JP2006173004A - Multidirectional switch - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a multidirectional switch, compact and excellent in assembling workability. <P>SOLUTION: The multidirectional switch S is provided with four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 and a center movable contact. The four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are to be integrally coupled through coupling parts 10-1 to 10-4. The four coupled peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 and the center movable contact are to be arranged in multiple steps so that their peripheral edge parts are overlapped in an up-and-down direction. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a multidirectional switch that can perform an on / off switching operation by tilting or pushing the switch operating body in multiple directions.

  Conventionally, as this type of multi-directional switch, there is a structure disclosed in Patent Document 1. The multi-directional switch shown in FIG. 9 of the document 1 has a first stem and a second stem that is inserted into the guide hole of the first stem so as to move up and down. When the stem is tilted in a predetermined direction, the first stem is also tilted in the same direction, and a plurality of switching operations can be performed according to the tilt directions of the first and second stems. The switching operation can also be performed by a push operation that presses the second stem (see paragraphs 0004 to 0007 of the document 1).

  However, according to the multi-directional switch of FIG. 9 of the same document 1, the central movable contact (circular dome-shaped central tact spring 6) and four peripheral movable contacts (peripheral tact spring 7 having a rectangular outer shape) disposed around the central movable contact However, since the structure is arranged on the same surface of the base as the housing, it must be a large switch having a wide width in the vertical and horizontal directions. In addition, according to this multidirectional switch, the four peripheral movable contacts are formed separately and independently. Therefore, when the switch is assembled, the peripheral movable contacts must be individually arranged, and the assembling workability is poor.

JP-A-11-31442

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a multi-directional switch that is small in size and excellent in assembly workability.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is formed on a base, a recess formed on the upper surface of the base, a recess formed on the bottom surface of the recess, a cover covering the recess, and the cover. And a switch operating body arranged so as to protrude from the opening of the cover, and a center fixed contact arranged at the center of the bottom surface of the recess, and the center fixing A first common contact disposed around the contact, and a plurality of peripheral fixed contacts arranged radially around the recess, and disposed around the peripheral fixed contact on the bottom surface of the recess. A second common contact conducting to the first common contact is provided, and an elastically deformable dome-shaped central movable contact is disposed on an upper surface of the central fixed contact with the inner surface of the dome facing downward, Peripheral fixed connection On the top surface of each of the peripheral movable contacts, elastic movable dome-shaped peripheral movable contacts are respectively arranged with the inner surface of the dome facing downward, and the peripheral movable contacts of the plurality of peripheral movable contacts are mutually connected. The central movable contact and the plurality of peripheral movable contacts are arranged in multiple stages such that the dome peripheral parts overlap each other in the vertical direction, and the central movable contact is The dome periphery always contacts the first common contact, and contacts the center fixed contact only when it is dented due to elastic deformation. It is provided so as to contact the peripheral fixed contact only when it is always in contact with the two common contacts and elastically deformed and recessed, and the switch operating body is inclined with respect to the upper surface of the cover. The first stem and the second stem are provided, and the first stem is disposed at a position facing the guide hole having a shape penetrating the stem axis and the plurality of peripheral fixed contacts. A plurality of peripheral pressing protrusions, wherein the second stem is slidably inserted into the guide hole and has a central pressing protrusion disposed at a position facing the central fixed contact, During the tilting operation of the switch operating body, the peripheral pressing protrusion located on the side where the switch operating body is tilted among the plurality of peripheral pressing protrusions presses and dents the peripheral movable contact facing this, thereby The concave movable peripheral contact comes into contact with the peripheral fixed contact located on the lower surface thereof, and when the second stem of the switch operating body is pushed into the guide hole of the first stem, the second stem of The central pressing protrusion presses and dents the central movable contact, whereby the concave central movable contact is provided so as to contact the central fixed contact located on the lower surface thereof.

