JPH0896677A - Touch switch device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Purpose] The switch operation can be performed from the outside of the case, and the switch operation of the optical switch can be reliably performed without malfunction regardless of the dirt on the touch operation unit. A light emitting diode 2 provided in the case 1 for generating light and a light receiving diode 3 provided in the case 1 for receiving light are provided to reflect light from the light emitting diode 2. The amount of light received by the light-receiving diode 3 is changed by the touch operation member 8 which deforms the light-receiving surface by touch operation and changes the reflected light axis thereof.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch switch device having an optical switch which is turned on and off in a closed container placed in a corrosive atmosphere.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as an optical switch installed in a hermetically sealed container or the like, light generated from light emitting elements facing each other toward a light receiving element is blocked by a light blocking plate which goes in and out of the light emitting element, and a reverse light source. There is a photo interrupter type that can be freely transmitted.

Further, as another conventional optical switch, light from a light emitting element is reflected by an object such as a reflecting plate disposed in the middle of an optical path, the reflected light is received by a light receiving element, and output according to the amount of reflected light. A photoreflector type for obtaining a signal has been proposed.

On the other hand, a hermetically sealed container type touch switch device using such a photoreflector type optical switch has been widely used as a switch device used under bad conditions such as outdoors where wind and rain are encountered.

In this touch switch device, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, a light emitting diode 22 and a light receiving diode 23 are provided in a closed container 21, and the optical axes of these light emission and light reception are part of the closed container 21. A part of the surface of the transparent glass plate 24 constituting the above is crossed.

Therefore, when a human finger is not touched on the surface of the glass plate 24, most of the light from the light emitting diode 22 is transmitted through the glass plate 24 and the reflected light by the glass plate 24 is extremely small. Almost no reflected light is incident on the diode 23. Therefore, this touch switch device is turned off.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 8, when a finger 25 is applied to the area of the surface of the glass plate 24 where the optical axis intersects, the surface of the finger 25 is passed through the glass plate 24 and the light emitting diode 22 is removed. Light is reflected, and the reflected light of a sufficient level is incident on the light receiving diode 23 and outputs a large level electric signal. Therefore, this touch switch device is turned on.

[0008]

Since the conventional touch switch device is constructed as described above, the glass plate 24
If the surface of the is soiled by adhering a substance that reflects light or the like, the light from the light emitting diode 22 is reflected on the substance, and the reflected light is always incident on the light receiving diode 23, or conversely, glass. When a substance that absorbs light adheres to the surface of the plate 24, the reflected light is not received by the light-receiving diode 23 despite the touch operation with a finger, and as a result, the switch ON / OFF function is achieved. There was a problem that it could not be done.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the switch operation can be performed from the outside of the case, and the switch operation of the optical switch malfunctions regardless of dirt on the touch operation portion. It is an object of the present invention to provide a touch switch device that can be reliably implemented without a touch panel.

[0010]

A touch switch device according to the present invention has a light-emitting body provided in a case for generating light, and a light-receiving body provided in the case for receiving light. The amount of light received by the light receiver is changed by a touch operation member that reflects light from the light emitter and deforms the light receiving surface by touch operation to change the reflected light axis.

[0011]

In the touch switch device according to the present invention, the light generated by the light emitter is reflected by the deformation of the touch operation member by the touch operation, and the reflected light axis is changed, whereby the reflected light is transmitted to the light receiver. The amount of received light is changed, and a switch function is realized in accordance with a change in the amount of received light output from the light receiver according to the deformation of the touch operation member by the touch operation.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 1 denotes a hermetically sealed case in which a light emitting diode 2 as a light emitting body and a light receiving diode 3 as a light receiving body are provided.

A slit plate 6 having a slit hole 5 in the center is provided on one side surface of the case 1 with a transparent glass plate 4 interposed therebetween. In addition, on the inner surface side of the slit plate 6, that is, on the contact surface side with the glass plate 4, a light absorbing layer 7 made of a paint that has a color that does not reflect light, that is, a black paint that absorbs light is formed. Has been done.

Further, 8 is a touch operation member made of a thin stainless elastic plate or the like, the vicinity of the central portion of which is projected outward in an arc shape, and the peripheral portion or both end portions (upper and lower end portions in the figure) are slit plates 6. It is fixed to the outer periphery or the upper and lower ends.

Then, on the inner peripheral surface of the touch operation member 8,
A reflecting portion 9 that efficiently reflects light, such as a mirror surface or white light, is provided in a certain area facing the slit hole 5. The inner surface of the touch operation member 8 excluding the reflecting portion 9 is a light absorbing portion 10 that does not reflect light.

Further, normally, the touch operation member 8 is in a state of protruding outward in an arc shape as shown in the drawing. Therefore, at this time, the reflecting portion 9 is caused by the slit plate 6 to emit the light emitting diode 2 and the light receiving diode. It is in a partly hidden position from 3.

As a result, the light from the light emitting diode 2 is reflected by the reflecting portion 9, and the reflected optical axis of this reflected light is
A part of the slit plate 6 is shielded from the light, or is located at a position displaced from the light receiving diode 3.

Next, the operation will be described. Now, as shown in FIG. 1, when the touch operation member 8 is not pressed by a finger, the light from the light emitting diode 2 passes through the slit hole 5 of the slit plate 6 as described above. Part of the light reaches the light absorbing portion of the touch operation member 8 where the reflecting portion 9 does not exist, and strong reflection of light does not occur.

