JPH10283882A - Illumination type rotary switch - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To lessen the number of part items and lower the production cost by installing a cylindrical rotor made of a translucent material which transmits electric signals by rotating operation and forming a lens part which works as a lens in the cylindrical rotor. SOLUTION: When a rotation operational knob 2 is rotated, the cylindrical rotor 30 smoothly rotates while being guided by the whole body of a guide 4 in a state that the cylindrical rotor 30 is held by a circular holding part 43. The rotation is taken out as an electric signal due to the contact of a contactor 8 attached to the lower face of the circular joining part 35 formed in the lower end part of the cylindrical rotor 30 and a conductive pattern formed on the surface of a base 5. The light rays emitted out of a lamp 6 installed in the base 5 enter a circular lens part 71 formed in the upper end part of the cylindrical rotor 30 made of the a translucent material and are guided to the upper end part of the cylindrical rotor 30 and the knob 2, and illuminate them. Consequently, circular illumination in the illumination area 23 of the outer circumference of the rotation operational knob 2 and point illumination in the illumination area of the rotation operational knob 2 can be distinguished from the outside of the switch.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illuminated rotary switch, and more particularly to an illuminated rotary switch in which the number of components is reduced by omitting a lens dedicated to illumination.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional example will be described with reference to FIG. FIG.
In the figures, reference numeral 1 denotes a housing of an illuminated rotary switch. A circular hole 11 is formed in the housing 1, and a cylindrical rotary operation knob 2 is projected. A fitting cylinder 22 extending in parallel with the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 is integrally formed at the center of the inside of the rotary operation knob 2. Reference numeral 3 denotes a cylindrical rotor, which is attached and fixed to the lower end of the operating rod 31. A contact 8 is attached to the lower surface of the rotor 3. Reference numeral 4 denotes a cylindrical guide, which comprises a rotor guide 41 for guiding the cylindrical guide 32 of the rotor 3 and a cylindrical operating rod guide 42 extending outward from the center of the rotor guide 41. 5 is a substrate,
A conductor pattern is formed. Reference numeral 6 denotes a lamp arranged and mounted on the substrate 5. Reference numeral 7 denotes a lens barrel made of a translucent material. The upper end of the lens tube 7 forms an annular lens portion 71 which bulges outward in the radial direction, collects light emitted from the lamp 6, and guides the light to the rotary operation knob 2.
A guide groove 72 for fitting and guiding the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 is formed at the upper end of the lens barrel 7.

Here, the housing 1, the guide 4, the lamp 6, and the lens barrel 7 are fixed to the substrate 5 on which the conductor pattern is formed. In this fixing, first, the lower end of the rotor guide portion 41 of the guide 4 is fixedly joined to the surface of the substrate 5 in a state where the operation rod 31 is fitted to the operation rod guide portion 42 of the guide 4. In this case, the contact 8 attached to the lower surface of the rotor 3 is joined and fixed in correspondence with the conductor pattern formed on the surface of the substrate 5. Next, in a state where the guide 4 is concentrically surrounded in the lens tube 7, the lower end thereof is fixedly joined to the surface of the substrate 5. The lamp 6 is also fixed on the surface of the substrate 5. In a state surrounding the guide 4, the lamp 6 and the lens barrel 7, the lower end of the housing 1 is joined and fixed to the surface of the substrate 5. Here, the housing 1 fixes the peripheral edge of the circular hole 11 to the upper end of the lens barrel 7. Finally, a guide groove 72 formed at the upper end of the lens barrel 7
When the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 is fitted to
The fitting cylinder 22 of the rotary operation knob 2 is fitted and fixed to the upper end of the operating rod 31 to complete the assembly of the illuminated rotary switch.

In the above illuminated rotary switch, the rotor 3 fixed to the rotary operation knob 2 via the operating rod 31 rotates the guide 4 when the rotary operation knob 2 is rotated.
And can be smoothly rotated while being guided. When the rotor 3 is rotated, the rotation causes the contact 8 attached and fixed to the bottom surface of the rotor 3 to come into contact with the conductor pattern formed on the surface of the substrate 5 to be taken out as an electric signal.