  In the present invention, for the central movable contact and the plurality of peripheral movable contacts, a multi-stage arrangement structure in which the peripheral portions overlap each other in the vertical direction is adopted, and the plurality of peripheral movable contacts are integrated via the connecting portion. Adopted connected structure. For this reason, the entire switch is reduced in size in the vertical and horizontal widths by the overlap of the central movable contact and the plurality of peripheral movable contacts. In addition, since the plurality of peripheral movable contacts are connected to each other, when the switch is assembled, the plurality of peripheral movable contacts can be arranged on the upper surface of the plurality of peripheral fixed contacts at the same time, so that the size is small and the assembly workability is good. A multi-directional switch can be provided.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  1 is a cross-sectional view of a multidirectional switch according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2A is a top view of the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, FIG. 2B is a side view of the multidirectional switch, and FIG. Is an explanatory diagram of a base constituting the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of peripheral movable contacts constituting the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are explanatory diagrams of operations of the multidirectional switch of FIG. It is.

  The multidirectional switch S of FIG. 1 is configured based on the base 1 of FIG. A concave portion 2 is formed at the center of the upper surface of the base 1, and the concave portion 2 is configured to be covered with a cover 4 that is attached so as to cover the upper surface of the base 1.

  A recess 3 is formed at the center of the bottom of the recess 2, and a center fixed contact 5 and a first common contact 6-1 are provided on the bottom of the recess 3. The center fixed contact 5 is disposed at the center of the bottom surface of the recess 3, and the first common contact 6-1 is disposed around the center fixed contact 5. Further, the central fixed contact 5 is electrically connected to the corresponding terminal 20 and is conductive. The terminal 20 is provided so as to protrude from the inside of the base 1 to the outside.

  In the present embodiment, the first common contact 6-1 is on a surface substantially the same height as the bottom surface of the recess 3 (see FIG. 3B), and the center fixed contact 5 is the first common contact. It was supposed to be placed on a surface slightly lower than 6-1 (see FIG. 3B).

  Four peripheral fixed contacts 7-1 to 7-4 and a second common contact 6-2 are provided on the bottom surface of the recess 2. In the present embodiment, the peripheral fixed contacts 7-1 to 7-4 are arranged radially one by one around the recessed portion 3 around the recessed portion 3, and the second common contact 6-2 is It is arrange | positioned around the periphery fixed contacts 7-1 to 7-4.

  The four peripheral fixed contacts 7-1 to 7-4 are electrically connected to and electrically connected to the corresponding terminals 21-1 to 21-4, respectively. That is, the peripheral fixed contact 7-1 conducts to the terminal 21-1, the peripheral fixed contact 7-2 to the terminal 21-2, the peripheral fixed contact 7-3 to the terminal 21-3, and the peripheral fixed contact 7-4 to The terminals 21-4 are electrically connected to each other. These terminals 21-1 to 21-4 are also provided so as to protrude from the inside of the base 1 to the outside.

  In the present embodiment, the second common contact 6-2 is on a surface substantially the same height as the bottom surface of the recess 2 (see FIG. 3D), and the peripheral fixed contacts 7-1 to 7-4 are The second common contact 6-2 is disposed on a slightly lower surface (see FIG. 4C).

  Moreover, the 1st common contact 6-1 and the 2nd common contact 6-2 consist of a thin metal plate, and are connected mutually and electrically connected, and comprise one common contact. In addition, one common contact composed of the first common contact 6-1 and the second common contact 6-2 is electrically connected to the corresponding common terminal 22 and is conductive. The common terminal 22 is also provided so as to protrude from the inside of the base 1 to the outside.

