JP2003217380A - Switch illuminator - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To improve the assemblability and reduce the weight by reducing the number of parts. SOLUTION: On a circuit board 11 having a fixed contact 11a, a movable contact 13a which can be moved toward and away from the fixed contact 11a.
The light source 14 is attached to the circuit board 11 and the light S emitted from the light source 14 is reflected by the rubber contact 12 toward the illuminating part 30 of the switch operation surface 31. A direct reflection surface 15a and an indirect reflection surface 15b were provided.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a switch illumination device using a rubber contact.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a switch using a rubber contact, by laminating a rubber contact having a movable contact on a circuit board having a fixed contact, a fixed contact on the circuit board side and a movable contact on the rubber contact side are formed. The switch section is constituted by. In this type of switch, in order to illuminate the illuminating part of the switch operation surface, generally, a light guide member is provided separately from the rubber contact, and the light emitted from the light source is operated by the light guide member. It leads to a predetermined illuminating part of the surface.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the switch illumination device disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 5-55422. This illuminating device is for illuminating the buttons of a push button type switch, in which rubber contacts 2 are laminated on a circuit board 1 and each switch is formed by an operating portion 3 formed on the rubber contacts 2. Push button 4 on actuating part 3
Are integrally projected, and the top part of the push button 4 is the illumination part 6
Has become. The push button 4 is inserted into a through hole 5 a provided in the light guide plate 5, and has a function of guiding light from the light source 7 provided on the circuit board 1 to the push button 4.
Push button 4 formed integrally with rubber contact 2
Has a function of scattering light while having a certain degree of light guiding property, the light incident on the push button 4 from the light source 7 through the light guide plate 5 is
The light is emitted from the illuminating section 6 at the top of the, so that the push button 4 is illuminated.

[0004]

As described above, in the conventional switch using the rubber contact, since the light guide member is provided separately from the rubber contact to guide the light from the light source to the illuminating part, the number of parts is reduced. There has been a problem that as a result of the increase, the assemblability is deteriorated and the weight is increased.

In view of the above circumstances, it is an object of the present invention to provide an illuminating device for a switch, which is capable of improving the assembling property and reducing the weight by reducing the number of parts.

[0006]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a switch in which a rubber contact having a movable contact capable of contacting and separating from the fixed contact is laminated on a circuit board having the fixed contact. Attach the light source to the circuit board,
The rubber contact is provided with a reflecting surface for reflecting the light emitted from the light source toward the illuminated portion of the switch operation surface.

In this illuminating device, since the reflecting surface is formed on the rubber contact itself to guide the light of the light source to the illuminating part, it is not necessary to intentionally provide another light guide member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the switch illuminating device according to the first aspect, the rubber contact serves as the reflecting surface, and the light of the light source is directly reflected toward the illuminating portion of the switch operating surface. A direct reflection surface and an indirect reflection surface that indirectly reflects the light of the light source toward the illumination unit via the direct reflection surface are provided.

In this illumination device, since the rubber contact is provided with the direct reflection surface and the indirect reflection surface, the light from the light source can be effectively guided to the illumination unit.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a switch illuminating device according to the first or second aspect, wherein a plurality of reflecting surfaces for guiding the light of the light source are respectively provided to a plurality of illuminating sections for one light source. It is characterized by being provided.

In this illuminating device, one light source can illuminate a plurality of illuminating parts.

[0012]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing the overall structure of the illumination device of the first embodiment, FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the essential parts of the illumination device of FIG. 1 taken out, (a) is a plan view, and (b) is (A) II in the figure
It is a b-IIb arrow sectional view.

The switch illuminator of this embodiment has a circuit board 11 shown at the bottom of FIG. 1, a rubber contact 12 laminated on the upper surface of the circuit board 11, and a space above the rubber contact 12. The interior panel 21 arranged by opening the switch, the switch panel 25 disposed with a space further above the interior panel 21, the light source 14 such as the LED mounted on the circuit board 11, and the button housing of the switch panel 25. The push button 26 accommodated in the hole 28 so as to be pushed down. In this case, depending on the surface of the switch panel 25 and the top surface of the push button 26,
A switch operation surface 31 is configured. Further, a push-down rod 27 is provided on the lower surface of the push button 26,
The lower part of the push-down rod 27 penetrates the through hole 22 formed in the interior panel 21 and reaches the position above the rubber contact 12.

At the position of the rubber contact 12 corresponding to the lower end of the push-down rod 27 of the push button 26,
A dome-shaped actuating portion 13 that is elastically deformed by a push-down operation of the push button 26 is provided, and a movable contact 13a is provided at the top of the inner surface of the dome-like actuating portion 13. A fixed contact 11a is provided at a position on the circuit board 11 corresponding to the movable contact 13a. A switch is configured by the fixed contact 11a and the movable contact 13a that can be brought into contact with and separated from the fixed contact 11a. The switch is turned on by the push-down operation of the push button 26, and the deformation of the operating portion 13 is returned by the release of the push-down. The switch is turned off.

