JP2001202151A - Joystick - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a joystick with excellent detection accuracy of operation quantity of an operation lever. SOLUTION: In this joystick having a bar-shaped operation lever 1 with an operating part on its upper side, a detection element 5 to detect the operating direction and the operation quantity of the operation lever 1 by its contact with a bottom end part of the lever and bearing structure 3, 7 to support the operation lever 1 to be inclined, a plunger can always be brought into contact with the detection element with constant force since the surface of the detection element 5 is formed to have hollow curved surface and the detection accuracy of the operation quantity is enhanced.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a joystick for outputting an electric signal in accordance with an operation amount of an operation lever, and more particularly to an improvement in detection accuracy of a lever operation amount of a joystick using a pad-like detection element.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional joystick, as shown in FIG. 7, urges an operating lever 1, an umbrella-shaped member 12 at a lower end of the operating lever 1, and an umbrella-shaped member 12 downward to set a neutral position. It was composed of a case 13 having a spring 13 to be kept and a detecting element 5 for detecting the position where the umbrella-shaped member 12 came into contact, and housed these so that the upper part (the operating part 2) of the operating lever 1 protruded. . The detection element 5 detects the position where the operation lever 1 has contacted, and sends this position to the control circuit 14, for example, to move an arm of a construction machine or to move a cursor on a computer screen.

Further, as shown in FIG. 8, the present applicant has proposed a joystick having an extendable plunger 4 at the lower end of an operation lever 1 so that the plunger 4 contacts a detection element 5. The plunger 4 is urged by a spring (not shown) so as to always contact the detection element 5 with a predetermined force or more.

The detecting element 5 constitutes a pad with which the operating lever 1 comes into contact with two rubber plates, and cross electrodes arranged vertically on one of the opposing surfaces of the rubber plate and laterally on the other. Is provided, a signal is sent to one electrode in chronological order, a means for determining the contact position of the plunger based on the time at which this signal is detected at the other electrode, or a voltage is applied to one of the crossed electrodes as a resistor, It can be realized by a known means such as a means for detecting a partial pressure value with the other electrode.

[0005]

In this conventional joystick, since the surface of the detecting element 5 is flat, when the operating lever 1 is tilted, the distance between the center of the shaft 3 of the operating lever and the detecting element 5 becomes longer. Become. At this time, the plunger 4 is projected by the action of the spring, and is always in contact with the detection element 5. However, depending on the structure of the operation lever 1, the amount of expansion and contraction of the plunger 4 may not be sufficient, and when the operation (tilt) amount of the operation lever 1 is large, the plunger 4 may come off from the operation lever 1, In some cases, the amount of protrusion of 4 was insufficient, so that it could not contact the detection element 5.

Further, even when the plunger 4 comes into contact, the pressing of the detecting element 5 by the plunger 4 is weakened when the spring is extended and the plunger 4 is projected, and when the spring is contracted and the plunger 4 is contracted, the detecting element 5 by the plunger 4 is contracted. Since the pressing force is increased, the pressing force of the detecting element 5 changes depending on the operation amount of the operating lever 1. That is, since the contact pressure of the plunger 4 is large near the center of the detection element 5 and small near the periphery, there is a problem that the detection accuracy of the operation amount of the operation lever 1 is reduced.

[0007] Also, with this conventional joystick,
The pressing force of the plunger 4 at the neutral position was the strongest, and the central part of the detection element 5 was easily worn.

An object of the present invention is to provide a joystick in which the force with which the plunger contacts the detection element does not change with the operation amount of the operation lever, and the detection accuracy of the operation amount is high.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a rod-shaped operation lever having an operation portion above, a detection element for detecting an operation direction and an operation amount by a contact position of a lower end of the operation lever, The present invention is applied to a joystick having a bearing structure for tiltably supporting the operation lever, and the surface of the detection element has a concave curved surface.

In a second aspect based on the first aspect, the curved surface is a spherical surface centered on the axis of the bearing structure.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the surface of the detecting element is a concave curved surface, the plunger does not come off from the operating lever due to the inclination of the operating lever.
The plunger surely contacts the detection element.

In a second aspect, the surface of the detection element is
Because the spherical surface is centered on the axis of the bearing structure, even if the operating lever is tilted, the distance between the center of the operating lever bearing and the surface of the detecting element does not change. Contact can be made, and the operation amount can be reliably detected.

[0013]

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a joystick according to the present invention. The operation lever 1 has an operation portion 2 at an upper portion, a spherical shaft portion 3 at an intermediate portion, and a plunger 4 at a lower end portion. The operation unit 2 above the operation lever 1 is a part that the operator grips with his hand. The shaft portion 3 projects in a spherical shape at an intermediate portion of the operation lever 1, and is pivotally supported by a bearing 7 of a case 6. The operating lever 1 is moved so that the plunger 4 contacts the detecting element 5.
Is attached to the lower end of the camera so as to be extendable from the operation lever 1. The tip of the plunger 4 is rounded in a curved shape so that the surface of the detecting element 5 is not damaged by the movement of the plunger 4.