  Of the first common contact 6-1 and the second common contact 6-2, the first common contact 6-1 is disposed on the bottom side of the recess 3, and the second common contact 6-2 is higher than that. Since it is arranged on the bottom surface of the concave portion 2 having a high height, in the present embodiment, a step portion 6a (see FIG. 3 (d)) is formed at the connecting portion between the first common contact 6-1 and the second common contact 6-2. By adjusting the height, the difference in height is adjusted.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a central movable contact 8 is disposed on the upper surface of the central fixed contact 5. The central movable contact 8 is made of an elastically deformable dome shape, specifically, a thin metal plate (common name: peco plate) whose outer shape is circular and whose central portion swells upward. (See FIG. 1B).

  On the upper surfaces of the four peripheral fixed contacts 7-1 to 7-4, one peripheral movable contact 9-1 to 9-4 is arranged for each peripheral fixed contact (see FIG. 2A). . These four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 also have a dome shape that can be elastically deformed, like the central fixed contact 5, and are set with the inner surface of the dome facing downward.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are integrally connected to each other at their dome peripheral parts via connecting parts 10-1 to 10-4. Specifically, the first peripheral movable contact portion 9-1 is connected to the second peripheral movable contact portion 9-2 via the first connecting portion 10-1, and the second peripheral movable contact 9-. 2 is connected to the third peripheral movable contact 9-3 via the second connecting portion 10-2, and the third peripheral movable contact 9-3 is connected via the third connecting portion 10-4. It is connected to the fourth peripheral movable contact 9-4. The fourth peripheral movable contact 9-4 is connected to the first peripheral movable contact 9-1 via the fourth connecting portion 10-4. Thus, the 1st thru | or 4th periphery movable contact 9-1 to 9-4 has the integral component structure connected cyclically | annularly by the 1st thru | or 4th connection parts 10-1 to 10-4.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the inner wall of the recess 2 of the base 1 is composed of four arcuate surfaces 2a, 2a ... and flat surfaces 2b, 2b ..., and the four arcuate surfaces 2a, 2a ... It corresponds to the peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4, and each of the peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 is formed according to the shape of the outer peripheral dome of the peripheral movable contact. Further, the flat surfaces 2b, 2b,... Are formed as surfaces without protrusions connecting the adjacent arc surfaces 2a, 2a among the four arc surfaces 2a, 2a,.

  As shown in FIG. 1, on the base 1, the central movable contact 8 and the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are partially overlapped with each other in their dome peripheral portions. Are arranged in multiple stages. That is, the multi-directional switch S of the present embodiment employs a two-story structure in which four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are partially stacked on the central movable contact 8 and stacked. Yes.

  In this two-story structure, the center movable contact 8 located on the floor of the first floor (lower stage), that is, the bottom surface of the recess 3 is positioned by the dome peripheral edge contacting the inner wall of the recess 3. At this time, the dome top portion of the central movable contact portion 8 is configured to protrude slightly higher than the bottom surface of the concave portion 2 corresponding to the second floor (upper stage) floor.

  Since the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 located on the floor of the second floor, that is, the bottom surface of the concave portion 2, are configured as an integral part connected in an annular shape as described above, the bottom surface of the concave portion 2 When the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are accommodated and disposed, it is not necessary to position each peripheral movable contact 9-1 to 9-4 individually, and it is sufficient to position them as a whole. In the present embodiment, four arcuate surfaces 2a corresponding to the respective dome peripheral portions of the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are provided on the inner wall of the recess 2, so that the peripheral surface of the arc surface 2a of the inner wall of the recess is peripheral. If the respective dome peripheral portions of the movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are brought into contact with each other, the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are positioned at a fixed position on the bottom surface of the recess 2 at a time.

  The central movable contact 8 is always in contact with the first common contact 6-1 (see FIG. 3A) at the dome periphery. Further, the central movable contact 8 comes into contact with the central fixed contact 5 directly below the dome inner central surface only when the central movable contact 8 is elastically deformed by the pressing force from above and recessed inside. When the central movable contact portion 8 is not so recessed, the central movable contact portion 8 and the central fixed contact 5 immediately below the central movable contact portion 8 are separated from each other with a predetermined interval. There is no contact.

