JPH05101737A - Light emitting element mounted membrane switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To simplify the structure by fitting a light emitting element inside of a membrane switch, and facilitate the attachment thereof to a hard board without using a jig, and increase the rigidity by filling a notch space for fitting of the element with resin. CONSTITUTION:For example, when one of electronic equipment connected to a membrane switch 1 is operated, a switch #1 of a key board 2 is pushed by a finger 12, and a dip 10 provided thereunder is flattened to push an upper surface film 7, and a switch part 3 is thereby turned on. Simultaneously, a light emitting element 4 is electrified to emit the light, and the switch is illuminated by the light transmitted through a surface sheet 6 to enable the confirmation of the switch #1 by an operator. Even in the case of a switch having the three-layer structure, existence of the light emitting of the element 4 can be performed independently from the key board 2. A notch part 13 for fitting of the element 4 is provided, but the notch part 13 is filled with the resin 15 for sealing to eliminate the lowering of the rigidity.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a membrane switch used for electronic equipment, and more particularly to a light emitting element mounting membrane switch suitable for being used by being attached to a hard board.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A membrane switch has a switch portion consisting of a pair of contacts printed with other conductive wires on upper and lower film-like sheets made of a thin film, and switches on by pressing the thin film in that portion. It is used as a keyboard switch by being attached to various keyboards (hardboards) due to its flexibility because it has the function of operating electronic equipment.
Then, when the switch is turned on, a light emitting element (light emitting diode or LE
It is common to provide D).

Heretofore, various proposals have been made on how to provide or mount this light emitting element.

FIG. 3 shows an example thereof. In FIG. 3, 1
Is a bent contact sheet type membrane switch, 2 is a laminated keyboard, 3 is a switch part, and 4 is a light emitting element. The light emitting element 4 has a notch provided on the upper plate of the keyboard 2 and is mounted on the notch. As a result, when the upper surface of the switch portion 3 is pressed with a finger, it is switched on and the light emitting element 4 emits light to emit light upward (see Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-193518).

[0005]

However, the conventional device has a problem that the structure is complicated and the manufacturing cost is high. That is, in the structure shown in FIG. 3, since the light emitting element 4 is attached to the hard board 2 to which the membrane switch 1 is attached, it is difficult to align the two, and a lot of man-hours are required such as a jig for the attaching work. In addition to this drawback, when the periphery of the light emitting element 4 is sealed with a resin, the hard board 2 is a flat rigid body, so that the resin flows and cannot be sufficiently sealed. There is a problem that the price will rise.

In order to solve this problem, it is conceivable to provide the light emitting element in the membrane switch. In that case, it is necessary to cut out the spacer, and in addition to the cutout space of the switch portion, a light emitting element for the light emitting element is additionally provided. A notch space is added to cause a drawback of lowering the rigidity of the membrane switch, and in order to compensate for this drawback, there is a problem that the price also rises.

The present invention has a simple structure, is rigid,
It is an object of the present invention to solve the above-mentioned problems by providing a membrane switch applicable to a keyboard switch which has a low manufacturing cost.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides an upper surface film, a spacer adhered to the upper surface film, a lower surface film adhered to the spacer, and a cutout space portion of the spacer. A switch part consisting of a pair of upper and lower contacts printed on the respective films so as to face the film, a notch part formed by notching the upper surface film and the spacer at a position adjacent to the switch part, and a lower surface film of the notch part. The light emitting element is connected to the upper conductive portion by a conductive adhesive and sealed with a resin, and the resin is filled in a space on the lower surface film of the cutout portion at least until reaching the upper surface of the spacer. It is a thing.

[0009]

