JPH0443938Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] <Industrial application field> This invention relates to a tactile switch that is applied to industrial robots, machine tools, vending machines, and various other mechanical devices.

<Summary of the invention> This invention is a tactile switch that opens and closes a switch mechanism by converting the tilting motion of an actuator into an axial motion of a plunger. By configuring a workpiece detector that is removably engaged with the mounting shaft, it is easy to create a wide variety of actuators, and it is easy to manufacture actuators that meet customer specifications, making inventory management convenient. Improved quality.

<Prior art> There are various configurations of this type of tactile switch, but all of them involve an actuator that tilts upon detection of a workpiece, and a switch mechanism that converts this tilting motion into a linear motion via a plunger. It's connected.

However, in the above-mentioned actuator, the contact portion with the workpiece and the support portion for the cylindrical base are all integrally constructed, so it is necessary to manufacture various types of actuators depending on the application. In particular, in addition to the standard type, actuators are manufactured in various types for specific customers, which requires a great deal of effort in designing, manufacturing, and inventory management, and requires a large amount of effort to act on the plunger and switch mechanisms. There are problems such as variations in the performance and lack of stable operation.

<Purpose of the invention> The purpose of this invention is to provide a tactile switch that facilitates the wide variation of various actuators and improves the stability of operating characteristics.

<Configuration and Effects of the Invention> The tactile switch of this invention includes a cylindrical base, an actuator for detecting a workpiece disposed at the upper end opening of the cylindrical base, and a tactile switch mounted in the cylindrical base and configured to actuate the actuator. a plunger that moves up and down when the workpiece is detected; a switch base that is press-fitted into the cylindrical base and has a built-in switch mechanism that opens and closes when the plunger moves up and down; and between the cylindrical base and the actuator. It is equipped with a cylindrical sealing material fitted into the cylindrical sealing material.

The actuator includes a single-type mounting shaft that is tiltably supported on the upper end of the cylindrical base, and a contact portion with the workpiece at the upper portion, and the contact portion has a plurality of contact portions formed in different shapes depending on the application. It is configured in combination with one of the workpiece detectors,
A stop hole for removably fixing the mounting shaft is formed on the lower surface of the workpiece detector, and an engagement groove for removably and tightly engaging the sealing material is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the workpiece detector. has been done.

According to the above configuration, for a single type of mounting shaft,
By manufacturing many types of workpiece detectors according to the application and selectively combining them, it becomes easy to create a wide variety of actuators.

Moreover, since the mounting shaft is of a single type, the plunger's pressing motion is constant for various actuators, and the operating characteristics of the switch mechanism are stable.
Improves the accuracy of tactile switches.

Furthermore, since each workpiece detector is provided with an engagement groove for tightly engaging the sealing material, it is possible to seal the tactile switch from the uppermost workpiece detector, resulting in remarkable practical effects.

<Description of Embodiments> The illustrated tactile switch includes a cylindrical base 1 for attaching and fixing the tactile switch to a mechanical device, a switch base 2 having a built-in switch mechanism 3 and press-fitted into the cylindrical base 1, A plunger 4 that is slidably arranged into the cylindrical base 1 and operates the switch mechanism 3, a return spring 5 of the plunger 4 interposed between the plunger 4 and the switch base 2, and a tip end of the cylindrical base 1. and an actuator 6 which is connected to the plunger 4 and actuates the plunger 4 when it comes into contact with a workpiece and moves in the tilting or axial direction.

The cylindrical base 1 has a flat surface 11 formed on an opposing portion of the outer peripheral surface and a screw groove 12 formed on the axial peripheral surface between the two flat surfaces 11, 11, so that a tightening nut 13 is screwed into the cylindrical base 1. The inner hole has a conical flange 14 projecting from its upper end, a plunger chamber 15 in the upper part of the inner hole, and a switch loading part 1 in the lower part.
6 are respectively formed, and the switch base 2 is press-fitted and fixed.

The switch stand 2 has a cylindrical shape with an outer diameter that can be press-fitted into the inner hole of the cylindrical base 1, and integrally connects a main body 2a and a lid 2b, which are offset from the center of the cylinder axis and divided along the cylinder axis direction. A switch mechanism 3 is provided on this switch stand 2.

The switch mechanism 3 engages a pair of terminals 31, 31 having an inwardly bent contact portion 32 at the upper end with the engaging portion 21 of the main body 2a in parallel to each other.
A coil spring 34 forming a normally closed contact is engaged between 1 and 31, and the upper end of the coil spring 34 is connected to both contact portions 32, 31.
An operating protrusion 43 is provided on the operating shaft 42 of the plunger 4, which is inserted into the inner hole of the coil spring 34 from the engaging groove 22 in the upper wall of the main body 2a, and which pushes down the upper end of the coil spring 34. Both the contact portions 32, 32 are provided with a plurality of contact protrusions 33 protruding from the lower surface, respectively, to improve the contact properties of the contacts. A cable 35 is connected to both terminals 31, 31.
A lead wire 36 is connected, and a portion of this lead wire 36 is molded with epoxy resin 37.