  The peripheral movable contact 9-1 is always in contact with the second common contact 6-2 (see FIG. 3) at the periphery of the dome. Further, the peripheral movable contact 9-1 contacts the peripheral fixed contact 7-1 directly below only when it is elastically deformed by a pressing force from above and recessed inside. When the peripheral movable contact 9-1 is not recessed, the peripheral movable contact 9-1 and the peripheral fixed contact 7-1 immediately below the peripheral movable contact 9-1 are separated from each other by a predetermined distance. 9-1 and 7-1 are not in contact. The same applies to the relationship between the other peripheral movable contacts 9-2 to 9-4 and the peripheral fixed contacts 7-2 to 7-4 directly below them.

  The cover 4 of the multidirectional switch S shown in FIG. 1 has an opening 11 near the center thereof. In this embodiment, the switch operating body 12 protrudes from the opening 11 of the cover 4 in an upright state. Is adopted.

  The switch operating body 12 includes a first stem 13 and a second stem 14, and the first stem 13 is provided with a guide hole 15 and four peripheral pressing protrusions 16-1 to 16-4.

  The guide hole 15 is formed so as to penetrate the shaft core (stem shaft core) of the first stem 13. The four peripheral pressing protrusions 16-1 to 16-4 are provided corresponding to the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 on the base 1, and Around the axis of the stem 13, it is annularly arranged at equal intervals. Further, these four peripheral pressing protrusions 16-1 to 16-4 are arranged at positions facing the corresponding peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4, respectively, and as shown in FIG. It is provided so that it may contact | abut to the dome top part of this peripheral movable contact from right above.

  In the present embodiment, as a specific structure of the first stem 13, the first stem 13 is integrated with a cylindrical body 13-1 constituting a stem shaft portion and a lower outer periphery of the cylindrical body 13-1. It is assumed that it has a structure having a molded arc portion 13-2 and a flange portion 13-3 integrally formed on the lower outer periphery of the arc portion 13-2, and in the present embodiment, the first stem A configuration in which the inner space portion of the cylindrical body 13-1 constituting the guide 13 is used as the guide hole 15 as described above, and four peripheral portions as described above on the lower surface of the flange portion 13-3 constituting the first stem 13 A configuration is adopted in which the pressing protrusions 16-1 to 16-4 are integrally projected.

  The second stem 14 is slidably inserted into the guide hole 15 of the first stem 13. The second stem 14 is provided with a central pressing protrusion 17. The central pressing protrusion 17 is provided corresponding to the central movable contact 8 on the base 1, and is integrally projected at the center of the lower end of the second stem 14. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the central pressing protrusion 17 is provided so as to contact the top of the dome of the central movable contact 8 from directly above the central movable contact 8 on the base 1.

  The switch operating body 12 including the first stem 13 and the second stem 14 as described above is provided so as to be tiltable with respect to the upper surface of the cover 4 with the lower end of the second stem 14 as a reference point for tilting. . The tilting operation of the switch operating body 12 is guided by the arc portion 13-2 of the first stem 13 and a bent piece 18 formed by bending the periphery of the opening 11 of the cover 4 upward.

  Specifically, when the switch operating body 12 tilts in multiple directions based on the tilt reference point, the upper ends of the first and second stems 13 and 14 draw a hemispherical surface. In the present embodiment, the upper surface of the arc portion 13-1 and the inner surface of the bent piece 18 are the same arc surface as the above hemispherical surface, and the arc surfaces of the arc portion 13-1 and the bent piece 18 are slid. It is assumed that the tilting operation of the switch operating body 12 is guided along the arc surface by abutting so as to be movable.

  During the tilting operation of the switch operating body 12, the peripheral pressing protrusion located on the side where the switch operating body is tilted among the four peripheral pressing protrusions presses the concave movable contact point facing the concave pressing protrusion, The recessed peripheral movable contact comes into contact with the peripheral fixed contact located on the lower surface thereof.

