JPH0555764A - Control device for electric equipment - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To mount a board on the back of an operation panel and simplify its mounting structure. CONSTITUTION:A printed board 14 consists of a multi-stage board cut off by a coupling section where a part of the coupling section remains in the lower edge and forms an anchoring projection 14a. When the printed board is mounted to an operation panel 13, the anchoring projection 14a is fitted into an engagement hole 16a of the bottom 16 while a screw 25 is screwed into a threaded hole 14b and fastened to a boss 24.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operating device for an electric device in which a substrate having switches operated from the front side of an operation panel is attached to the back side of the operation panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electric device such as a refrigerator, an operating device is provided, for example, on a decorative frame portion under a door of a refrigerating compartment so that a user can adjust the temperature of a freezing compartment. A conventional operating device of this type will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8.

That is, a cutout recess 1b is formed in the decorative frame 1a of the refrigerating compartment door 1, and the operating device 2 is disposed in this cutout recess 1b. The operating device 2 includes a panel section 3
A printed circuit board 5 having switches 4 such as a temperature controller is attached to an operation panel 3 having an L-shaped side surface integrally including a and a bottom plate portion 3b.

The printed circuit board 5 is mounted so as to be positioned on the rear surface side of the panel portion 3a, and at this time, the operation shaft 4a of the switches 4 is forward from the slit 3c formed in the panel portion 3a. The operation knob 6 is attached to the tip end of the operation knob 6.

In this case, on the back surface of the panel portion 3a,
A plurality of boss portions 7 are integrally provided on the upper and lower sides, and the printed circuit board 5 is screwed and attached to the boss portions 7. Although not shown, the decorative frame 1a
Is provided with a lid that covers the front surface of the operation panel 3 in an openable and closable manner.

[0006]

As described above, in the above-mentioned conventional operating device, even if a large operating force is applied to the printed circuit board 5 when the user operates the operation knob 6, the printed circuit board 5 may be displaced. In order not to do so, a large number of boss portions 7 are formed on the operation panel 3, and the printed circuit board 5 is attached by screwing at a large number of places.

However, such a mounting structure has the following drawbacks. First of all, since screws are screwed in at many places, the number of screws increases and the number of assembly steps increases,
It was inferior in manufacturability. Further, since a large number of screw holes have to be formed in the printed circuit board 5, the wiring patterns and the arrangement of parts are restricted and complicated in order to escape the screw holes. Furthermore, since a large number of bosses 7 must be formed, the structure of the mold for the operation panel 3 is complicated.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide an operating device for an electric device capable of simplifying a structure for mounting a substrate on an operating panel.

[0009]

In the operating device for an electric device according to the present invention, a board having switches operated from the front surface of the operation panel is mounted on the back surface side of the operation panel. In addition, the substrate is configured by dividing the multi-stage substrate formed by connecting a plurality of unit substrate parts at a narrow connecting portion at the connecting portion, and remains on the substrate. The connecting portion is a locked portion, and the locked portion is locked to a locking portion provided on the operation panel side.

[0010]

According to the above means, since the locked portion of the board is locked by the locking portion provided on the operation panel side, when the board is attached to the operation panel, the locking is performed. In the part, there is no need to fix it so strictly,
As a result, the mounting structure can be simplified as a whole.

Further, in this case, since the remaining connecting portion which is inevitably formed in the substrate forming step is used as the locked portion, a special process for forming the locked portion on the substrate is performed. You can get rid of it.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a refrigerator will be described below with reference to FIGS. As shown in part in FIG. 2, the door 11 of the refrigerator compartment of the refrigerator has a decorative frame 11b made of, for example, plastic on the lower side of the door body 11a. The decorative frame 11b has a cutout recess 11c.
Is formed, and the operating device 12 according to the present embodiment is provided in the cutout recess 11c.

The operating device 12 is constructed by mounting a printed circuit board 14 on the back side of a plastic operating panel 13 as will be described later. The operation panel 13
Is formed in a side surface L shape integrally including a panel portion 15 and a bottom plate portion 16 extending inward from a lower side portion thereof. Of these, the panel portion 15 is formed with two slits 15a and 15b and a hole 15c extending in the lateral direction in this case.

On the other hand, the printed circuit board 14 has a rectangular plate shape which is slightly smaller than the panel portion 15 of the operation panel 13, and a necessary wiring pattern (not shown) is formed on the front surface thereof. , Electrical parts (not shown) such as resistors and ICs, and switches are arranged so as to be electrically connected to predetermined positions of the wiring pattern.
In this case, as the switches, there are provided slide type temperature control switches 17 and 18 for controlling the temperature of the freezing chamber and the select chamber (not shown), and a push button switch 19 for turning on / off the single freezing mode of the freezing chamber. Has been.

The printed circuit board 14 is arranged on the rear surface side of the panel portion 15 of the operation panel 13 with a predetermined space. At this time, the temperature control switches 17 and 18 and the push button switch 19 are provided. Operation axis 17
a, 18a and 19a project from the slits 15a, 15b and the hole 15c of the panel portion 15 to the front side. Further, those operating shafts 17a, 18a and 19
The operation knobs 20, 21 and 22 are attached to the front end of a from the front side of the operation panel 13, respectively.

Thus, the operation knobs 20, 21 and 22 are arranged on the front surface of the operation panel 13, and the user operates them to adjust the temperature of the freezing room and the select room and to perform the freezing mode of the freezing room. Can be turned on and off. Although not shown, the decorative frame 11b
Is provided with a lid that covers the front surface of the operation panel 13 in an openable and closable manner.

