JPH0950731A - Touch panel - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a touch panel in which there is no possibility of damaging a lead wire connection part and which is easy to handle. SOLUTION: Resistor films 2a, 3a are provided in the respective opposed surfaces of an insulating sheet 2 and a glass plate 3, and electrodes 2b, 2c and electrodes 3b, 3c connected to predetermined sides are provided to hold an insulating spacer 6 between the insulating sheet 2 and the glass plate 3. And then, through-holes 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d are perforated in the circumferential edge part of the glass plate 3 to embed recessed metal fittings thereinto, and the respective recessed metal fittings 7 are respectively connected to electrodes 2b, 2c, 3b, 3c through an electrically conductive paste 8.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a touch panel used as coordinate input means and pressed position detection means, and more particularly to a resistive film type touch panel.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a resistive touch panel, resistive films are formed on opposing inner surfaces of two opposing substrates, and both resistive films are alternately supplied with electric power from the outside through electrodes provided at both ends of the resistive films. The principle of outputting an electric signal corresponding to the contact position of two resistance films to the outside through the electrode on the non-power feeding side is used.

FIG. 8 is an assembly diagram showing the structure of a conventional touch panel 100. As shown in the figure, the touch-side substrate 101 with which the operator's finger or the like directly contacts is made of a transparent insulating material having a certain degree of flexibility, for example, a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film, and the back surface thereof has an ITO ( Indium tin oxide) is attached by a method such as sputtering or vacuum evaporation to form a rectangular resistance film 10.
1a is formed.

On the other hand, the non-touch side substrate 102 arranged to face the touch side substrate 101 is made of inorganic glass or the like, and the resistive film 101a of the touch side substrate 101 is formed on the upper surface thereof.
A rectangular resistance film 102a similar to the above is formed. Resistive film 1
01a and the opposite side of the resistive film 102a in the X direction are strip-shaped electrodes 101b made of silver paste,
101c and electrodes 102b and 102c are provided, respectively. Each electrode 101b, 101c, 102b, 10
2c is extended to a position corresponding to the connecting portion 103 of the touch panel 100, and each end portion is gathered at one place, which is convenient for connecting the lead wire 104.

The lead wire 104 is made of an FPC (flexible printed circuit board), and its four conducting wires 104a, 10a.
4b, 104c and 104d are electrodes 102b and 104b,
It is connected to 101b, 101c, and 102c. FIG.
FIG. 6 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view showing a state of connection between, for example, an electrode 101b and a lead wire 104b of a lead wire 104 after the touch panel 100 is assembled. After the conductive wire 104b is connected to the electrode 101b by the conductive paste 105, the touch-side substrate 101
And the non-touch side substrate 102 are sandwiched and fixed.

Touch side substrate 101 and non-touch side substrate 10
Insulating spacer 1 formed of an insulating member between 2
06 is interposed and sandwiched between the touch side substrate 101 and the non-touch side substrate 102, and the resistance film 101a and the resistance film 10 are sandwiched.
2a does not come into direct contact. In the touch panel 100 formed in this way, as shown in FIG.
When pressed (touched) by the tip of 7 or the like, the resistance film 101a and the resistance film 102a come into contact with each other at a point P through the gap 106a in that portion, and a predetermined electric signal is obtained from the lead wire 104 (FIG. 8) to be pressed. The position information of can be obtained by a known technique.

[0007]

However, in the structure of the conventional touch panel 100 as described above, the lead wire 1 is used.
Since 04 is directly pulled out from the side surface of the touch panel 100, the lead wire 1
04 and each electrode 101b, 101c, 102b, 102c
The connecting part with was often broken. In particular, since the touch-side substrate 101 is formed of a resin sheet and each electrode is made of silver paste, it cannot be said that the electrodes themselves are strong.
Moreover, since the conductive wires 104b and 104c of the lead wire 104 are connected to the electrode by a conductive paste having a weak fixing force and are sandwiched between the touch side substrate 101 and the non-touch side substrate 102, the lead wire 104 has a slightly strong force. If this is added, the connection may be broken, so that sufficient care must be taken in handling. In addition, the surface of the touch-side substrate 101 is damaged not only when it is attached to the device, but also because of frequent touch input with a sharp pen tip,
There is a case where the touch panel 100 needs to be replaced, and sufficient care is required in this case as well, and maintenance on the user side is complicated.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and is easy to handle,
Moreover, it is intended to provide a touch panel with high mass productivity.