  For example, when the switch operating body 12 in an upright state as shown in FIG. 1 is tilted in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 1, the four peripheral pressing protrusions 16-1 to 16-4 are moved as shown in FIG. Among these, the peripheral pressing protrusion 16-3 located on the side on which the switch operating body 12 is tilted presses the peripheral movable contact 9-3 facing this. Then, by this pressing force, the peripheral movable contact 9-3 is recessed and comes into contact with the peripheral fixed contact 7-3 (see FIG. 3 (a)) just below, and the peripheral fixed contact is fixed via the recessed peripheral movable contact 9-3. The contact 7-3 and the second common contact 6-2 (see FIG. 3A) are conducted. For this reason, between the common terminal 22 corresponding to the common contact including the second common contact 6-2 and the terminal 21-3 corresponding to the peripheral fixed contact 7-3 is switched on. This is the same when the stem is tilted in three directions other than this example.

  When the force for tilting the switch operating body 12 is lost as described above, the peripheral movable contact 9-3 that has been recessed until then is restored by its own elastic restoring force and returns to its original dome shape. With this returning force, the switch operating body 12 returns to the original upright state.

  When the second stem 14 is pushed into the guide hole 15 of the first stem 13 in the switch operating body 12 in the upright state as shown in FIG. Only the second stem 14 slides downward along the hole 15. Then, as shown in FIG. 6, the central pressing protrusion 17 of the second stem 14 presses and dents the central movable contact 8, whereby the concave central movable contact 8 is located on the lower surface of the central fixed contact 5. To touch. Then, the central fixed contact 5 and the first common contact 6-1 (see FIG. 3A) are conducted through the central movable contact 8, and the common terminal corresponding to the common contact including the first common contact 6-1. A switch-on state is established between 22 and the terminal 20 corresponding to the central fixed contact 5.

  When the pushing force of the second stem 14 as described above disappears, the central movable contact 8 that has been recessed until then is restored by its own elastic restoring force and returns to its original dome shape. With this returning force, the second stem 14 is pushed up and returned to the original height position.

  As described above, the multidirectional switch S of the above embodiment has a multi-stage arrangement structure in which the dome peripheral portions overlap in the vertical direction with respect to the central movable contact 8 and the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4. In addition, the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are integrally connected via the connecting portions 10-1 to 10-4. For this reason, the entire switch is reduced in size in the vertical and horizontal widths by the overlap of the central movable contact 8 and the peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4. Further, since the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are connected to each other, when the switch is assembled, the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are collected at a time and the peripheral fixed contact 7-1. Since it can be arranged on the upper surface of ˜7-4, it is small and excellent in assembling workability.

