JPH0454659Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Objective of the Invention] (Industrial Field of Application) The present invention relates to a switch device that can be operated to a plurality of operating positions, and particularly to a non-contact type switch device that uses light.

(Prior Art) An example of a switch device that can be operated to a plurality of operating positions is a wiper switch in an automobile. Such a wiper switch usually has a bracket that can be selectively moved from an off position to a plurality of operating positions such as an intermittent wiping mode position, a low-speed wiping mode position, a high-speed wiping mode position, etc. according to the operation using an operator. and a movable contact is provided on the bracket, and a fixed contact is provided in a holder for holding the bracket that slides into contact with the movable contact when the bracket is in each of the operating positions. . however,
Since the switch device having this configuration is of the contact type, there is a problem that the life span is shortened due to wear of the contacts and the reliability is low. In order to deal with such problems, it has been considered to make the switch device contactless. That is, when a switch device that can be operated to a plurality of operation positions is made contactless, for example, a light emitting diode that is moved and displaced in conjunction with the operation of the operator to each operation position is provided, and the light emitting diode is It has been considered to arrange a number of phototransistors corresponding to the number of operating positions so as to face the movement locus of the diode.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) In the conventional non-contact type switch device described above, in addition to the light emitting diode, a number of phototransistors corresponding to the number of operating positions and signal output lines from each of these phototransistors are required. In this case, it is inevitable that the structure becomes complicated and the cost increases accordingly, and since the light-emitting diode and phototransistor, which have relatively large thicknesses, are arranged facing each other, it becomes difficult to make the structure smaller and thinner. There is a point.
Further, in the above-mentioned switch device, the light emitting diode must be kept on standby at all times, which has the problem of large power consumption.

Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a switch device which has a contactless structure to improve reliability, while reducing the number of light receiving elements and the number of signal output lines required, thereby simplifying the structure and reducing costs, while also achieving an overall smaller and thinner device and reducing power consumption.

[Structure of the invention] (Means for solving the problem) The switch device according to the invention is provided with a responsive member that is moved and displaced to a plurality of operating positions in response to an operation by an operator, and a moving trajectory of the responsive member. A plurality of light-receiving elements are provided so as to face the light-receiving elements, and a phosphor is provided at each position on the responsive member that faces the light-receiving element when the responsive member is in each of the plurality of operation positions. In addition to setting an arrangement section, a phosphor configured to emit fluorescence at all times is selectively arranged in this phosphor arrangement section.

(Function) In each state in which the response member is moved to a plurality of operation positions by the operator, each phosphor placement portion comes to face a plurality of light receiving elements, so that the phosphor placement portion has no phosphor. When the light receiving element is placed, the light receiving element exhibits a light receiving state. Therefore, if the selective arrangement state of the phosphor with respect to the phosphor arrangement portion is coded, the operation position by the operator can be specified based on the light receiving state of the plurality of light receiving elements.

(Example) Hereinafter, an example in which the present invention is applied to a wiper switch of an automobile will be described.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a case made of plastic, for example, and has a fan-shaped bottom wall 1a and a side wall 1b rising from the periphery of the bottom wall 1a. An opening 1c (see FIG. 2) is formed in the main part of the sector, and a support hole 1d is formed at a position near the opening 1c in the bottom wall 1a. 2 is a plastic cover provided to close the top opening of the case 1, which is also fan-shaped;
A support hole 2a is formed in a portion facing the support hole 1d. Reference numeral 3 denotes a response member, such as a plastic bracket, which is attached to the bottom wall portion 1a.
It has a smaller fan shape, and is rotatably supported by inserting shaft portions 3a and 3b, which are located at the main parts of the fan shape, into the support holes 1d and 2a. 4
Reference numeral 1 denotes an operating lever which is an operating element formed integrally with the bracket 1, and which projects out of the case 1 through the opening 1c. Therefore, the bracket 3 can be moved and displaced by the operation lever 4. In this embodiment, in response to the operation of the operation lever 4, the bracket 3 is moved from the OFF position as shown in FIG. It can be selectively moved to each operation position: intermittent wiping mode position INT, low speed wiping mode position LO, and high speed wiping mode position HI. 5, turn bracket 3 off at each of the above positions,
This is a moderation mechanism to maintain INT, LO, and HI. In this case, the moderation mechanism 5 includes a moderation valley 5a formed in the arc-shaped portion of the side wall 1b of the case 1, a moderation ball 5b housed in the hole 3c formed in the bracket 3, and a moderation ball 5b housed in the hole 3c. It is constituted by a compression coil spring 5c which is housed and presses the moderation ball 5b into pressure contact with the moderation valley portion 5a.

6 and 7 are light receiving elements, such as phototransistors, and these are equipped with optical fibers 6a and 7 as accessories.
a, and the tip surfaces of the optical fibers 6a and 7a are used as light receiving surfaces. And such optical fiber 6
a, 7a, the tip portions of which are connected to the bottom wall 1 of the case 1.
a, and is arranged so that its tip surface (corresponding to the light-receiving surface of the phototransistors 6 and 7) faces the movement locus of the bracket 3. On the bottom surface of the bracket 3,
This bracket 3 is connected to each of the operating positions INT, LO,
Two sets of phosphor arrangement portions 8a and 8b, 9a and 9b, 10a and 1 are provided at each position facing the tip surfaces of the optical fibers 6a and 7a in each state of HI.
0b (indicated by a broken line in FIG. 2) are set respectively. In this embodiment, each of the phosphor arrangement parts 8a and 8b, 9a and 9b, 10a and 10
In contrast to b, phosphors 11 to 14 configured to constantly emit fluorescence in combination with naturally radioactive elements
are selectively arranged as described below.

