JPH0155733B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

The invention of this application relates to a rotary code switch. Conventionally used rotary cord switches are configured so that a common terminal and four terminals are turned on or off by rotating the shaft, and a 4-bit digital signal is output. For this reason, for example, a code board such as a printed board is generally used, and a common terminal,
The contacts connected to the four terminals are configured to slide as the shaft rotates. However, in the above-mentioned general configuration, since five contacts slide on the upper surface of the code plate, the same number of tracks, namely five, are naturally required, which hinders miniaturization of this type of switch. In the current situation where electronic devices are becoming smaller, the electronic components used in these devices are also required to be smaller, and the conditions given to these electronic components are a height of 12 mm or less, ideally 10 mm or less. In addition, for front panel operation switches, etc., the shaft diameter needs to be around 4 mm from the viewpoint of shaft strength.
Currently, it is difficult to manufacture a rotary switch that is smaller than the conventional example. The present invention overcomes the above-mentioned deficiencies and aims to provide a compact rotary cord switch. Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In FIG. 1, the shaft 1 is pivotally supported by a front cover 2 and a rear cover 3, and the shaft 1 is placed in a gap 20 formed by a front housing 4 and a rear housing 5 provided between the two cover parts as will be described later. The rotor 8 mounted on the rotor 8 is rotatably accommodated. Although not shown in the front cover 2, as the shaft 1 rotates, it generates a clicking sound at equal angular intervals and rotates.
A click mechanism is provided for actuating the stop. The contact method of the switch according to the present invention is such that the end contacts of the contact spring 9 attached to the rotor 8 slide on the upper surfaces of the fixed patterns 6 and 7 arranged to face each other inside the front housing 4 and the rear housing 5. The switching operation is performed by moving the pattern, and the present invention is particularly characterized by the construction and operation of this pattern. The details will be explained below. Figures 3, 4, and 5 regarding the first pattern
This will be explained based on FIG. The material of these patterns is brass or the like which is pressed or etched and then gold plated on the upper surface. After processing the front pattern 6 and the rear pattern 7 to form desired patterns as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the front pattern 6 is attached to the front housing 4.
The rear pattern 7 is insert molded into the rear housing 5. In order to form central holes α and β into which the rotor 8 is inserted after being molded, the center portions (shaded portions) of the pair of front and rear patterns 6 and 7 are connected to the front housing 4 and the rear housing 5.
Cut off along with the center part. The entire front pattern 6 is constructed continuously and is formed integrally with the terminal 10.
After forming the central hole β, the rear pattern 7 is provided with four strips 7a, 7b, 7c, and 7d, which are connected to terminals 11a, 11b, 11c, and 11d, respectively. 5 and 6 illustrate the inner surfaces of the front housing 4 and the rear housing 5 on which the patterns are insert molded. Front housing 4, rear housing 5
have a U-shaped cross section, and each has two pairs of protruding walls 21, 2.
1, 22, 22. A pair of protrusions 12 and four through holes 13 are provided on the protruding wall 21 of the front housing 4.
In addition, a pair of grooves 1 are provided in the protruding wall 21 of the rear housing 4 opposite to the protrusion 12 and the through hole 13.
4 and four through holes 13' are provided. When assembling the front and rear housings, each protruding wall 21, 2
2 are arranged oppositely, and the protrusion 12 of the front housing 4
into the groove 14 of the rear housing 5. The above combination constitutes a cavity 20 that can accommodate a rotor 8, which will be described later. In addition, the front cover 2 and the rear cover 3 are provided with the same number of through holes (not shown) having the same shape as the through holes 13 and 13' of the front and rear housings, so that four through holes are formed in the group of these through holes. The housings 4, 5 are assembled to the covers 2, 3 by inserting real crimping pins and crimping them afterwards. As shown in FIG. 2, the rotor 8 is a resin molded product having a cylindrical body 15 made of an insulator and a pair of flanges 18 and 17 spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance. These flanges have three square holes 19a, 19b, 19c and 19'a, 19'b, 1, respectively.
9'c are bored at opposing positions. Each of these square hole groups is arranged at a predetermined angular position. In the embodiment of the present invention, for example, starting from 19a, 19b is 90° from this, and 19c is 90° from 19b.
Another square hole group 19' set at a distant position
a, 19'b, and 19'c are also arranged at similar positions. The square holes 19a and 19'a, 19'b and 19'
The contact springs 9 are placed between b, 19c and 19'c, and each end is bent and inserted into the square hole group to protrude from the inside of the collars 17 and 18 to the outside. Three pairs of contacts 9a and 9'a, 9b and 9'b, and 9c and 9'c are formed on 18 and 17, respectively (9c and 9'c are not shown). Reference numeral 16 denotes a through hole provided in the body 15 for fitting and fixing the shaft 1 therein. The rotor 8 having the above structure includes a front housing 4 and a rear housing 5 as shown in FIG.
