JPH048590Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] "Industrial Application Field" This invention relates to a spring piece for a switch that can be used in a membrane switch with a tactile function, a single small switch with a tactile function, or the like.

"Conventional technology" Tactile function (function that gives a cutting sensation) to membrane switches formed into sheets using the click phenomenon of spring plates, or small switches mounted directly on printed circuit boards, etc. A structure that provides this is in practical use.

FIG. 14 shows a conventional spring piece. The conventional spring piece has a round planar shape, and this round spring piece 13
It is used that is formed into a bowl shape using a press or the like.

15 and 16 show the structure of a push button switch using this round spring piece 13.

In the figure, 11 indicates an insulating case. This insulating case 11 has a circular recess 14 on the upper surface side, and a contact 21a (see FIG. 16) and a contact 22a (see FIG. 15) are provided at the periphery of this circular recess. The contact 21a is integrally formed with the terminal 21, and the contact 22a is integrally formed with the terminals 22 and 24,
These contacts 21a, terminals 21 and contacts 22a
and terminals 22 and 24 are arranged to be electrically connected.

On the other hand, a contact 23a is provided at the center of the circular recess 14, and this contact 23a is electrically led out to the terminal 23.

A bowl-shaped round spring piece 13 shown in FIG. 14 is arranged in the circular recess 14. As shown in FIG. In other words, the round spring piece 13
is inserted into the circular recess 14 in an upwardly convex position. As a result, the contacts 21a and 22a electrically contact the edges of the round spring piece 13, but maintain a state in which they do not contact the center contact 23a.

A push button 12 is attached to the top of the round spring piece 13. The push button 12 is held at its periphery by a metal fitting 15 and is combined with the insulating case 11. At the same time, the push button 12 has a convex part 16 on the back surface that comes into contact with the convex part of the round spring piece 13, and when the push button 12 is pressed down, the spring piece 13 is compressed and deformed. By deforming the shape of the round spring piece 13 into a downwardly convex shape, the center part of the spring piece 13 is brought into contact with the contactor 23a.

This contact causes the terminal 23 to connect to the terminals 21, 22,
A contact signal that is conductive can be transmitted to all of the 24 terminals. Further, the transmission of this contact signal can be detected by a sudden change in the pressing force due to the click phenomenon of the round spring piece 13.

On the other hand, FIG. 16 shows the structure of a membrane switch using a conventional round spring piece 13. As is well known, the membrane switch has printed contacts 27 and 28 formed on mutually opposing surfaces of a printed sheet or a printed circuit board 25 and a printed sheet 26.
28 are supported by a spacer 29 in a state where they face each other with a predetermined distance therebetween, and by pressing down the printing sheet 26, the printed contacts 27 and 28 can be brought into contact and a contact signal can be transmitted.

In order to provide this membrane switch with a tactile function, a round spring piece 13 is arranged on the top side of the printing sheet 26, and by pressing down the printing sheet 26 via this round spring piece 13, the operation can be performed. In the middle of this, the round spring piece 13 exhibits a click phenomenon, and this click phenomenon allows the contact between the contacts 27 and 28 to be felt by the touch of the finger.

When mounting the round spring pieces 13 on a membrane switch, the round spring pieces 13 are used as they are in a hoop shape connected by a connecting band 30 as shown in FIG. Place the piece 13 on the top surface of the printing sheet 26, and place the spacer 3 on top of it.
1 and a top sheet 32 is attached thereto.

``Problems to be solved by the invention'' When a single switch is constituted by the conventional round spring pieces 13, the planar shape of the switch is 15.
As shown in the figure and FIG. 16, it may be round, or it may be square with a size that encloses the round spring piece 13.

For this reason, for example, when configuring a device that is equipped with a large number of operation buttons 12A on the front and operation buttons 12B on the side as shown in FIG. 19, the push button switch 37 having these operation buttons 12A and 12B is As shown in FIG. 20, it is mounted on a printed circuit board 38 and used.