The light source 14 is arranged at a position avoiding the operating portion 13 of the switch, and the rubber contact 12 so as to surround the light source 14 is integrally provided with a surrounding wall 15 as shown in FIG. 2 (a). It is erected. The push button 26 is provided with an illuminating section 30 for emitting illumination light to the outside. Immediately below the illuminating section 30, there is a through hole 23 through which light passes through the interior panel 21, and the rubber contact 12 is provided. A reflecting surface 15a is provided. The rubber contact 12 is
As it is composed of white or milky white material,
The reflecting surface 15a reflects the light from the light source 14. The reflecting surface 15a is formed by making a part of the surrounding wall 15 into a flat inclined surface, and the light S emitted from the light source 14 is emitted.
Is transmitted to the illumination unit 30 through the through hole 23.

In this case, the reflecting surface 15a functions as a direct reflecting surface for directly reflecting the light S from the light source 14 toward the illuminating section 30 (henceforth, the reflecting surface 15a is also referred to as a linear reflecting surface), and is enclosed. As shown in FIG. 2, the inner surface of the wall 15 indirectly reflects the light S from the light source 14 toward the illumination unit 30 via the direct reflection surface 15a.
Function as. In addition, as shown in FIG. 2B, the upper surface of the substrate portion 12a of the rubber contact 12 is also an indirect reflection surface 1.
It functions as 5c.

By thus providing the rubber contact 12 itself with the function of guiding the light S from the light source 14, it is not necessary to separately provide a light guide member. Therefore, the assemblability is improved, and the entire illumination device can be reduced in weight and thickness.

As in the second embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the rubber contact 12 is provided with an upper wall 12b which covers the light source 14 from above, and instead of the substrate portion 12a shown in FIG. 2B. The inner surface (lower surface) of the upper wall 12b is an indirect reflection surface 15d.
May function as. In this way, the indirect reflection surface 15
By collecting the light S from the light source 14 as directly as possible on the reflecting surface 15a by b to 15d, the light from the light source 14 can be effectively used for illuminating the illumination unit 30.

In the above embodiment, one light source 14
Although the case of illuminating one illuminating section 30 is shown in FIG. 4, even if a plurality of reflecting surfaces 15a are formed on the rubber contact 12 so as to surround one light source 14 as in the third embodiment of FIG. Good. In that case, the light S can be sent from the plurality of reflecting surfaces 15a to the plurality of corresponding illuminating portions, and the single light source 14 can illuminate the plurality of illuminating portions. Therefore, it can be easily applied to the case of illuminating a plurality of symbol illumination parts arranged on the dial switch or the circumference.

FIG. 5 is a schematic plan view of a fourth embodiment in which a plurality of symbol illumination units 40 are illuminated by a single light source 14.
In the figure, 42 is a wall provided for reflecting a rubber contact. The light S is guided to the illumination unit 40 while being reflected by the rubber contact wall 42, and illuminates the illumination unit 40.

[0022]

As described above, according to the invention of claim 1, a reflecting surface is formed on a rubber contact itself which constitutes a switch together with a fixed contact on a circuit board, and a light source is provided on an illuminating portion of a switch operating surface. Since it is configured to guide the light from, it is not necessary to intentionally provide another light guide member. Therefore,
The number of parts can be reduced, and as a result, the assemblability can be improved and the illumination device as a whole can be made thinner and lighter.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the rubber contact has a direct reflection surface for directly reflecting the light from the light source toward the illuminating section, and an indirect reflection for reflecting the light from the light source toward the direct reflection surface. Since the surface is provided, light can be effectively used for illumination of the illumination unit without waste.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since a plurality of illuminators can be illuminated by one light source, the number of light sources can be reduced when illuminating a switch operation surface having many illuminators. The cost can be reduced by reducing it to the minimum.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an illumination device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view showing a main part of the illumination device shown in FIG.
(A) is a top view, (b) is a IIb-IIb arrow sectional view of (a) figure.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a second embodiment of the present invention, in which (a)
Is a plan view and (b) is a sectional view taken along the line IIIb-IIIb in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of a main part of a third embodiment of the present invention, in which (a)
Is a plan view and (b) is a sectional view taken along the line IVb-IVb in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a schematic configuration of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a conventional illumination device.

[Explanation of symbols]

11 circuit board 11a Fixed contact 12 Rubber contact 13 Working part 13a movable contact 14 Light source 15a Direct reflection surface 15b to 15d Indirect reflection surface 30 Illuminator 31 Switch operation surface

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Atsushi Yamaguchi             1500 Onjuku, Susono City, Shizuoka Prefecture Yazaki Corporation             Within F-term (reference) 5G006 AA01 FB03 JA01 JB00 JC02                       JD03 JF27

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A switch in which a rubber contact having a movable contact that can be brought into contact with and separated from the fixed contact is laminated on a circuit board having a fixed contact, a light source is attached to the circuit board, and the rubber contact is attached to the rubber contact. An illuminating device for a switch, comprising: a reflecting surface for reflecting light emitted from the light source toward an illuminating portion of a switch operating surface. 2. The switch illuminating device according to claim 1, wherein the rubber contact serves as the reflecting surface, and a direct reflecting surface that directly reflects light of the light source toward an illuminating portion of a switch operating surface, An illuminating device for a switch, comprising: an indirect reflecting surface that indirectly reflects the light of the light source toward the illuminating section via the direct reflecting surface. 3. The switch illuminating device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a plurality of reflecting surfaces for guiding the light of the light source are provided to a plurality of illuminating sections for the one light source. Illuminating device for the switch.