On the other hand, the other part of the light from the light emitting diode 2 passes through the slit hole 5 and strikes the reflecting portion 9, and the optical axis of the reflection of the reflecting portion 9 faces the light receiving diode 3 side. Since it does not exist, the surface of the slit plate 6 is hit and the light is shielded. Therefore, the light receiving diode 3 cannot obtain a sufficient light receiving output. Therefore, the touch switch device is in the switch off mode.

Next, as shown in FIG. 2, the central portion of the surface of the touch operation member 8 is pressed with a finger 25 or the like. By this pressing, the touch operation member 8 is bent in a concave shape, and the flat reflecting portion 9 on the inner surface of the touch operating member 8 directly faces the opening portion of the slit hole 5 of the slit plate 6, so that the reflecting portion 9 is formed as described above. In addition, they are not hidden from the light emitting diodes 2 and the light receiving diodes 3 and face them at the same time.

Therefore, the light from the light emitting diode 2 immediately enters the reflecting portion 9 through the slit hole 5 and, after being reflected here, the reflected light passes through the regular optical axis and is received by the light receiving diode. It is incident on 3.

Therefore, sufficient light energy can be obtained in the light receiving diode 3 and a sufficiently high level signal output can be obtained, and the touch switch device is in the switch-on mode.

That is, in this embodiment, the switch function is performed by changing the optical axis of the light emitted from the light emitting diode 2 and reflecting the light to the light receiving diode 3 or other portions according to the deformation state of the touch operation member 8. Can be achieved.

Then, the reflecting portion 9 of the touch operation member 8
However, since it is provided on the inner circumference of the touch operation member 8 opposite to the side where the finger is touched (the side accessed from the outside), the reflection part is not contaminated and the light reflection is always stable. The conditions can be secured, and the switch operation as described above can be ensured.

FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 11 is a hermetically-sealed case made of a rope plate as shown in FIG. 4, and a printed circuit board 12 mounted in the case 11 serves as a light-emitting body such as an infrared light-emitting diode. A light emitting diode 13 and a light receiving diode 14 as a light receiving body are installed together with a power source circuit for a light source, a light receiving output processing circuit, and the like.

The optical axes of the light emitting diode 13 and the light receiving diode 14 are the same as the case 11 described above.
They are arranged at a constant angle to each other so as to intersect in the vicinity of the opening 15 formed in the above.

Further, 16 is sealed and fixed to the inner surface of the opening 15 by welding or the like so as to close the opening 15.
A diaphragm as a touch operation member made of a thin plate or a thin metal plate of the same material as the case 11 or rubber. The diaphragm 16 has a number of optical switches, that is, the light emitting diodes 13 and the light receiving diodes 14 described above.
The flexible portions 17 are integrally formed according to the number of sets.

Each of these flexible portions 17 is composed of, for example, one spherical portion 17a as a center and a plurality of ring-shaped arc portions 19 continuously provided around the one spherical portion 17a via a plurality of ring-shaped grooves 18. In particular, when the central spherical portion 17a is pressed from the outside by a finger, it is deformed to be substantially flat and flexible, and the circular arc portion 19 absorbs this deformation.

Incidentally, at least the inner surface side of the spherical surface portion 17a of the diaphragm 16 may be subjected to a reflective surface treatment by applying a white paint or the like. Further, in FIG. 4, reference numeral 20 denotes a display unit including a liquid crystal display element for displaying a switch state and the like.

According to this embodiment, as shown in FIG.
Normally, the light from the light emitting diode 13 is emitted from the spherical surface portion 17
The light which is incident on the inner surface of a and is emitted at this incident point is incident on the light receiving diode 4. Therefore, a high level output signal is obtained from the light receiving diode 4, and the touch switch device is in the switch-on mode.

On the other hand, when the spherical surface portion 17a is pressed from the outside with a finger, the spherical surface portion 17a is deformed by being crushed into a substantially flat surface, and the light from the light emitting diode 13 is reflected by the spherical surface portion 1a.
It reflects on the inner surface of 7a. The deformation of the arc surface portion 17a is
Enables you to feel the switch operation feeling such as clicking.

However, the reflection optical axis of the light by this reflection is
The spherical portion 17a is largely deviated from the reflected optical axis in the state before being deformed, and the light is not reflected in the direction of the light receiving diode 14, but is reflected in the direction away from the light receiving diode 14 as shown in FIG. It

Therefore, the output level of the light receiving diode becomes extremely low, and the touch switch device is in the switch-off mode.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention, the light-emitting body provided in the case for generating light and the light-receiving body provided in the case for receiving light are provided, and Since the touch operation member that reflects the light from the body and deforms the light receiving surface by touch operation to change the reflected optical axis is configured to change the amount of light received by the light receiving body, from the outside of the case. With switch operation,
There is an effect that a switch operation of the optical switch can be surely performed without malfunction regardless of dirt on the touch operation unit.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a touch switch device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an operating state of the touch switch device in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a touch switch device according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the touch switch device in FIG.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing a main part of the touch switch device in FIG.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing an operating state of the touch switch device in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a conceptual diagram showing a conventional touch switch device.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an operating state of the touch switch device in FIG. 7.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1, 11 Case 2, 13 Light emitting diode 3, 14 Light receiving diode 8 Touch operation member 16 Diaphragm (touch operation member)

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A light emitting body provided in a case for generating light, a light receiving body provided in the case for receiving the light, and a light receiving surface for reflecting light from the light emitting body by a touch operation. And a touch operation member that changes the amount of light received by the light receiver by changing the reflected optical axis of the touch switch device.