JPH11162280A - Illuminated pushbutton switch with indicator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To reduce the price. SOLUTION: A holder 31 for holding a light emitting diode 29 for an illumination indicator section 23 and a rubber dome 37 of a rubber switch 34 for lighting the light emitting diode 29 are integrally formed, and an illumination design section is provided on the holder 31. A light-shielding wall 43 for preventing light of the lamp 28 for the 22 from sneaking into the illumination indicator section 23 is integrally formed. The number of parts can be reduced, and a predetermined gap provided by using a jig or the like between the light emitting diode and the upper surface of the plastic holder is not required due to the problem of thermal stress, which simplifies assembly.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an illuminated push-button switch with an indicator in which a design illuminating in a dark place is formed on an operation knob, and the operation knob is further provided with an indicator for illuminating the operation state.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIGS. 2 and 3 show an example of a conventional structure of a push button switch of this kind. FIG. 2 shows the switch viewed from the front side (operation surface side), and FIG. 3 shows the cross-sectional structure thereof. An opening 12 is provided on the front surface of the housing 11, and an operation knob 13 is housed in the opening 12. The operation knob 13 has a cap shape with an open back side, and the front end of a slider 14 having a substantially rectangular tube shape is inserted into the back side to be integrated with the slider 14. The connection between the operation knob 13 and the slider 14 is performed by locking a projection 15 provided on the peripheral surface of the distal end portion of the slider 14 into a locking hole 16 formed on the peripheral wall of the operation knob 13.

In the front-rear direction (axial direction) of the slider 14, a step portion 17 is formed at a portion following the leading end portion, and a rear portion of the step portion 17 has a large outer shape to form a guide portion 18. The guide portion 18 is guided by a guide wall 19 formed to extend rearward from the opening 12 of the housing 11, and is thereby held movably in the front-rear direction. The slider 14 has a stepped portion 17 whose guide wall 1
The engagement with the stopper 21 protrudingly formed on the projection 9 prevents the stopper 9 from coming off.

The operating knob 13 has an illuminated design portion 22 and an illuminated indicator portion 23 on its operation surface (front surface). In this example, the illumination indicator section 23 is configured such that the distal end of an indicator lens 25 is housed in a hole 24 formed in the operation knob 13. The rear end side of the indicator lens 25 is pressed and held between the peripheral wall of the slider 14 and a partition wall 26 formed inside the slider 14 in the front-rear direction and over the entire length. The distal end of the partition wall 26 projects to the inner surface of the operation surface of the operation knob 13 as shown in FIG.

On the other hand, in this example, the illuminated design part 22 is shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the characters are "AUTO", and these characters are outlined characters. Illuminated design section 2
2 is formed by forming the operation knob 13 from a transparent (or translucent) material, such as a transparent acrylic resin, and painting the front surface thereof to make the illuminated design portion 22 white.

A board 27 is mounted on the back side of the housing 11, and the back side is covered with the board 27. On the substrate 27, as a light source for the illumination design part 22,
In this example, a lamp 28 is attached, and a light emitting diode 29 that emits light to the indicator lens 25.
Is installed. The light emitting diode 29 is mounted via a holder 31 provided on the substrate 27, that is, the lead 33 is inserted and held in a through hole 32 of the holder 31. The light emitting diode 29 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (1), it is located in the space partitioned by the partition wall 26 in the slider 14 and faces the rear end face of the indicator lens 25.

The light emitting diode 29 is turned on when the operation knob 13 is pressed, and a rubber switch 34 for lighting the light emitting diode 29 by detecting that the operation knob 13 is pressed is attached to the substrate 27. Have been. The rubber switch 34 includes a pair of contact patterns 35 a and 35 b formed on the substrate 27 and a rubber dome 37 on which a conductive film 36 forming a contact facing the contact patterns 35 a and 35 b is formed. The upper surface to be pressed is in contact with a pressing portion 38 formed at the rear end of the slider 14.

When the operation knob 13 is pressed and the slider 14 slides, the rubber dome 37 is pressed to buckle the rubber switch 34 having the above-described configuration, and the conductive film 36 is moved to the two contact patterns 35a and 35b. To make them conductive and the switches are turned on. This allows
The light emitting diode 29 is turned on, and the light is guided to the outside by the indicator lens 25 as indicator light. Therefore, the operator can recognize the operation state of the operation knob 13, that is, the operation state of the push button switch, by the illumination display of the illumination indicator section 23.

On the other hand, in a dark place such as at night, the lamp 28 is turned on so that the position of the operation knob 13 can be easily recognized by the operator, and the light of the lamp 28 illuminates the illumination design part 22. Has become. As shown in FIG. 3, a notch 41 and an opening 42 are provided in a portion of the guide wall 19 of the housing 11 and the guide portion 18 of the slider 14 facing the lamp 28 so as to allow light to enter the operation knob 13.
Are formed respectively.