[0009]

In order to achieve the above object, the touch panel according to claim 1 is separated when not pressed,
Resistive films are formed on the opposing inner surfaces of the two substrates arranged so that the opposing inner surfaces are in contact with each other at the time of pressing, and power is alternately supplied to both resistive films through electrodes provided at both ends of both resistive films. In a touch panel in which an electric signal corresponding to the contact position of both resistance films in the above is taken out from the non-feeding electrode, a through hole is formed in at least one of the two substrates, and the through hole allows the external terminal and the resistance film to be formed. It is characterized in that a connection portion for electrically connecting to the electrode is formed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the touch panel according to the first aspect, the through holes are formed by the number of electrodes of the resistance film. The invention of claim 3 is the touch panel according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the through-hole is
It is characterized in that it is formed on the substrate portion outside the resistance film forming position. The invention of claim 4 is the invention of claims 1 to 3
In the touch panel, the through hole is formed only on one of the substrates, and the conductive member is provided in the through hole, and the electrode and the conductive member on the same substrate are the conductive film formed on the substrate. And a connecting agent, and the electrode on the other substrate and the conductive member are connected by the conductive film and the connecting agent formed on the other substrate.

Here, the conductive film provided on each substrate is formed of, for example, silver paste, and the connecting agent is for ensuring electrical connection, and is made of, for example, a conductive paste such as silver paste. . The invention of claim 5 is
The conductive member inside the through hole in the touch panel according to claim 4 is a female or male fitting fitted in the through hole.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the touch panel according to the first to fifth aspects, at least one of the two substrates is made of resin in a mold in which a pin for forming a through hole is provided upright in advance. And is formed by injecting.

[0013]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the drawings. (First Embodiment) FIG. 1 is a partial vertical sectional view showing a main part of a touch panel 1 according to a first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a view showing a state of assembling the touch panel 1.

In FIG. 1, ITO is sputtered on the back surface of the insulating sheet 2 which is the touch side substrate to form a rectangular resistance film 2a. The insulating sheet 2 is preferably formed of a resin having excellent transparency, scratch resistance, chemical resistance, and heat resistance, and may be polymethylmethacrylate or the like in addition to PET shown in the conventional example. A rectangular resistance film 3a is formed on the upper surface of the glass plate 3 which is one of the non-touch side substrates by a similar method. The through holes 4a, 4b, 4 for forming the connecting portion 5 on the peripheral portion of the glass plate 3 are formed.
c and 4d are provided.

The structure of the electrodes is almost the same as the conventional example.
That is, as shown in FIG. 2, strip-shaped electrodes 2b are provided on opposite sides of the resistance film 2a in the Y direction and opposite sides of the resistance film 3a in the X direction.
2c and electrodes 3b and 3c are formed of silver paste, respectively. Each electrode 2b, 2c, 3b,
3c is extended to a position corresponding to the connection portion 5 at the end of the touch panel 1.

An insulating spacer 6 is disposed between the insulating sheet 2 and the glass plate 3, and the insulating films 2 and the glass plate 3 are opposed by the resistance films 2a and 3a through the insulating spacer 6. As described above, the peripheral portions are fixed by a fixture (not shown) such as an aluminum chassis, or an adhesive is applied to closely fix the peripheral portions. After a conductive paste 8 such as silver paste is poured as a connecting agent into each through hole 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, a concave type (female type) is formed.
The connection metal fittings 7 are embedded in the electrodes 2b, 2c, 3 respectively.
It is electrically connected to b and 3c. Thereby, the resistance film 2
The electrical signals from a and 3a are easily taken out from the back surface by connecting other convex connection fittings to the concave connection fittings 7 instead of directly pulling out the lead wires from the side surface of the touch panel 1, There is no risk of internal disconnection, and handling during installation and maintenance is extremely easy.

The through holes 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d are
From the resistive films 2a and 3a of the touch panel 1 to the electrodes 2b and 2
It forms a connecting portion for leading an electric signal to the outside via c, 3b, 3c, and is generally different from a through hole for electrically connecting between wiring boards in a multilayer printed wiring board. Examples of the method for manufacturing the touch panel 1 will be described in detail below.

First, a glass plate having a thickness of 1.0 mm, a width of 100 mm, and a length of 150 mm is used as the non-touch side substrate, and a thickness of 0.188 mm is used as the touch side substrate.
A PET film having a width of 100 mm and a length of 150 mm is cut out from each original plate to form a glass plate 3 and an insulating sheet 2. The diameter of the glass plate 3 is 1.
Four 5 mm through holes are drilled with an NC drill at a 3 mm pitch.