The shaft 1 is rotatably housed in a gap 20 formed by the shaft 1. Next, the contact state between the contacts of the contact spring 9 and the pattern will be explained. FIG. 7 relates to the front pattern 6, and the portions where the contacts come into contact with the upper surface of the pattern are shown with the same reference numerals as the contacts. Illustrated 9'a, 9'b, and 9'c are contact positions when the rotor 8 is fully rotated to the left by the shaft 1. Thereafter, the contacts are sequentially connected to shaft 1.
As the rotor 8 rotates clockwise, it slides on the same circumferential orbit of the pattern while rotating counterclockwise by 30 degrees. Figure 8 shows
Similarly to FIG. 7, the contact positions of the rear pattern 7 are illustrated when the rotor 8 is rotated fully counterclockwise by the shaft 1. Code 9a, 9b, 9c
The contact positions are indicated by the same reference numerals as those of the contacts provided on the rear flange portion 18 of the rotor 8. Similarly to the front pattern 6 shown in FIG. 7, the contact point also slides by 30 degrees while rotating clockwise on the same circumferential orbit in response to the clockwise rotation of the rotor 8 by the shaft 1. The equiangular rotation in 30° increments is effected by the click mechanism mounted in the front cover 2, as already explained. Three pairs of contacts 9'a, 9a, 9'b, 9b, 9'c, and 9c formed at both ends of the same contact spring simultaneously touch the upper surfaces of the front pattern 6 and the rear pattern 7, respectively, as the rotor 8 rotates. Of course, it can slide. Now configure the three contact tracks as shown in FIG.
The code for contact strip 7b is decimal 2,
If 7c is a decimal code of 4 and 7d is a decimal code of 8, contact 9a has only the code 1, contact 9b has the code 2 and 8, and contact 9c has the code 4.
When set to output a code of 1 and a code of 8, code output can be obtained by making the number of contact tracks smaller than the number of output terminals and using the same number of contacts as the number of tracks. Therefore, a code table as shown in Table 1 is obtained.

[Table] When the rotor 8 rotates, depending on the shaft position, the flange 18 is attached to the contact strip of the rear pattern 7, which should not originally come into contact in order to output a predetermined code.
There are several locations where the contacts provided on the board come into contact.
In this case, in order to avoid contact with the contacts and make them de-energized, make sure that the contacts provided on the front flange 17, which are paired with the contacts on the rear flange 18, are not in contact with the contact strip of the front pattern 6. All you have to do is devise a method. Therefore, the arrangement of the contact strips in the front pattern 6 of the present invention was devised, and predetermined portions of the contact strips in the front pattern 6 were removed in order to avoid unnecessary contact. For example, in the code setting, when the contact strip 7a is set to a code of 1 in decimal digits, the contact 9a is set to a strip 7d other than the contact strip 7d (8) as shown in FIG.
(code)), the contact 9'a for the front pattern 6, which is paired with this contact, is located at a location where no contact strip is provided as shown in FIG. 7, so it is ON. Not. In this way, the cooperation of the three pairs of contacts makes it possible to output a predetermined code accurately. As mentioned above, the rotary cord according to the present invention
The switch adopts a pair of opposing patterns with the rotor in between, and this pattern has been improved to include an appropriate contact strip arrangement, allowing operation with three tracks instead of the five required in the conventional model. This also helps reduce the size of the switch by reducing the number of contacts from five to three.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The accompanying drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention. Figure 1 is a side view showing a part of the rotary cord switch in cross section, Figure 2 is a perspective view of the rotor, Figure 3 is a side view of the front pattern, Figure 4 is a side view of the rear pattern, and Figure 5. 6 is a side view of the inside of the front housing with the front pattern insert-molded, FIG. 6 is a side view of the inside of the rear housing similar to FIG. 5, and FIG.
FIG. 8 is a plan view of the front pattern showing the positions of the contacts when the rotor is rotated fully to the left; FIG. 8 is a plan view of the rear pattern similar to FIG. 7; 6...front pattern, 7...back pattern, 7a,
7b, 7c, 7d...Contact strip, 8...Rotor, 9...Contact spring, 9a, 9b, 9c...Contact provided on the rear flange, 9'a, 9'b, 9'c... Contact point provided on the front flange, 17... Flange (front), 18...
Tsuba (back).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A rotary switch in which a rotatable rotor is provided between a pair of opposing patterns, and a contact point of a contact spring provided on a pair of flanges of the rotor is configured to freely contact each of the pair of patterns, A rotary code switch having a pattern configured such that the number of contact tracks is less than the number of output terminals and a predetermined code output is obtained using the same number of contacts as the number of tracks.