The light radiated from the lamp 6 arranged and mounted on the substrate 5 is incident on an annular lens portion 71 bulging and formed at the upper end of the lens barrel 7, and travels and reflects inside the lens portion to rotate the rotary operation knob. 2 and the vicinity thereof to illuminate it. The light guided to the rotary operation knob 2 and the vicinity thereof becomes circular light through a gap between the circular hole 11 formed in the housing 1 and the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 and is directly directed above the switch. Radiated or rotary operation knob 2
Through the switch.

[0006]

In the illuminated rotary switch described above, the lens barrel 7 forms an annular lens portion 71 bulging radially outward at the upper end thereof to collect the light radiated from the lamp 6. The light is guided to the rotary operation knob 2. The lens barrel 7 operates as a lens for condensing light emitted from the lamp 6 and also has a guide groove 72 formed at its upper end to form a peripheral wall 2 of the rotary operation knob 2.
1 is also guided.

However, the operation of guiding the rotation operation knob 2 of the lens barrel 7 is not necessarily an essential operation that the lens barrel 7 must perform. That is, the rotary operation knob 2
In the conventional example shown in FIG. 2, the rotation operation knob 2 is mechanically held securely by the guide 4 composed of the rotor guide portion 41 and the operation rod guide portion 42. Therefore, the necessity of fitting and guiding the peripheral wall 21 is not so large, and it is sufficient if the lens barrel 7 operates as a lens. It can be said that the lens barrel 7 is a lens-only member that inherently operates as a lens.

The present invention provides an illuminated rotary switch in which an essential component of the illuminated rotary switch is constituted by a lens portion which operates as a lens, and a lens exclusive member is omitted to reduce the number of parts and the manufacturing cost. It is.

[0009]

[Means for Solving the Problems]

Claim 1: An illuminated rotary switch including a cylindrical rotor 30 made of a translucent material that is rotated to generate an electric signal is configured. Claim 2: In the illuminated rotary switch according to the first aspect, the cylindrical rotor 30 constitutes an illuminated rotary switch having an upper end protruding outside the housing 1.

Claim 3: Claims 1 and 2
In the illuminated rotary switch described in any one of the above, the cylindrical rotor 30 has an annular lens portion 71 for condensing light.
Were integrally formed to form an illuminated rotary switch. Further, Claim 4: Claims 1 to 3
In the illuminated rotary switch described in any one of the above, an illuminated rotary switch including a cylindrical guide 4 fitted to and held and guided by the cylindrical rotor 30 was configured.

Here, in the illuminated rotary switch according to claim 5, the lower end of the cylindrical rotor 3 has an annular engaging portion 35 formed inward, and the lower end of the cylindrical guide 4 has the lower end. An illuminated rotary switch having a slightly reduced diameter and an annular holding portion 43 for engaging and guiding the annular engaging portion 35 of the cylindrical rotor 30 was formed. Claim 6: The illuminated rotary switch according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the rotary operation knob 2 is attached and fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30. Was configured.

Further, claim 7: claims 2 to 5
In the illuminated rotary switch described in any one of the above, a gap is formed between the circular hole 11 formed in the housing 1 from which the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30 projects and the outer peripheral surface of the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30. The illuminated rotary switch provided was configured. Further, in the illuminated rotary switch according to claim 8, the rotary operation knob 2 constitutes an illuminated rotary switch made of a light-shielding material.