As described above, the push button switch 37 using the round spring piece 13 has a large planar shape of the round spring piece 13 itself, so the push button switch 37 also has a large planar shape. For this reason, the mounting density on the printed circuit board 38 is low, making it difficult to miniaturize the device.This drawback is the same for membrane switches.

Furthermore, if the push button switch 37 is mounted perpendicularly to the printed circuit board 38 so that the push button 12B protrudes from the side of the device, the height H of the push button switch 37 becomes taller, and the back surface of the printed circuit board 38 and the back surface of the device case increase. The dead space between the
This point also hinders miniaturization of devices.

The purpose of this invention is to increase the packaging density of both single switches and membrane switches.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a spring piece for a switch that can make the height of the switch low even when the push button is used horizontally.

"Means for Solving the Problem" This invention consists of a rectangular conductive spring plate, with a bent part formed at both ends of the rectangle so that the center of the short side of the rectangle has a peak. By forming the curved portion, a gently arcuate surface is formed at the center of the rectangle in the longitudinal direction, thereby configuring the spring piece for the switch.

Since the spring piece for a switch of this invention has a rectangular planar shape, by using this spring piece for a switch, a single switch or a membrane switch can be made into a rectangular planar shape. Therefore, by arranging the switches in the direction of the short side of the rectangle, the packaging density can be increased.

Incidentally, if the length of the short side of the rectangle is set to 1/3 of the diameter of a conventional round spring piece, the packaging density can be tripled compared to the conventional one.

Furthermore, by using longitudinal spring pieces, the planar shape of the switch can be made rectangular. As a result, in the case of a push button switch that is mounted with the push button protruding horizontally on a printed circuit board, if the short side of the rectangle is mounted vertically to the printed circuit board, the height of this switch from the surface of the printed circuit board can be lowered. be able to.

As a result, the dead space created between the printed circuit board surface and the back surface of the equipment case can be reduced.
The overall shape of the device can be made smaller.

``Example'' Figure 1 shows an example of this invention. 41 in the diagram
shows a spring piece for a switch based on this invention. The switch spring piece 41 according to this invention is composed of a conductive spring plate having a rectangular planar shape, and is provided at both ends of the conductive spring plate in the longitudinal direction, and the center of the short side of the rectangle is a peak 41a. It is composed of a bent portion 41b and a gently arcuate surface 41c formed at the center of the rectangle in the longitudinal direction by forming the bent portion 41b.

FIG. 3 shows a cross-sectional shape of the bent portion 41b taken along the line AA in FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 shows a cross-sectional shape of a portion taken along line B--B in FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional shape of a portion of the gently arcuate surface 41c taken along line CC in FIG.

By providing the bent portion 41b, the central portion in the longitudinal direction is raised from the mounting surface 42 as shown in FIG. By pressing down on this central portion, it is deformed as shown in FIG.
Before reaching the state shown in FIG. 7, there is a position where the operating force F suddenly changes due to a click phenomenon. FIG. 8 shows the relationship between the operating force F and the displacement D of the spring piece 41. The greater the ratio of Fmin/Fmax shown in FIG. 8, the greater the click feel.

Figure 9 shows a spring piece 41 for a switch according to this invention.
The structure of a push button switch using . Contactors 21a and 23a are installed on the bottom surface of the vertically long insulating case 11. The contactor 21a is provided on the end side and comes into contact with the end of the switch spring piece 41 according to this invention.

The contact 23a is provided at the center of the bottom surface of the insulating case 11, faces the back surface of the longitudinally central portion of the switch spring piece 41, and is always maintained in a non-contact state.

A push button 1 is located in the center of the upper surface of the switch leaf spring 41.
The structure is such that a pressing force can be applied to the switch spring piece 41 by touching the two protrusions 12a and pressing down the push button 12.

When the push button 12 is pressed down, the central part of the switch spring piece 41 according to this invention is displaced downward, and in the process of displacement, the amount of displacement increases rapidly due to the click phenomenon, and the back side of the switch spring piece 41 becomes a contact. The terminals 21 and 23 are electrically connected to each other by pressure contact with the terminals 23a.

