JPH0650908Y2 - Illuminated switch - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the device]

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illumination switch mounted on a panel surface of various electric devices such as a car stereo, and more particularly to an illumination switch for switching and displaying a predetermined light emission display from a display surface.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, such an illumination switch is constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. In the figure, the illumination switch 1 includes a key top body 5 made of synthetic resin mounted on an operation panel 2 of various electric devices such as a car stereo so as to be able to move back and forth in a direction substantially perpendicular to the panel surface, and the key top body. 5, three display portions 3a, 3b, 3c formed by exposing a translucent material on the front surface side (upper surface in the figure), and corresponding to each of these display portions, are mounted on a substrate P behind them and individually turned on. It is composed of three light sources 4a, 4b and 4c.

The illumination switch 1 includes a keytop body 5
Is moved in the direction of the arrow to switch between the operation modes such as car stereo, and the three display sections 3a, 3b, 3c are individually or two or three display sections according to the operation mode. Are turned on at the same time.

For example, when a light source 4b of a light emitting diode (hereinafter referred to as an LED) is turned on, the illumination light emitted from the LED 4b passes through a light guide lens 6 embedded in the keytop body 5 and is emitted from the display section 3b. When the key top body 5 is pressed down, the LED 4b is turned off, the lamp light sources 4a and 4c are turned on instead, and the illumination light respectively corresponds to the display portion 3a. , 3c are light-emitted and displayed so that the user can visually recognize that the operation mode has been switched.

[0005]

However, in the illumination knob switch 1 described above, in the predetermined operation mode,
The LED light source 4b is off and the lamp light source 4a,
Although the light source 4c is turned on, a part of the illumination light from the lamp light source 4a or 4c may enter the light guide lens 6. As a result, the display section 3b, which should be turned off, emits light together with the other display sections 3a and 3c, which causes a problem that the operation mode is not accurately displayed.

In order to avoid the above problem, the light source 4
Partitions 7a and 4c and the light guiding lens 6 are provided by partition walls 7 and 7 which are raised upright to partition the light sources 4a and 4
It has also been attempted to prevent the light from c from leaking and entering the light guide lens 6. However, if such high partition walls 7, 7 are provided, the stroke for advancing and retracting the keytop main body 5 must be increased. Therefore, this greatly protrudes from the panel surface, and the illumination switch 1
Not only cannot be made compact, but also the display units 3a, 3
Depending on the shape of c, etc., the partition walls 7, 7 may be light sources 4a, 4c.
There is also a problem in that the illumination light is blocked more than necessary and the display portions 3a and 3c corresponding to these light sources are shaded, so that the required light emission display cannot be obtained.

The present invention has been devised in view of the above problems, and is a compact in which a plurality of display portions provided in a keytop body can accurately perform light emission display according to an operation mode. It is intended to provide an illuminated switch.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the illumination switch of the present invention comprises a key top having a plurality of light emitting display portions for transmitting the illumination light from the back to the front side to perform light emission display. Comprising, at least one of the plurality of light emitting display unit, the light emitting display unit is configured to perform a light emitting display by guiding illumination light from a light source corresponding to the display unit through a light guide unit, Further, the light guide section is characterized by having a color that is in a complementary color relationship with illumination light emitted by a light source corresponding to a light emitting display section other than the at least one light emitting display section.

[0009]

According to the above structure, even if light from a light source corresponding to another display unit is incident on the light guide unit for guiding the illumination light to at least one display unit provided on the keytop, the light guide unit can guide the illumination light. Since the part has a color having a complementary color relationship with this light, it absorbs this light and hardly transmits it. Therefore, the at least one display unit is not affected by the light leaking from the other light source and entering.

[0010]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 in the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an illumination switch 10 according to this embodiment.
2 is a front view of the key top body as seen from the front side. FIG. In the figure, an illumination switch 10 is an operation panel 1 for various electric devices such as a car stereo.
The key top main body 15 attached to the second key 2, the three light emitting display sections 13a, 13b, 13c formed on the front surface side (the upper surface in the figure) of the key top main body 15 and corresponding to the respective light emitting display sections, It is composed of three light sources 14a, 14b, 14c which are mounted on the substrate P behind it and are individually turned on. The configuration up to this point is the same as the conventional illumination switch.

