JPH0589739A - Simplex tactile switch and its manufacture - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a simplex tactile switch having a structure capable of satisfying the demand for thinning of simplex tactile switch and allowing of electric characteristic inspection in the step before cutting to a switch simple body. CONSTITUTION:A simplex tactile switch is provided by forming a fixed-side contact circuit and common-side and normal open-side leads at determined intervals on one side surface of a tape base material 1 as copper foil circuit patterns 2, 4, and mounting a movable contact member 3 and a coat member 7 on the copper foil circuit patterns 2, 4 followed by cutting from the tape form.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a single-piece tactile switch, and a single-piece tactile switch that can meet the demand for structurally thinning, and a single-piece tactile switch that can improve its manufacturing process and inspection process. The present invention relates to a manufacturing method.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional unitary tactile switch, as shown in FIG. 5, a pair of lead frames 50a and 50b forming electrical contacts are arranged in parallel with each other. A housing 52 made of a resin material is formed on the lead frames 50a and 50b by an insert molding method so as to surround the contact portions. And housing 5
The movable contact member 53 having a circular concave shape is housed in the housing 2 and the upper part thereof is covered with an insulating cover 54. In this way, the single-piece tactile switch includes the lead frames 50a and 50b, the housing 52,
The movable contact member 53 and the cover 54 are composed of at least four parts.

Such a single tactile switch is
As shown in FIG. 6, the lead frames 50a and 50b are extended in the longitudinal direction so that their contact portions are positioned at a predetermined interval. In this state, the assembly as described with reference to FIG. 5 is performed. The process (molding) was performed.

[0004]

By the way, since the housing 52 is a resin-molded product formed by the insert molding method, a certain thickness or more is required in consideration of the bonding strength with the lead frames 50a and 50b. .. For this reason, the current situation is that there is no choice but to obstruct the thinning of the switch itself.

Further, as described above, the assembling process is performed with the lead frames 50a and 50b being connected in the longitudinal direction, so that even if an electrical characteristic inspection is performed after the assembling is completed, the two adjacent Insulation cannot be maintained because the switches are connected. Therefore, it is necessary to separate the individual single switches as shown in FIG. 5 before the electrical characteristic inspection step. However, in the inspection in the state where the individual switches are separated as described above, it is necessary to arrange them one by one in the inspection, which requires an alignment process and a device therefor, which complicates the process and increases the manufacturing cost. It was becoming expensive.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a single-body tactile switch having a structure which can be made thin and which can perform an electrical characteristic inspection in a process before being cut into a single switch.

[0007]

According to the invention, a fixed side contact circuit, a common side and a normally open side lead wire,
In a method for manufacturing a single tactile switch in which a movable contact member is mounted on one side surface of a base material, the base material is a continuous resin film in a tape shape, and a portion corresponding to the contact circuit and the lead wire is provided on the tape-shaped substrate. A step of sequentially forming a copper foil circuit pattern by etching at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction, and mounting a movable contact member at a predetermined position on the copper foil circuit pattern, and covering the movable contact member. A method for manufacturing a single tactile switch can be obtained, which comprises a step of attaching a covering member to a base material and a step of cutting the tape-shaped substrate into individual tactile switches.

Further, according to the present invention, a base material made of a resin film, a fixed side contact circuit provided on one side surface of the substrate,
The fixed side contact circuit and the lead wire are formed as a copper foil circuit pattern including the common side and normally open side lead wires, and the movable contact member is provided at a predetermined position on the copper foil circuit pattern. A single tactile switch having a covering member that covers the copper foil circuit pattern and the movable contact member and is attached to a substrate is obtained.

[0009]

[Function] The method of forming a copper foil circuit pattern is to first form a hole on a tape-shaped resin film in a portion which is unnecessary for forming the fixed-side contact circuit and the lead wire, and then attach the copper foil, and then the lead wire. Unnecessary parts other than the part to be formed are removed by etching, and resist processing is applied to the part that needs to maintain electrical insulation with the movable contact member to be mounted on this copper foil circuit pattern. Get by.

[0010]

1 and 2 show an embodiment of a single unit tactile switch of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a first copper foil circuit pattern 2 and a second copper foil circuit pattern 4 formed by etching are attached to one side surface of substrate 1. The first copper foil circuit pattern 2 and the second copper foil circuit pattern 4 are attached such that the tips facing each other are separated from each other. The base material 1 is composed of a resin film such as polyimide or polyester. The thickness of the base material 1 is set to about 50 μm.

In the figure, 3 is a dome-shaped movable contact member formed of a conductive material. The movable contact member 3 has a central portion formed with a protruding portion 5 protruding so as to face the second copper foil circuit pattern 4. The peripheral end portion of the movable contact member 3 is mounted so as to be in direct contact with the first copper foil circuit pattern 2 and via the resist 6 with the second copper foil circuit pattern 4. That is, the first copper foil circuit pattern 2 constitutes a common side lead wire which is always in contact with a predetermined position of the peripheral end portion of the movable contact member 3. Further, the second copper foil circuit pattern 4 constitutes a normally open side lead wire through which a switching signal is energized by contact with the protrusion 5 when the switch is operated, that is, when the movable contact member 3 is pressed by the operating member 20. To do. The first and second copper foil circuit patterns 2 and 4 also serve as fixed contacts. That is, the first and second copper foil circuit patterns 2 and 4 have fixed contact portions 9a and 9a, respectively.
9b.