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an illuminated rotary switch in which a part of the rotary operation knob 2 made of a light-shielding material is translucent. Claim 10: The illuminated rotary switch according to any one of claims 4 to 9, further comprising a substrate 5, on which the housing 1, the cylindrical guide 4, and the lamp 6 are attached and fixed. An illuminated rotary switch was constructed.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 1A, a circular hole 11 is formed in the housing 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a cylindrical rotor made of a translucent material. The upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30 projects out of the housing 1 via the circular hole 11.
At the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30, there is formed an annular lens portion 71 which swells outward in the radial direction and receives and condenses the light radiated from the lamp 6. Reference numeral 2 denotes a cylindrical rotary operation knob, which includes a peripheral wall 21 and a top surface 25. At the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30 is formed a fitting fixing portion 33 to which the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 is attached and fixed. At the lower end of the cylindrical rotor 30, a flange 34 orthogonal to the rotor center axis is formed outward. At the lower end of the cylindrical rotor 3, an annular engagement portion 35 orthogonal to the rotor center axis is further formed inward. The contact 8 is attached to the lower surface of the flange 34. A cylindrical rotor 30 is fitted into the cylindrical guide 4 and guides the rotation.
The lower end of the cylindrical guide 4 is slightly reduced in diameter to form an annular holding portion 43 for engaging and guiding the annular engaging portion 35 of the cylindrical rotor 30. The substrate 5 has a conductor pattern formed thereon. In the above description, the cylindrical rotary operation knob 2 is separate from the cylindrical rotor 30, but can be integrally formed.

Here, the housing 1, the cylindrical guide 4 and the lamp 6 are fixed to the substrate 5 on which the conductor pattern is formed. In this fixing, first, the guide 4 is inserted into the cylindrical rotor 30 from above, and the lower end of the annular holding portion 43 of the guide 4 is joined to the surface of the substrate 5 in a state where the annular engaging portion 35 is engaged with the annular holding portion 43. Fix it. In this case, the contacts 8 attached to the lower surface of the flange 34 are joined and fixed in correspondence with the conductor pattern formed on the surface of the substrate 5. The lamp 6 is also fixed on the surface of the substrate 5. Next, in a state surrounding the cylindrical rotor 30 and the lamp 6, the lower end of the housing 1 is joined and fixed to the surface of the substrate 5, and the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 is fitted and fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30. The assembly of the illuminated rotary switch is completed by fitting and fixing to the portion 33.

In the above-mentioned illuminated rotary switch, the rotary operation knob 2 is fitted and fixed to the cylindrical rotor 30. Therefore, when the rotary operation knob 2 is rotated, the cylindrical rotor 30 is engaged with the circular ring of the cylindrical rotor 30. In a state where the joint portion 35 is held by the annular holding portion 43 of the guide 4, the guide portion 4 can smoothly rotate while being guided by the entire guide 4. When the rotor 3 is rotated, this rotation is caused by the contact between the contact 8 attached to the lower surface of the annular engaging portion 35 formed at the lower end of the cylindrical rotor 30 and the conductor pattern formed on the surface of the substrate 5. It is extracted as an electric signal.

The light radiated from the lamp 6 arranged and mounted on the substrate 5 is transmitted to a cylindrical rotor 30 made of a transparent material.
Incident on the annular lens portion 71 swelling at the upper end of the lens,
The light travels through the lens portion and is guided to the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30 and the rotary operation knob 2 to illuminate them. Here, referring to FIG. 1B, the outer circle drawn in the upper surface of the housing 1 indicates the circular hole 11, and the inner circle is attached to the cylindrical rotor 30 protruding from the circular hole 11. The outer side surface of the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2 is shown, and a gap between both circles is an outer peripheral illumination area 23 of the rotary operation knob. Light guided to the upper end of the cylindrical rotor 30 and the rotary operation knob 2 is circular via the rotary operation knob outer peripheral illumination area 23 between the circular hole 11 formed in the housing 1 and the peripheral wall 21 of the rotary operation knob 2. And emitted directly above the switch. When the top surface 25 of the rotary operation knob 2 is a light-blocking area except for the rotary operation knob illumination area 24 which is a pointer, light incident on the rotary operation knob 2 is switched only through the rotary operation knob illumination area 24. The light is radiated upward, and light is not radiated from the other light-shielded areas to the upper part of the switch. As described above, in this illuminated rotary switch, the circular light of the rotary operation knob outer peripheral illumination area 23 and the rotary operation knob illumination area 24 which is a pointer are used.
Can be recognized from outside the switch.