[Function] Since the light emitting element is mounted in the membrane switch, the structure is simplified, and it can be easily attached to the hard board without a jig. Since the notch space for mounting the light emitting element of the membrane switch is filled with the resin for mounting the light emitting element, the rigidity is increased and the breakage is less likely to occur.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. First, the configuration will be described.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a keyboard switch, in which a membrane switch 1 wired so as to fulfill the switch function of numbers # 1 to # 10 is attached to a keyboard (hard board) 2. 5 is the keyboard 2
A terminal group provided on the power supply unit and each electronic device are connected. As shown in FIG. 2, which is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II of FIG. 1, the membrane switch 1 includes an upper surface film 7, a spacer 8 and a lower surface film 9 below a surface sheet 6 as a transparent decorative plate. This is a structure having three thin film switches that have an adhesive surface and are adhered, that is, a set of three thin film switches. The dome-shaped dip 10 is provided below the surface sheet 6, and the switch unit 3 is provided below the dome-shaped dip 10. The dip 10 is made of a sagging thin-walled elastic resin material, and the periphery thereof is adhered to the upper film 7, so that the click or snap type switch has a moderation feeling. Opposing contacts face the notched space portion 11 of the spacer 8,
The switch portion 3 is configured so that the dip 10 is flattened by pressing with the finger 12, and the switch portion 3 is closed by pressing and deforming the upper surface film 7. When the finger 12 is released, the dip 10 is elastically returned to open the switch unit 3. The upper and lower contacts forming the switch unit 3 are printed together with a conductive wire (not shown). Adjacent to the switch portion 3, there is a notch portion 13 formed by notching the upper surface film 7 and the spacer 8. The notch portion 1
The light emitting element (LED) 4 is mounted so as to be mounted from above in a space defined by 3 and the upper surface of the lower surface film 9 facing the cutout portion 13. That is, the light emitting element 4 is attached to the bottom film 9
In addition, the conductive portion 14 is conductively attached via a dispenser (preparation for conductive adhesion), and a transparent UV resin (ultraviolet curing resin) 15 is attached and sealed so as to fill the space. In this case, the resin 15 for sealing the space is filled at least until the upper surface of the spacer 8 is reached. Then, when the switch portion 3 is closed, printed wiring is formed by paste conduction so that the light emitting element 4 is energized.

Next, the operation of the above embodiment will be described. For example, press # 1 of the membrane switch 1 in the keyboard of FIG. 1 to activate the first of the electronic devices. That is, pressing with the finger 12 is applied in FIG. Then, the dip 10 is flattened, the upper surface film 7 is pressed, and the switch portion 3 is switched on. At the same time, the light emitting element 4 is energized and emits light, transmits through the surface sheet 6 and outputs light to the outside, and the membrane switch 1 is turned on. Illuminate. As a result, the worker is # 1
You can check the switch-in.

Since the membrane switch 1 according to the above-mentioned embodiment has three light-emitting elements 4 mounted on the top surface of a three-layer stack, when the keyboard switch 2 is attached to it, no jig is used. You can glue them together. That is, since the light emitting element 4 can be attached and the presence or absence of the light emission can be confirmed after the three membrane switches 1 are assembled, the operation can be performed regardless of the keyboard 2.

Further, the membrane switch 1 is notched so as to have the notch 13 for mounting the light emitting element 4,
Since the notched space is filled and sealed with the resin 15 for mounting the light emitting element 4, it is possible to prevent the rigidity from being lowered, so that the sticking work to the keyboard 2 can be performed. It is possible to improve the reliability of the product, such as easy operation.

Further, the UV resin 15 is poured into the notch 13 for sealing, but since the notch 13 is flexible, the resin 15 is bent to prevent wasteful outflow of the resin 15. As a result, the UV resin 15 need not be additionally provided.

As described above, the UV resin 15 of this embodiment has a simple structure because the UV resin 15 serves both to mount the light-emitting element 4 and to increase the rigidity of the mounting space, and thus has a simple structure. It is easy and low cost.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to obtain a light emitting element mounting membrane switch which has a simple structure, is easy to manufacture, and is rigid, and can be applied to a low cost keyboard switch. Occurs.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a keyboard switch showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a conventional device corresponding to FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Membrane Switch 2 Keyboard (Hard Board) 3 Switch Part 4 Light Emitting Element (LED) 5 Terminal Group 6 Surface Sheet 7 Top Film 8 Spacer 9 Bottom Film 10 Dip 11 Notch Space 12 Finger 13 Notch 14 Conductive 15 UV Resin

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An upper surface film, a spacer adhered to the upper surface film, a lower surface film adhered to the spacer, and a pair of upper and lower contacts printed on each film so as to face a notched space portion of the spacer. A switch portion, a cutout portion formed by cutting out the upper surface film and the spacer at a position adjacent to the switch portion, a conductive portion on the lower surface film of the cutout portion connected by a conductive adhesive, and sealed with a resin. A light-emitting-element-mounted membrane switch, comprising a light-emitting element that has been stopped, and the resin is filled in the space above the lower surface film of the cutout portion at least until it reaches the upper surface of the spacer.