Next, the peripheral portion including the through holes 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d within 5 mm from the peripheral edge of the glass plate 3 is masked and ITO is sputtered on the entire inner surface of the peripheral portion to form the resistance film 3a. Similarly, on the back surface of the insulating sheet 2, the surrounding area 5
mm is masked and ITO is sputtered to form the resistance film 2a.
To form Then, as schematically shown in FIG. 3, a dot 6a having a diameter of 30 μm and a height of 10 μm of an ultraviolet curable acrylic resin is formed on the surface of the resistance film 3a of the glass plate 3 by 3 mm.
The insulating spacers 6 are formed by arranging them in a grid pattern on a pitch and then irradiating them with ultraviolet rays for a predetermined time.

Next, the peripheral portions of the insulating sheet 2 and the glass plate 3 are in contact with the opposite sides of the resistance film 2a in the Y direction and the opposite sides of the resistance film 3a in the X direction, and the through holes 4a, 4b, 4c, Electrodes 2b, 2c, 3b and 3c having a width of 3 mm are formed from silver paste having electrodes extending to positions corresponding to 4d (Fig. 2).
reference).

After that, the insulating sheet 2 is set so as to face the insulating spacer 6 and its peripheral portion is fixed with an aluminum chassis so that the openings of the through holes 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d face upward. The touch panel 1 is turned over and the through hole 4
After injecting a conductive paste 8 such as silver paste into a, 4b, 4c and 4d, a concave connecting metal fitting 7 is embedded and the electrode 2
b, 2c, 3b, 3c are electrically connected to each other to form a connection portion 5 with the outside.

In the touch panel 1 as described above, the lead wires are not directly drawn from the side surface of the touch panel as in the conventional case, and the electrical connection from the resistive films 2b, 2c, 3b and 3c is maintained while maintaining a good electrical connection. The signal can be taken out. When the touch panel 1 is attached to the front surface of an interface board or a liquid crystal display panel of a predetermined device, a connection pin connected to the interface is erected at a position corresponding to the concave connection fitting 7 of the device to be attached, and the touch panel is touched. If it is fitted in the concave portion of the connection fitting 7 when attached, the touch panel 1
It is very convenient because you can attach and connect to the interface with one touch. As a result, there is no risk of disconnection of the connection part during handling, and handling becomes easier.
Moreover, since the side portion of the touch panel 1 has no lead wires and is neat, the entire device can be made very compact.

Although a PET film is used as the insulating sheet 2 in this embodiment, other members may be used as long as they are insulating sheets excellent in transparency, scratch resistance, chemical resistance, heat resistance and toughness. You may form with. However, insulating sheet 2
With a light touch with a pen or fingertip, the resistance film 2a of the insulating sheet 2 and the resistance film 3a of the glass plate 3 come into contact with each other,
It is necessary to have a property (hereinafter, referred to as touch property) of immediately restoring when the touch operation is released. In order to have such touchability, the thickness of the insulating sheet 3 depends on the distance between the insulating spacers and the like, but is about 0.1 mm to 0.2 mm.
It is desirable that the distance is between 5 mm.

As the non-touch side substrate, in addition to the above-mentioned inorganic glass plate, an organic glass plate, that is, a resin plate may be used as shown in a second embodiment described later. However, if a large deformation occurs during the touch operation, the resistance films 2a, 3
Since the contact between a is poor, a certain rigidity is required. Therefore, the thickness of a resin plate is generally about 0.3 mm.
To 5.0 mm.

The through holes 4a, 4b, 4c and 4d are
In the case of the above-described embodiment, the NC drill is formed to have a circular cross-sectional shape, but if necessary, a rectangular or polygonal cross-section may be formed according to the shape of the recessed connecting fitting 7 to be embedded. It is formed. Further, in the present embodiment, the resistance films 2a and 3a are shown as an example of a so-called analog type touch panel which is formed on the entire surface of the insulating sheet 2 and the glass plate 3, but the resistance films 2a and 3a are not shown. A plurality of stripe-shaped touch panels may be formed to form a matrix type touch panel. In this case, of course, the number of electrodes and through holes will increase in accordance with the number of stripe-shaped resistance films. (Second Embodiment) FIG. 4 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view showing an essential part of a second embodiment of the touch panel according to the present invention.

The second embodiment is characterized in that the substrate on the touch side is also provided with a through hole for connection. That is, the rectangular resistance film 11a and a pair of opposite sides of the rectangular resistance film 11a are formed on the back surface of the insulating sheet 11, which is the touch-side substrate of the touch panel 10, as in the first embodiment. The strip-shaped electrodes 11b and 11c extending to the connection portion 15 of the touch panel 10 are formed, and two through holes 12 are provided at the positions corresponding to the connection portions 15 of the electrodes 11b and 11c on the peripheral edge of the insulating sheet 11. It is provided.