The first and second copper foil circuit patterns 2 and 4 are both copper foil circuit patterns formed by etching, and the plate thickness dimension thereof is preferably about 30 to 60 μm.

A cover member (adhesive film) 7 is attached to the upper surface of the movable contact member 3 on the base material 1 so as to cover the movable contact member 3. The covering member 7 serves to prevent foreign matter such as dust from entering the switching mechanism, and also protects the pressing surface of the movable contact member 3.

In the copper foil circuit patterns 2 and 4, tip portions (bonding portions) 11 and 1 opposite to the fixed contact side are formed.
2 is connected to a printed circuit board (not shown). These tip portions 11 and 12 extend outside the base material 1. The bent shape of the tip portions 11 and 12 is selected based on the use of the printed circuit board on which the single-piece tactile switch of the present invention is mounted, and is not limited to the illustrated bent shape.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing an assembling process of the single unit tactile switch of the present invention. That is, a plurality of positioning holes 8a for constant-size feed are formed at both longitudinal ends of the tape-shaped substrate 1 at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction (step I in the figure). These positioning holes 8a are used for assembling a single tactile switch and inspecting the electrical characteristics by the constant size feed in the flow work. At the beginning of the assembling process, a pair of elongated holes 8b extending in the longitudinal direction are formed at predetermined positions of the tape-shaped substrate 1 (process I in the figure). Next, a copper foil 9 is attached so as to cover the upper surface of the elongated hole 8b (step II in the figure). Thereafter, the copper foil 9 is etched to remove unnecessary copper foil 9 to form the first copper foil circuit pattern 2 and the second copper foil circuit pattern 4 (step III in the figure). Then, a resist 6 is attached to a predetermined portion of the second copper foil circuit pattern 4 (step IV in the drawing). After this, as shown in FIG. 4, the movable contact member 3 and the covering member 7 are attached (step V in the figure). Here, the movable contact member 3 is held by the covering member 7. In this state, the electrical characteristics of each tactile switch can be inspected.

That is, as is apparent from FIG. 4, the first and second copper foil circuit patterns 2, 4 formed by etching and the adjacent tactile switches are electrically insulated from each other. Therefore, the electrical characteristic inspection after the completion of the assembly can be independently performed for each tactile switch with the tape shape.

After the assembly and inspection are completed, the final step is to send each switch to a cutting step. The part to be cut in this cutting step is indicated by a dotted line 1 in FIG.
This is the part indicated by 0.

[0018]

According to the present invention, a copper foil is attached to one side surface of a tape-like substrate, common and normal lead wires are formed by etching, and a movable contact member is mounted on the lead wire. Since the structure is such that the movable contact member is held by pasting the covering member on it, the electrical characteristics can be inspected while the base materials are connected in a tape shape, greatly improving the assembly and inspection process. be able to.
Further, because of such a structure, it is possible to obtain a thinner shape as compared with the conventional one.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of the single-piece tactile switch of the present invention when a contact is opened.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment when the contacts of the single-piece tactile switch of FIG. 1 are short-circuited.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory view showing a manufacturing process of the single-piece tactile switch of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory view showing the manufacturing process of the single-piece tactile switch following the manufacturing process of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional single-piece tactile switch.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a connected state of lead frames in a conventional single-piece tactile switch.

[Explanation of reference numerals] 1 base material 2 first copper foil circuit pattern (common side lead wire) 3 movable contact member 4 second copper foil circuit pattern (normally open side lead wire) 5 protrusion 6 resist 7 coating member 8 Positioning hole 9a Fixed contact part 9b Fixed contact part 10 Cutting part 11 Common side lead wire tip part 12 Normally open side lead battle end part 50a Lead frame 50b Lead frame 52 Housing 53 Movable contact member 54 Cover

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A method for manufacturing a single tactile switch in which a fixed side contact circuit, a common side and normally open side lead wire, and a movable contact member are mounted on one side surface of a base material, the base material being a tape-shaped continuous resin film. A step of sequentially forming a portion corresponding to the contact circuit and the lead wire on the tape-shaped substrate as a copper foil circuit pattern at predetermined intervals in the longitudinal direction by etching, and a predetermined step on the copper foil circuit pattern. A single tactile comprising a step of mounting a movable contact member at the position of # 1, a step of attaching a covering member to a base material so as to cover the movable contact member, and a step of cutting the tape-shaped substrate for each tactile switch. Switch manufacturing method. 2. A base material made of a resin film, a fixed side contact circuit provided on one side surface of the substrate, a common side and a normally open side lead wire, wherein the fixed side contact circuit and the lead wire are copper foil circuits. A movable contact member which is formed as a pattern and is provided at a predetermined position on the copper foil circuit pattern, and a covering member which covers the copper foil circuit pattern and the movable contact member and is adhered to a base material. A single tactile switch that is characterized by