The surface of the detecting element 5 with which the plunger 4 comes into contact is a spherical concave surface 5A centered on the rotation center of the shaft portion 3. The case 6 has the detection element 5 disposed at a lower portion, and houses the lower portion of the operation lever 1 so that the operation portion 2 at the upper portion of the operation lever 1 projects. A bearing 7 for pivotally supporting the shaft 3 is provided at a position where the operation lever 1 projects from the case 6 so that the operation lever 1 can be inclined.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the lower part of the operating lever 1 of the joystick of the present invention. The plunger 4 is accommodated movably in the longitudinal direction of the operation lever 1 in a concave portion 9 provided at the tip of the operation lever 1, is pushed downward by a spring 8, and always contacts the detection element 5 with a predetermined force or more. You are being biased to.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 2, the spring 8 is used as an elastic body for urging the plunger 4, but instead of the spring, an elastic resin material such as rubber, sponge or the like is filled in the recess 9 and the plunger 4 is filled. Can be pressed against the detection element 5.

In the joystick described above, since the surface of the detecting element 5 is formed as a concave surface 5A, even if the operating lever 1 is tilted, the distance between the axis of the operating lever 1 and the detecting element 5 does not change. The plunger 4 does not come off the operating lever 1 even if the
Does not reach the detection element 5. Further, the pressing force of the plunger 4 on the detecting element 5 can be always kept constant. In particular, even at the neutral position of the operation lever 1, the pressing force of the plunger 4 on the detecting element 5 is not large, so that the central part of the detecting element 5 does not wear.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the joystick of the embodiment shown in FIG. The lower portion of the operation lever 1 having the spherical shaft portion 3 in the middle and the detection element 5 are housed in a case 6. The upper part of the operation lever 1 is covered with a boot 10. The plunger 4 at the lower end of the operation lever is pressed downward by a spring 8. The shaft portion 3 is fitted in a bearing 7 so as to be tiltable, and the bearing 7 is screwed to an upper lid 6 </ b> A of the case 6. Detection element 5
Has a concave curved surface, and is configured so that the distance between the center of the shaft portion 3 of the operation lever and the detection element 5 does not change. In FIG. 3, the state where the operation lever 1 is tilted at the same time is shown by a broken line.

FIG. 4 is a view showing the structure of the operation lever 1 of the present invention. The operation lever 1 has a rod-like shape, and has a spherical projection serving as a shaft portion 3 when the operation lever 1 is inclined. The lower end has a recess 9 (shown by a broken line) for accommodating the plunger 4.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the structure of the bearing 7 of the present invention. The bearing 7 has a hole 7A for pivotally supporting the operation lever 1 at the center, and the hole 7A has a spherical shaft portion 3 (section A-
A (shown by a broken line) is fitted, and the operating lever 1 is configured to be able to be operated with the shaft portion 3 being inclined.

Next, the operation of the joystick of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The operation lever 1 can be tilted in any direction about the shaft 3.
At this time, the force applied to the operation lever 1 is supported by the bearing 7,
Only the pressing force of the spring 8 is applied to the surface of the detection element 5 without being transmitted to the surface of the detection element 5. When the operating lever 1 is tilted, the tip of the plunger 4 always contacts the surface of the detecting element 5 at a position corresponding to the tilting direction and the tilting amount of the operating lever 1, and from the detecting element 5, the tilting direction and the tilting of the operating lever 1 are performed. The output according to the quantity is obtained.

At this time, as shown in FIG. 6, the distance between the center of the shaft portion 3 of the operation lever and the bottom plate of the case 6 in the direction of the operation lever becomes longer. However, since the surface of the detection element 5 is a concave surface 5A, the distance between the center of the shaft 3 of the operation lever and the surface of the detection element 5 does not change. Therefore, even if the operation lever 1 is tilted, the amount of expansion and contraction of the plunger 4 hardly changes, and the plunger 4 comes into contact with the detection element 5 with a constant force.

The concave surface 5A is desirably a spherical surface, but is not necessarily limited to a spherical surface, and may be a concave curved surface close to a spherical surface.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a joystick according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a lower portion of an operation lever of the joystick of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of the joystick of the embodiment shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a configuration of an operation lever.

FIG. 5A is a plan view showing the configuration of the bearing,
(B) It is sectional drawing.

6 is a configuration diagram of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in a state where the operation lever is inclined.

FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a conventional joystick.

FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of another conventional joystick.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Operation lever 2 Operation part 3 Shaft part 4 Plunger 5 Detecting element 5A Concave surface 6 Case 6A Top cover 7 Bearing 7A Hole 8 Spring 9 Depression 10 Boot 11 Support plate 12 Umbrella member 13 Spring 14 Control circuit

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A rod-shaped operation lever having an operation portion above, a detection element for detecting an operation direction and an operation amount by contact with a lower end of the operation lever, and a bearing for tiltably supporting the operation lever. A joystick having a structure, wherein the surface of the detection element has a concave curved surface. 2. The joystick according to claim 1, wherein the curved surface is a spherical surface centered on an axis of the bearing structure.