During this conduction, a sudden change in operating force is transmitted to the finger operating the operator 12, allowing the finger to feel that the switch has been turned on.

"Effect of the invention" By using the switch spring piece 41 of this invention, the insulating case 11 of the push button switch can be
As shown in the figure, it has a vertically elongated shape and can be made into a flat shape.

As a result, as shown in FIG.
When a large number of push button switches 43 are mounted on the 8, many push button switches 43 can be mounted at high density by arranging the push button switches 43 with their flat surfaces facing each other. Therefore, it is possible to downsize the equipment.

Also, in the case of a push button switch in which the push button 12 projects sideways, the height H from the board surface of the printed circuit board 38 can be reduced by mounting the push button switch 43 in such a manner that the flat surface of the push button switch 43 is in contact with the board surface of the printed circuit board 38. be able to.

Therefore, the back side of the equipment case and the printed circuit board 38
The distance to the plate surface can be reduced, and in this respect the device can be made thinner.

Figure 12 shows the switch spring piece 4 according to this invention.
1 is used as a membrane switch.
When used in a membrane switch, the switch spring pieces 41 are connected by a connecting band 30 as shown in FIG. 13.

The membrane switch is placed on the printed sheet 26 connected by the connecting band 30, and a spacer 3 is placed on the part where the switch spring piece 41 is not present.
1, and a top sheet 32 is attached to the top surface with a spacer 31 interposed therebetween.

With this configuration, when the switch spring piece 41 is pressed down through the top sheet 32, a pressing force is applied to the printing sheet 26 through the spring piece 41, displacing the printing sheet 26 downward. This displacement causes the printed contact 28 to come into contact with 27 and generate a contact signal. The switch spring piece 41 causes a clicking phenomenon at a timing before and after the timing when the printed contacts 27 and 28 start contacting, and can give a clicking sensation to the finger.

Even when the switch spring pieces according to this invention are used in this membrane switch, since the switch spring pieces 41 are rectangular, the arrangement interval of the switch spring pieces 41 connected by the connecting band 30 can be made small. Therefore, the number of membrane switches that can be formed per unit length can be increased.
A large number of membrane switches can be formed within a small area, and in this respect miniaturization of the device can be achieved.

Further, when the switch spring pieces 41 of this invention are used as a switch touch plate of a membrane switch, since the spring pieces 41 are rectangular in shape, they can be arranged in high density within a unit length by arranging them in the short side direction. Therefore, the degree of freedom in designing the arrangement of switches in the operating section etc. can be greatly expanded.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of the spring piece for a switch of this invention, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof, Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along the line A-A shown in Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the switch spring piece. 2
FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line BB shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along the line AA shown in FIG. Fig. 8 is a graph for explaining the relationship between the operating force and displacement of the switch spring piece of this invention, and Fig. 9 shows the structure of a push button switch using the switch spring piece of this invention. 10 is a side view thereof, FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view illustrating the state in which the push button switch having the structure shown in FIG. 9 is mounted on a printed circuit board, and FIG. FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the structure of a membrane switch constructed using switch spring pieces; FIG.
The figure is a sectional view to explain the structure of a conventional spring piece for a switch, Figure 15 is a plan view to explain the structure of a push button switch using a conventional spring piece for a switch, and Figure 16 is a side view thereof. Fig. 17 is a cross-sectional view for explaining the structure of a membrane switch using a conventional switch spring piece, and Fig. 18 is a side view of the switch spring used in this membrane switch. Figure 19 is a plan view to explain the structure of the piece, Figure 19 is a perspective view to explain an example of the appearance of a device using a conventional push button switch, and Figure 20 is a mounting diagram of the printed circuit board used inside this device. FIG. 3 is a perspective view for explaining the structure.

Claims (1)

[Claims for Utility Model Registration] A: A conductive spring piece having a rectangular planar shape; B: A conductive spring piece provided at both ends of the conductive spring piece in the longitudinal direction, and at the center of the short side of the rectangle. A spring piece for a switch, comprising: a bent portion forming a peak; and a gently arcuate surface formed at the longitudinal center of the rectangle by forming the bent portion.