The plunger 4 is a molded synthetic resin material, and has a sliding shaft portion 41 that fits into the inner hole of the cylindrical base 1.
A switch base 2 is provided at the bottom of this sliding shaft portion 41.
An actuating shaft 42 that reaches the inner hole of the coil spring 4 from the engagement groove 22, and actuating protrusions 43 are integrally formed on both sides of the actuating shaft 42. A support surface 44 for supporting the mounting shaft 61 of the actuator 6 is formed on the upper surface of the sliding shaft portion 41, and a recess 45 of an appropriate depth is formed in the center of the support surface 44. A return spring 5 is interposed between the lower surface of the sliding shaft portion 41 and the upper surface of the switch base 2, and is biased upward to hold the operating protrusion 43 in the switch release position.

The actuator 6 includes a mounting shaft 61 that is tiltably supported on the upper end of the cylindrical base 1, and a mounting shaft 61 that is tiltably supported on the upper end of the cylindrical base 1.
1 and a workpiece detector 65 of an arbitrary shape. A support part 62 having a conical part 63 corresponding to the conical flange 14 of the cylindrical base 1 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 supports the plunger 4. The surface 44 is engaged with the conical flange 14 of the cylindrical base 1, and the return spring 5 urges the conical flange 14 via the plunger 4.

The workpiece detector 65 has a spherical contact part 66 (Fig. 3a) that touches the workpiece on the upper part, a conical contact part 66 (Fig. 3b), and a spirally wound spring wire extending upward at the upper end. It consists of several types of contact parts 66 formed with arbitrary shapes depending on the purpose, such as a spring rod contact part 66 (FIG. 3c). Each workpiece detector 6
5 has a retaining hole 6 on the lower surface that fits the mounting shaft 61.
7 is formed, and the inner surface of the stop hole 67 and the mounting shaft 6
A pair of fixing means 68 (FIG. 4), such as knurling and threaded grooves, are provided on the circumferential surface of the holder 1. Each workpiece detector 65 has a shape of the contact portion 66 selected depending on the application, and is fixed to the mounting shaft 61.

Between the cylindrical base 1 and the workpiece detector 65,
An elastic sealing material 7 made of a rubber cylinder is fitted. This elastic sealing material 7 is provided with flanges 72 and 73 that protrude inward at the upper and lower cylinder openings of a cylinder body 71 whose cylinder wall is curved in the axial direction.
Engagement grooves 69 and 17 that go around the lower outer peripheral surface of the workpiece detector 65 and the upper part of the cylindrical base 1 are formed so that the flanges 72 and 73 at both ends of the cylindrical body 71 are tightly engaged by the elasticity of the material, respectively. The upper end of the cylindrical base 1 including the mounting shaft 61 is sealed.

Therefore, the actuator 6 is normally biased by the elasticity of the return spring 5 and the elastic sealing material 7, and the flat surface 64 of the mounting shaft 61 is connected to the support surface of the plunger 4.
4, and the operating protrusion 4 of the plunger 4
3 is located away from a coil spring 34 which forms a normally closed contact in the switch mechanism 3.

Now, when the workpiece detector 65 contacts the workpiece and the actuator 6 tilts with respect to the center line of the cylindrical base 1, the lower support part 6 of the actuator 6
2 is displaced with respect to the conical flange 14 of the cylindrical base 1 so that the inclined side becomes a large diameter part and the opposite side becomes a small diameter part, and at this time, the flat surface 64 corresponding to the large diameter side descends according to the inclination and supports the plunger 3. The plunger 4 is lowered while being displaced from the surface 44.

When the actuator 6 is separated from the workpiece, the restoring forces of the coil spring 34, return spring 5, and sealing material 7 return the plunger 4 and actuator 6 to their original states.

In this way, since the actuator 6 for pushing down the plunger 4 is constructed by fixing the workpiece contactor 65 to the mounting shaft 61 which can be tilted to the upper end of the cylindrical base 1 in a detachable and replaceable manner, By manufacturing several different types of workpiece detectors 65 for the mounting shaft 61 depending on the application, selecting these and combining them to fix the shaft, it is easy to create a wide variety of actuators 6, and to meet customer specifications. It becomes easy to manufacture actuators according to the requirements and manage inventory. Moreover, since the mounting shaft 61 is of a single type, the pressing motion of the plunger 4 is constant for each type of actuator 6, and the operating characteristics of the switch mechanism 3 are stabilized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of the tactile switch according to this invention, Fig. 2 is an exploded perspective view, Figs. 3 a to c are partially sectional front views showing examples of workpiece detectors in actuators, and Fig. Figures a and b are front views showing examples of fixing means for the mounting shaft and the workpiece detector; 1... Cylindrical base, 14... Conical flange, 2
...Switch stand, 3...Switch mechanism, 4...
Plunger, 5... Return spring, 6... Actuator, 61... Mounting shaft, 62... Support part, 63
. . . Conical portion, 64 . . . Flat portion, 65 . . . Workpiece detector, 66 .

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A cylindrical base; an actuator for detecting a workpiece placed in the upper end opening of the cylindrical base; and a workpiece detection operation of the actuator loaded in the cylindrical case a plunger that moves up and down; a switch base that is press-fitted into the cylindrical base and has a built-in switch mechanism that opens and closes when the plunger moves up and down; and a cylinder that is fitted between the cylindrical base and the actuator. The actuator includes a single-form mounting shaft that is tiltably supported on the upper end of the cylindrical base, and a contact portion with a workpiece at the upper portion, and the contact portion is configured according to the application. The workpiece detector is configured by combining one of a plurality of workpiece detectors formed in different shapes, and a stop hole is formed on the bottom surface of each workpiece detector to removably fix the mounting shaft, and A tactile switch in which an engagement groove is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the detector to tightly engage the sealing material in a removable manner.