The light of the lamp 28 is applied to the slider 14
And enters the indicator lens 25 from the rear end, and although the operation knob 13 is in the inactive state,
In order to prevent the illuminated indicator 23 from being illuminated, a light-shielding wall 43 for blocking the route is provided. The light-shielding wall 43 is structured such that the rear end portion of the slider 14 is sandwiched between the peripheral surface of the holder 31 and is formed integrally with the holder 31. Such a shading wall 4
By having 3, the erroneous recognition of the operation state can be prevented.

[0011]

However, as described above, the holder 31 having the light shielding wall 43 is conventionally formed of a plastic injection-molded product, and thus has the following problems. That is, since the holder 31 is made of plastic, there is a difference in linear expansion coefficient between the light emitting diode 29 and the lead 33 made of a metal material. When the holder 31 expands, thermal stress is applied to the light-emitting diode 29 and the soldered portion of the lead 33 to the substrate 27, and at worst the light-emitting diode 29 or the soldered portion is damaged by this thermal stress, which is a serious problem in quality. Will occur.

Therefore, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 3, a fixed gap d is provided between the light emitting diode 29 and the upper surface of the holder 31 by using a jig or the like at the time of assembling. Poor performance and troublesome assembly. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide an illuminated push-button switch with an indicator that can be easily assembled, reduce the number of parts, and be inexpensive in view of the problems described above.

[0013]

According to the present invention, an operation knob having an illuminated design portion and an illuminated indicator portion is disposed in the opening of a housing having an opening on a front surface and a back surface covered with a substrate. A light source for illuminating the illuminated design part, a light-emitting diode held in a holder, and a rubber switch for turning on the light-emitting diode are attached to the substrate, and a rubber dome of the rubber switch is pressed by pressing an operation knob. In the illuminated push button switch with the indicator, which is configured to be turned on and the illuminated indicator section is illuminated by the illuminated light emitting diode, the holder is formed integrally with the rubber dome, and the illuminated indicator is formed integrally with the holder. A light-shielding wall is formed to prevent the light source light from entering the portion.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention, and portions corresponding to those in FIG. 3 are denoted by the same reference numerals. In this example, the holder 31 for holding the light emitting diode 29 and the light shielding wall 43 for preventing the light of the lamp 28 from sneaking into the illumination indicator 23 are formed integrally with the rubber dome 37 of the rubber switch 34. . Other parts are the same as those of the conventional structure shown in FIG. 3, and the appearance viewed from the front side is not different from that of FIG.

The holder 3 around which the light shielding wall 43 is provided
The rubber dome 37 is integrated with the rubber dome 37.
The base portion 51 in contact with the substrate 27 of the
3 by joining with the peripheral surface. The rubber dome 37 of the rubber switch 34 is formed of a flexible material such as, for example, silicon rubber, and the holder 31 is formed of such a flexible material to have a structure for holding the light emitting diode 29, as shown in FIG. Even if the light emitting diode 29 is closely mounted on the upper surface of the holder 31, the problem that the light emitting diode 29 and the soldered portion of the lead 33 to the substrate 27 are not damaged due to thermal stress as in the related art.

Therefore, it is not necessary to provide a gap between the light emitting diode 29 and the upper surface of the holder 31 by using a jig or the like as in the prior art, and assembling can be performed accordingly.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, the rubber dome 37 of the rubber switch 34 and the holder 31 are provided.
In addition, since the light shielding wall 43 is integrally formed, the number of components can be reduced as compared with the related art, and therefore, the configuration can be made less expensive. Further, since the holder 31 is made of a flexible rubber material, a required gap between the upper surface of the plastic holder and the light emitting diode using a jig or the like as in the related art, in order to avoid a problem due to thermal stress. The work of providing the above is not required, so that the assembling becomes simpler and the cost can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a conventional illuminated push button switch with an indicator.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of FIG. 2;

Claims (1)

[Claims] An operation knob having an illuminated design portion and an illuminated indicator portion is provided in the opening of a housing having an opening on a front surface and a back side covered with a substrate, and the illuminated design portion is provided on the substrate. A light source to be illuminated, a light-emitting diode held by a holder, and a rubber switch for lighting the light-emitting diode are mounted, and by pressing the operation knob, the rubber dome of the rubber switch is pressed to switch on. An illuminated push button switch with an indicator configured to illuminate the illuminated indicator section with the illuminated light-emitting diode, wherein the holder is formed integrally with the rubber dome, and the holder is formed integrally with the illuminated indicator section. Characterized in that a light-shielding wall is formed to prevent the light source from entering Illuminated pushbutton switch with indicator.