Next, the mounting structure of the printed circuit board 14 on the operation panel 13 will be described in detail.
Before that, first, the manufacturing procedure of the printed circuit board 14 will be briefly described. In this embodiment, the printed circuit board 1
4 is configured by dividing a multi-stage substrate 23 as shown in FIG.

The multi-stage board 23 has four unit board portions 23a arranged in the vertical direction in the drawing, each of which serves as the printed board 14, and these are connected by three narrow connecting portions 23b. It is supposed to be in the form. Equivalent wiring patterns (not shown) are formed on the upper surface of each unit board portion 23a, and electric parts and switches are arranged in the same arrangement. And this multi-stage substrate 23
However, four equivalent printed circuit boards 14 are configured by being divided by the connecting portion 23b as shown by the broken line in the figure.

As shown in FIG. 3, the printed circuit board 14 formed as described above has one side edge portion, which is a lower edge portion when attached to the operation panel 13, at three places.
A part of the connection part 23b remains. The remaining portion should be cut off originally, but in the present embodiment, the remaining portion of the connecting portion 23b is the locking convex portion 14a which is the locked portion. In addition, for example, three screw holes 14b are formed in the upper edge portion of the printed circuit board 14 on the side opposite to the locking convex portion 14a.

On the other hand, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the bottom plate portion 16 of the operation panel 13 has three locking holes 16a which are locking portions for locking the locking projections 14a. Has been formed. Then, on the back surface of the panel portion 15, three boss portions 24 are integrally formed at the upper edge portion.

Thus, the lower edge of the printed circuit board 14 is engaged with the operation panel 13 by inserting the engaging protrusion 14a of the lower edge into the engaging hole 16a of the lower plate 16. The individual screws 25 through the screw holes 14b and the boss portion 24
The upper part is fixed to the operation panel 13 by tightening it, so that it can be firmly attached to the operation panel 13 without shifting even when receiving an operation force.

According to the above structure, the printed circuit board 14 is
Since the locking convex portion 14a of the lower edge is locked in the locking hole 16a of the lower plate portion 16, when mounting the printed circuit board 14 on the operation panel 13, the lower edge side of the printed circuit board 14 is not mounted. Since it is not necessary to fix the operation panel 13 to the operation panel 13 so strictly, it is sufficient to perform screwing at three points on the upper edge portion.

Therefore, according to the present embodiment, unlike the conventional mounting structure in which the screws are fixed at six places, the number of the screws 25 can be reduced to three, and the screwing work can be performed. Only 3 places are required. As a result, the number of assembling steps can be reduced and the assemblability can be improved as compared with the conventional case.

The printed circuit board 14 is different from the conventional one.
Since the number of the screw holes 14b of the printed circuit board 1 is reduced, the restrictions on the layout of the wiring pattern and the parts are relaxed.
The manufacturability of 4 itself is also improved. In this case, the printed circuit board 1
Since the connecting portion 23b which is inevitably left in the forming step 4 is used as the locking convex portion 14a, the locking convex portion 14a can be formed without performing a special process.

Further, the number of bosses 24 on the operation panel 13 side is reduced, and the structure of the molding die is simplified, so that the manufacturability of the operation panel 13 is improved.

As a result, the structure for mounting the printed circuit board 14 on the operation panel 13 can be simplified.
It is possible to reduce the cost as a whole.

In the above embodiment, the bottom plate portion 16 of the operation panel 13 is formed with the locking hole 16a as a locking portion. However, for example, as shown in FIG. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, two locking pieces 32 may be provided as locking portions, and a locked portion may be sandwiched between the locking pieces 32 for locking.

In addition, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and can be appropriately modified within a range not departing from the gist such that the present invention can be applied not only to a refrigerator but also to various electric devices. Can be carried out.

[0029]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the operating device for an electric device of the present invention, a board is formed in a state where a plurality of unit board portions are connected by a narrow connecting portion. The multi-stage board is divided by the connecting portion, and the connecting portion remaining on the board is used as the locked portion, and the locked portion is locked to the locking portion provided on the operation panel side. Therefore, the excellent practical effect that the structure for attaching the substrate to the operation panel can be simplified can be obtained.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention and is a vertical sectional side view of an operating device.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of an operation device portion.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the operation panel and the printed board from different angles.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of a multi-stage board.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional side view of an operation panel portion showing another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional side view of an operation panel portion showing another embodiment different from FIG.

FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1 showing a conventional example.

FIG. 8 is a view corresponding to FIG. 2 showing a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

In the drawings, 12 is an operating device, 13 is an operating panel, 14 is a substrate, 14a is a locking projection (locked part), 14b is a screw hole,
Reference numeral 15 is a panel portion, 16 is a bottom plate portion, 16a is a locking hole (locking portion), 17, 18 and 19 are switches, 23 is a multi-stage substrate, 24 is a boss portion, 25 is a screw, and 31 and 32 are locking. Indicates a part.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A substrate, on which switches that are operated from the front of the operation panel are arranged, is attached to the back side of the operation panel, and the substrate is provided with a plurality of unit substrate parts. The multistage substrate formed by connecting the narrow connecting portions to each other is divided by the connecting portions, and the connecting portions remaining on the substrate are used as the locked portions. The operation device for an electric device is characterized in that the operation device is engaged with an engagement portion provided on the operation panel side.