The operation panel 12 is a panel forming the front side of the case of various electric equipment, and a through hole is formed in the operation panel 12, and the through hole is shown in FIG.
In, the key top body 15 is attached so as to be able to move back and forth in the vertical direction. In the present embodiment, the key top body 15 is made of a synthetic resin material having a light-transmitting property such as acrylic resin, and the surface thereof is covered with a masking 15a for blocking external light. There is.

In this embodiment, three display parts 13a, 13b, 13c are provided on the front side of the keytop body 15 (see FIG. 2).
Formed), for example, "1", "・",
The number or symbol of "2" is luminescently displayed by transmitting illumination light from a light source described later.

Of these display units, the display unit 13b emits the illumination light from the LED 14b mounted on the printed circuit board P arranged behind the keytop body 15 to the front side through the light guide unit 16. It is supposed to do. In this embodiment, the light guide portion 16 is formed as a light guide lens with a light-transmitting resin material colored in green, and corresponds to the other display portions 13a and 13c as described later. It is designed to complement the illumination light from the light source.

Further, the bulb light sources 14a, 1 are provided on the printed circuit board P in the regions partitioned by the partition walls 17, 17 so as to correspond to these behind the display portions 13a, 13c.
4c is provided. These light bulbs are configured to emit amber-colored illumination light in this embodiment.

The present embodiment is configured as described above,
The operation will be described below. When an electric device such as a car stereo is powered on and is in an initial state, for example, L
The ED light source 14b emits light, and the illuminating light having directivity is guided by the light guide lens 16, and "." Is displayed on the display portion 13b in a green light emission display.

Next, when the operation mode is switched by depressing the keytop body 15 (see FIG. 1), the LED light source 1
4b is turned off and, for example, the light bulb light source 14a is turned on. Then, the amber-colored illumination light from the light source 14a is transmitted from the display unit 13a to the front side, and the emission display of "1" is performed in FIG. At this time, the amber-colored illumination light from the light source 14a is partly incident on the light guide lens 16, but this light has an amber color complementary to the light guide lens 16 colored in green. Since the light is not transmitted, the display unit 13b remains dark and does not emit light. Thus, in the illumination switch 10, each time the operation mode is switched, the plurality of display units individually and accurately perform the light emission display, which effectively prevents the user from mistakenly visually recognizing each operation mode. To be done.

Needless to say, when the amber light source 14c is turned on, even if a part of this illumination light enters the light guide lens 16, it does not affect the display portion 13b as described above. Yes. Further, the display unit provided in the illumination switch is not limited to the three display units as in the above-mentioned embodiment, and it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied if two or more display units are formed.

[0019]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The multiple display units provided on the keytop body can accurately switch and display the light-emission displays indicating the respective modes for each operation mode, so that the user can visually recognize these light-emission displays without error, and It is possible to provide a compact and excellent illumination switch in which the top does not significantly protrude from the panel surface.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view of an illumination switch according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view of a key top according to the embodiment of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a schematic sectional view showing an example of a conventional illumination switch.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Illumination switch 12 Panel surface 13a, 13b, 13c Light emission display part 14a, 14b, 14c Light source 15 Keytop main body 16 Light guide lens 17 Partition wall P Printed circuit board

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] 1. An illumination switch comprising a key top having a plurality of light emitting display sections for transmitting light emitted from the back to the front side for light emission display, and at least one of the plurality of light emitting display sections is provided. The light emitting display section is configured to perform light emitting display by guiding illumination light from a light source corresponding to the display section through a light guide section, and the light guide section is provided in addition to the at least one light emitting display section. An illumination switch comprising a color having a complementary color relationship with illumination light emitted from a light source corresponding to a light emitting display unit.