That is, bracket 3 is in the high-speed wiping mode position HI.
Phosphors 11 and 12 are disposed on both of the phosphor placement portions 8a and 8b, which face the tip surfaces of the optical fibers 6a and 7a in the displaced state. Also,
When the bracket 3 is displaced to the low-speed wiping mode position LO, the phosphor 13 is arranged only in one of the phosphor arrangement parts 9a and 9b, which faces the tip surfaces of the optical fibers 6a and 7a. be done. Furthermore, bracket 3 is in the intermittent wiping mode position INT
In the phosphor placement portions 10a and 10b that face the tip surfaces of the optical fibers 6a and 7a in a state in which the optical fibers 6a and 7a are displaced to
is placed.

FIG. 3 shows a circuit configuration for obtaining a switching output depending on the light receiving state of the phototransistors 6 and 7. That is, phototransistors 6, 7
Each collector is connected to the power supply terminal +Vcc, and each emitter is grounded via resistors 15 and 16, respectively. Therefore, the output terminals 17, connected to the respective emitters of the phototransistors 6, 7,
18 outputs various signals as described below depending on the light receiving state of the phototransistors 6 and 7.

That is, when the bracket 3 is in the OFF position, the phosphors are not opposed to the tip surfaces of the optical fibers 6a and 7a, so the phototransistors 6 and 7 are in a non-light receiving state and are off. A logic value "0" signal corresponding to the ground level is output from both output terminals 17 and 18. From this state, bracket 3 moves to the intermittent wiping mode position.
When moved to INT, the phosphor 14 is opposed to the tip surface of the optical fiber 6a, so the phototransistor 6 receives light from the phosphor 14 and turns on, so that the output terminal 17 A logic value "1" signal corresponding to the voltage level of the power supply terminal +Vcc is output from the output terminal 18, and a logic value "0" signal is output from the output terminal 18. Also, when the bracket 3 is moved to the low speed wiping mode position LO,
Since the phosphor 13 faces the tip surface of the optical fiber 7a, the phototransistor 7 is turned on and a logic value "1" signal is output from the output terminal 18, and a logic value "0" signal is output from the output terminal 17. A signal will now be output. Further, when the bracket 3 is moved to the high-speed wiping mode position HI, the phosphor 1 is applied to each tip surface of the optical fibers 6a and 7a.
1 and 12 are opposed to each other, phototransistors 6 and 7 are turned on, and a logic value "1" signal is output from both output terminals 17 and 18. In summary, the output terminals 17 and 18 output coded switching signals as shown in FIG. 4 according to the position of the bracket 3, and the wiper operation is controlled by this output. It is something that can be done.

According to the above-mentioned embodiment, since light is used to make the contactless, there is no reduction in service life due to contact wear, and reliability can be improved. Also, the off position
Although it has a configuration that has three types of operating positions in addition to OFF, INT, LO, and HI, it only requires two phototransistors 6 and 7, which can also reduce the number of signal output lines. It is something. However, since the number of required phototransistors can be reduced in this way, and the phosphors 11 to 14 having extremely small thickness dimensions are used as light emitting sources, the entire device can be made smaller and thinner. Furthermore, since the phosphors 11 to 14, which are provided to emit fluorescence at all times, are used as light sources as described above, the power consumption does not increase unlike the conventional configuration that uses light emitting diodes as light sources. It is.

Note that in the above embodiment, the phototransistors 6 and 7
Although optical fibers 6a and 7a were attached to the
Such optical fibers 6a and 7a may be provided as necessary.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, but can be applied to a wide range of switch devices having multiple operating positions, and is not limited to wiper switches. It can be modified and implemented.

[Effects of the invention] As is clear from the above explanation, the invention has a structure that improves reliability by making contactless using light, while reducing the number of light receiving elements and the number of required light receiving elements. It is possible to reduce the number of signal output lines, simplifying the structure and reducing costs, and also achieves practical effects such as making the entire device smaller and thinner, and further reducing power consumption. It is something.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional side view, Fig. 2 is a sectional bottom view, Fig. 3 is an electrical configuration diagram, and Fig. 4 is a diagram logically showing output contents. It is. In the figure, 1 is a case, 2 is a cover, 3 is a bracket (response member), 4 is an operating lever (operator), 5 is a moderation mechanism, 6 and 7 are phototransistors (light receiving elements), 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b
indicates a phosphor arrangement portion, and 11 to 14 indicate phosphors.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A responsive member that is moved and displaced to a plurality of operating positions in response to an operation by an operator, a plurality of light receiving elements provided to face a movement trajectory of the responsive member, and a plurality of light receiving elements located at positions on the responsive member. The responsive member is configured to constantly emit fluorescence with a phosphor arrangement section set at each position facing the light receiving element in each state of the plurality of operation positions, and is selectively attached to the phosphor arrangement section. 1. A switch device comprising: a phosphor arranged therein.