpiece detector and the seal cylinder, and the fitting portion is only the lower part of the seal cylinder, thereby simplifying the assembly work and improving sealing performance. Moreover, since the detector is made of an elastic body, this elasticity has practical effects such as functioning to absorb the stroke after touching the workpiece.

<Description of Embodiments> The tactile switch of the illustrated example includes a cylindrical base 1, a switch base 2 having a built-in switch mechanism 3 and press-fitted into the cylindrical base 1, and a switch base 2 that is slidable into the cylindrical base. A plunger 4 that operates the switch mechanism 3, a plunger return spring 5 interposed between the plunger and the switch base, and a plunger return spring 5 disposed in conjunction with the tip of the cylindrical base 1, contacting the workpiece to tilt or axially move the plunger 4. and an actuator 6 according to the present invention that operates the plunger 4 when the plunger is moved to.

The cylindrical base 1 is a molded body made of a strong synthetic resin material, and has flat surfaces 11, 11 parallel to each other in the axial direction of the cylinder on opposing parts of the cylinder circumferential surface, and a spiral shape with the flat surfaces separated. In addition to forming a continuous thread groove 12 into which the nut 13 is screwed, the inner hole of the base has a
A conical flange 14 is formed protruding from the periphery of the upper end, a plunger chamber 15 is formed in the upper part of the inner hole, and a switch loading part 16 is formed in the lower part. The switch stand 2 has a round shaft shape with an outer diameter that can be press-fitted into the inner hole of the base, and is formed by integrally joining a main body 2a and a cover body 2b which are offset from the shaft center and divided along the axial direction. 2 is provided with a switch mechanism 3. The switch mechanism 3 has a contact portion 32 bent inward at the upper end.
A pair of terminals 31, 31 having the above are engaged in parallel with the engaging portion 21 of the main body 2a, and a coil spring 34 forming a normally closed contact is engaged between both terminals 31, 31, and the upper end is connected to both contact portions. 32, and an actuating protrusion 43 that presses down the upper end of the coil spring 34 is provided on the plunger actuating shaft 42 inserted into the inner hole of the coil spring 34 from the engagement groove 22 of the upper wall of the main body 2a, and connects the lead wire 36 of the cable 5, and the lead wire portion is molded with epoxy resin 37.

The plunger 4 is a molded body of synthetic resin material,
A coil spring 34 is inserted from the engagement groove 22 of the switch base 2 into the lower part of the sliding shaft portion 41 that fits into the inner hole of the cylindrical base.
The actuating shaft 42 reaches the inner hole of the actuator, and actuating protrusions 43 are integrally formed on both sides of the actuating shaft 42, and a supporting surface 44 for the actuator mounting shaft 61 is formed on the upper surface of the sliding shaft portion 41. The plunger 4 is biased upward with a return spring 5 interposed between the lower surface of the sliding shaft portion 41 and the upper surface of the switch base 2, and holds the operating protrusion 43 at the switch release position.

The actuator 6, which is a feature of the present invention, has a mounting shaft 6 that is tiltably supported on the upper end of the cylindrical base 1.
1 and a workpiece detector 65 fixed to the mounting shaft 61.
A support part 62 having a conical part 63 corresponding to the conical flange 14 of the base and a flat part 64 on the lower surface is integrally formed at the lower part of the mounting shaft 61, and the support part 62 is formed on the support surface of the plunger. 44 and the conical flange 14 of the base, and is urged by the return spring 5 to the conical flange 14 via the plunger 4.

The workpiece detector 65 is a molded body made of an elastic material, and has a contact part 66 such as a spherical or conical shape that touches the workpiece on the upper part, and a shaft hole 67 is provided in the center of the lower surface and is press-fitted and fixed to the mounting shaft 61. At the same time, a bellows-shaped seal tube 68 surrounding the cylindrical base 1 is integrally formed on the lower peripheral edge of the contact portion 66, a flange portion 69 is provided at the lower opening of the seal tube 68, and a fixing groove provided around the base 1 is provided. 17 tightly due to the elasticity of the material, and seals the drive section consisting of the switch mechanism 3, plunger 4, and return spring 5.

Thus, normally, the plunger 4 supports the flat surface 64 of the actuator mounting shaft 61 on the support surface 44, and connects the conical portion 63 to the conical flange 14 of the base and biases it. In this state, the mounting shaft 61, the detector 65, and the seal cylinder portion 68 integral therewith, which constitute the actuator, are positioned coaxially with the base 1.

Now, when the detector 65 contacts the workpiece and the actuator 6 tilts with respect to the central axis of the base,
The conical support part 62 at the bottom of the actuator 6 is displaced with respect to the conical flange 14 of the base 1, with the inclined side being displaced to a small diameter part and the opposite side being displaced to a large diameter part, and at this time, the flat surface 54 corresponding to the small diameter side is moved down according to the inclination. Then, the plunger 4 is lowered while being displaced from the plunger support surface 44. When the inclination of the actuator 6 reaches a predetermined value, the protrusion 43 protruding from the plunger 4 compresses the coil spring 34 forming the corresponding normally closed contact, thereby releasing the contact portions 32, 32 of the terminals 31, 31. , an electric signal for workpiece detection is output between both terminals 31, 31, and at this time, the seal cylinder part 68 is bent over the entire length of the cylinder shaft, but the base 1 and the seal cylinder part 68 are connected to the fixing groove 17. By tightly engaging the flange 69 and the flange 69, a completely sealed state is maintained. Furthermore, when the workpiece and the detector come into contact, elastic deformation of the detector can increase the operating stroke.

Further, when an axial input is applied to the actuator 6, the conical support portion 62 moves to the plunger support surface 4.
4 is directly pressed down, and the plunger 4 is lowered to separate the coil spring 34 from both contact portions 32, 32, and output an electric signal between both terminals 31, 31 as described above.

Note that when the actuator 6 is separated from the workpiece, the restoring forces of the coil spring 34, return spring 5, and seal cylinder portion 68 act to return the plunger 4 and actuator 6 to their original states.

As described above, in the present invention, the actuator 6 for detecting a workpiece is composed of the mounting shaft 61 supported by the cylindrical base 1 and the workpiece detector 65 fixed to the mounting shaft 61. Since the seal cylinder part 68 made of an elastic material and surrounding the cylindrical base 1 on the lower peripheral edge and the fixing collar part 69 are integrally formed on the cylinder part and tightly engaged with the fixing groove 17 of the cylindrical base, the present invention reduces the number of parts. This simplifies the structure and has excellent practical effects, such as the assembly work being simplified by the reduction in the amount of water, and the sealing effect being improved.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of the tactile switch according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view, and FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of the tactile switch. 1... Cylindrical base, 3... Switch mechanism, 4...
... Plunger, 6... Actuator, 61...
Mounting shaft, 65... Workpiece detector, 66... Contact portion, 68... Seal tube portion, 69... Flange portion.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A cylindrical base, an actuator arranged at the upper end opening of the base to detect a workpiece, a plunger loaded into the base and moved up and down when the actuator detects the workpiece, and a switch that opens and closes when the plunger moves up and down. In a tactile switch having a mechanism, the actuator consists of a mounting shaft supported on a cylindrical base so as to be tiltable and vertically movable, and a workpiece detector fixed to the mounting shaft, and the workpiece detector is made of an elastic material. A seal cylindrical portion surrounding the tip of the cylindrical base is integrally provided on the outer periphery of the lower surface, and a flange portion that fits into the fixing groove provided around the cylindrical base is formed at the lower end of the seal cylindrical portion. A tactile switch.