[0018]

As described above, according to the illuminated rotary switch of the present invention, the rotor, which is an essential component of the illuminated rotary switch, is constituted by a cylindrical rotor made of a translucent material, and a lens By forming a lens portion that operates as a lens, a lens dedicated to illumination can be omitted. That is, since the cylindrical rotor also functions as a lens, the number of components can be reduced accordingly. There is no special difference between the manufacturing cost of the conventional illumination-dedicated lens and the manufacturing cost of forming the lens portion that operates as a lens on the cylindrical rotor. The rotary switch has the effect of reducing the number of parts and thus reducing the cost, and the effect of reducing the assembly and manufacturing cost of the illuminated rotary switch based on the reduction in the number of parts.

In the illuminated rotary switch according to the present invention, the rotor is formed in a cylindrical shape with a light-transmitting material, and the upper end of the rotor protrudes out of the housing 1 so that it can be used as an operation knob. Therefore, it is not necessary to configure a special operation knob. Further, since the cylindrical rotor itself operates as the operation rod in the conventional example, it is not necessary to configure a special operation rod.

The cylindrical rotor 30 is provided with a cylindrical guide 4 which fits and holds and guides the cylindrical rotor 30. The lower end of the cylindrical rotor 3 has an annular engaging portion 35 formed inwardly. The lower end of the cylindrical rotor 3 has a slightly smaller diameter.
By forming the annular holding portion 43 for engaging and guiding the zero annular engaging portion 35, the cylindrical rotor 30 can be reliably held and guided for rotation.

Further, the number of components can be further reduced by forming the cylindrical rotary operation knob 2 integrally with the cylindrical rotor 30.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Housing 11 Circular hole 2 Rotation operation knob 21 Perimeter wall 22 Fitting cylinder 23 Rotation operation knob outer periphery illumination area 24 Rotation operation knob illumination area 25 Top surface 3 Rotor 30 Cylindrical rotor 31 Operation rod 32 Cylindrical guide part 33 Fitting fixing part 34 flange 35 annular engaging portion 4 cylindrical guide 41 rotor guide portion 42 operating rod guide portion 43 annular holding portion 5 substrate 6 lamp 7 lens barrel 71 annular lens portion 72 guide groove 8 contact

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. An illuminated rotary switch comprising a cylindrical rotor made of a light-transmitting material that is rotated to generate an electric signal. 2. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical rotor has an upper end protruding outside the housing. 3. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 1, wherein the cylindrical rotor is formed integrally with a converging annular lens portion. Illuminated rotary switch. 4. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 1, further comprising: a cylindrical guide that fits into a cylindrical rotor and holds and guides the cylindrical rotor. Illuminated rotary switch. 5. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 4, wherein the lower end of the cylindrical rotor has an annular engaging portion formed inward, and the lower end of the cylindrical guide has a slightly smaller diameter. An illuminated rotary switch, wherein an annular holding portion for engaging and guiding an annular engaging portion of the rotor is formed. 6. An illuminated rotary switch according to claim 1, wherein a rotary operation knob is attached and fixed to an upper end portion of the cylindrical rotor. Rotary switch. 7. An illuminated rotary switch according to claim 2, wherein a circular hole formed in a housing from which an upper end of the cylindrical rotor projects and an upper end of the cylindrical rotor. An illuminated rotary switch, wherein a gap is provided between the rotary switch and an outer peripheral surface. 8. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 6, wherein the rotary operation knob is made of a light-shielding material. 9. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 8, wherein a part of a rotary operation knob made of a light-shielding material is translucent. 10. The illuminated rotary switch according to claim 4, further comprising a substrate, on which a housing, a cylindrical guide, and a lamp are mounted and fixed. Illuminated rotary switch.