  The circular dome-shaped peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 constituting the multidirectional switch S have a diameter of only about 2.5 mm and are extremely small. For this reason, when assembling this type of multi-directional switch S, the small peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 must be arranged in the recess 2, so that assembly workability becomes a problem. In such an assembly situation, in the multi-directional switch S of the present embodiment, (1) In addition to the above-described connection structure of the peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4, (2) 4 Four arcuate surfaces 2a corresponding to the respective dome peripheral portions of the two peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are provided on the inner wall of the concave portion 2, and the peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are provided on the arc surface 2a of the concave inner wall. A configuration in which the four peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are positioned at a fixed position on the bottom surface of the recess 2 at a time by contacting each peripheral edge of the dome, and (3) between the arcuate surfaces 2a and 2a. The structure which consists of the flat surface 2b without a protrusion was employ | adopted. For this reason, when the peripheral movable contacts 9-1 to 9-4 are arranged in the recess 2, the peripheral fixed movable contact does not get on the protruding portion. Since 9-4 can be smoothly arranged at a time, the switch assembly workability can be further improved.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a multidirectional switch according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2A is a top view of the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a side view of the multidirectional switch. 3A and 3B are explanatory views of the base constituting the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, wherein FIG. 3A is a plan view of the base, FIG. 3B is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG. ) Is a cross-sectional view taken along line BB in (a), and (d) is a cross-sectional view taken along line CC in (a). FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram of the peripheral movable contacts constituting the multidirectional switch of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, and is a diagram for explaining a state in which the switch operating body of the multidirectional switch is tilted. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the operation of the multidirectional switch of FIG. 1, and is a diagram for explaining a state in which the second stem of the multidirectional switch is pushed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Base 2 Recessed part 2a Arc surface 2b of recessed part inner wall Flat surface 3 of recessed part inner wall 3 Indentation part 4 Cover 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d Bending part 5 Center fixed contact 6-1 First common contact 6-2 Second common contact 7- 1, 7-2, 7-3, 7-4 Peripheral fixed contact 8 Central movable contact 8 a Minute extended portion 9-1, 9-2, 9-3, 9-4 Peripheral movable contact 10-1, 10-2, 10-3, 10-4 Connecting part 11 Cover opening 12 Switch operating body 13 First stem 13-1 Cylindrical part 13-2 Arc part 13-3 Flange part 14 Second stem 15 Guide hole 16-1, 16-2, 16-3, 16-4 Peripheral pressing protrusion 17 Central pressing protrusion 18 Bending piece 20 at the periphery of the cover opening 20 Terminal 21-1, 21-2, 21-3, 21-4 Terminal 22 Common Terminal S Multi-directional switch

Claims (1)

Base and
A recess formed in the upper surface of the base;
A recess formed in the bottom surface of the recess,
A cover covering the recess;
An opening formed in the cover;
A switch operating body arranged to protrude from the opening of the cover;
Have
A center fixed contact disposed at the center of the bottom surface and a first common contact disposed around the center fixed contact are provided on the bottom surface of the recess.
On the bottom surface of the recess, a plurality of peripheral fixed contacts arranged radially around the depression and a second common contact arranged around the peripheral fixed contact and conducting to the first common contact are provided. ,
On the upper surface of the central fixed contact, a dome-shaped central movable contact that can be elastically deformed is disposed with the inner surface of the dome facing downward,
On the upper surface of the plurality of peripheral fixed contacts, for each peripheral fixed contact, a dome-shaped peripheral movable contact that can be elastically formed is arranged with the inner surface of the dome facing downward,
The plurality of peripheral movable contacts are integrally connected to each other at the peripheral edges of the dome via a connecting portion.
The central movable contact and the plurality of peripheral movable contacts are arranged in multiple stages such that the peripheral edges of the dome overlap each other in the vertical direction.
The central movable contact is in contact with the central fixed contact for the first time when the dome periphery always contacts the first common contact and is elastically deformed and recessed.
The plurality of peripheral movable contacts are provided so that the dome peripheral edge is always in contact with the second common contact, and is in contact with the peripheral fixed contact for the first time when elastically deformed and recessed.
The switch operating body includes a first stem and a second stem provided to be tiltable with respect to the upper surface of the cover,
The first stem includes a guide hole having a shape penetrating the stem axis, and a plurality of peripheral pressing protrusions disposed at positions facing the plurality of peripheral fixed contacts,
The second stem includes a central pressing protrusion that is slidably inserted into the guide hole and disposed at a position facing the central fixed contact,
During the tilting operation of the switch operating body, the peripheral pressing protrusion located on the side where the switch operating body is tilted among the plurality of peripheral pressing protrusions presses and dents the peripheral movable contact facing it. , The recessed peripheral movable contact is in contact with the peripheral fixed contact located on the lower surface,
During the operation of pushing the second stem of the switch operating body into the guide hole of the first stem, the central pressing protrusion of the second stem presses the central movable contact to be recessed, A multi-directional switch, characterized in that a recessed central movable contact is provided so as to contact the central fixed contact located on the lower surface thereof.

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