On the other hand, the non-touch side substrate is made of resin,
Also on the upper surface of the resin plate 13, a rectangular resistance film 13a and a pair of opposite sides of the rectangular resistance film 13a (electrode 1 of the resistance film 11a) are formed.
1b and 11c are formed on opposite sides in a direction orthogonal to the formed opposite sides), and strip-shaped electrodes 13b and 13c are formed, a part of which extends to the connection portion 15 of the touch panel 10, and the peripheral edge of the resin plate 13 is formed. Of electrodes 13b, 13c
Two through holes 14 are provided at positions corresponding to the connection portions 15 of the. The through holes 12 and the through holes 14 are arranged substantially symmetrically with the insulating spacer 16 interposed therebetween.

Since the other structure is almost the same as that of the first embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted. By the way, the insulating sheet 11 and the resin plate 13 of the touch panel 10 thus configured can be molded all at once by injection molding using a mold. The resin used in this case is not particularly limited, but in a transparent touch panel, the transparency of the non-touch side panel is an important factor, and in general, this transparency has a low haze value (for example, 5%). Hereinafter, a resin having a large total light transmittance (for example, 80%) is required, and any resin may be used as long as it has such transparency and injection molding is possible. Further, it does not matter whether it is thermosetting or thermoplastic, but in the case of a thermosetting resin, an extra step of heating and curing the mold after injection at the prepolymer stage is necessary. Thermoplastic resins are preferred.

Further, it is desirable that the resin has a high hardness in terms of touchability and touch life as described above. This hardness is generally 60 or more, preferably 70 or more in Rockwell hardness. Of course, it is desired that the heat resistance, water resistance, chemical resistance, and mechanical strength are also excellent. As a transparent resin satisfying such a condition, for example,
Polymethylmethacrylate, polycarbonate, block copolymer of polycarbonate and styrene, polystyrene, polyarylate, copolymer of acrylonitrile and styrene, copolymer of styrene and methylmethacrylate, polyvinyl chloride, polysulfone, poly Methyl pentene, acrylic-imide type polymer (for example,
Examples include Kamax manufactured by Sumika Hercules Co., PMI resin manufactured by Mitsubishi Rayon Co., Ltd., a blended polymer mainly composed of syndiotactic polypropyne, and an amorphous polyester (for example, Easta manufactured by Eastman Chemical Co.).

Since these resins have high viscosities, the injection molding method is suitable for molding with high precision and high speed while maintaining high transparency. Various conditions in injection molding are generally determined depending on the type of resin to be injected. For example, when polymethylmethacrylate is used as a molding member, predrying is performed at 80 to 95 ° C. for 4 hours.
Do ~ 6 hours. Extruder barrel temperature 220-270 ° C,
Injection molding is performed at a mold temperature of 50 to 90 ° C. After that, the mold is cooled by the cooling means.

The transparent resin is generally amorphous, but the blended polymer mainly composed of syndiotactic polypropyne in the above-mentioned polymers is crystalline. In the case of such a crystalline polymer, the transparency can be improved by rapid cooling after injection into a mold or by slightly mixing a nucleating agent and molding. An example of molding the resin plate 13 and the insulating sheet 11 by such an injection molding method will be specifically described below.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view showing a mold 20 for injection molding. The mold 20 includes a lower mold 21 and an upper mold 22.
The upper mold 22 is fitted into the recess (cavity) of the lower mold 21 to form the void 23 therein. When molding the resin plate 13, the size of the void 23 is
Generally, the size of the resin plate 13 is appropriately set in consideration of the shrinkage rate of the injected resin when it is cooled. In the case of the present embodiment, the size of the void 23 is 3.0 mm in depth and 100 m in length.
The width is set to m and the width is set to 150 mm.

The inner surfaces of the voids 23 are mirror-finished. At the position of the through hole of the substrate in the void portion 23, a stainless steel core pin 24 (diameter 1.5 m
m, height 4 mm) are erected on the lower mold 21, and the upper end of the core pin 24 is a fitting hole 25 (diameter 1.53 mm, depth 1.1 mm) provided inside the upper mold 22. Is fitted and supported by.

The upper mold 22 is provided with an injection hole 26 for injecting a resin into the mold 20 and an air vent hole 27, and the molded resin plate can be easily taken out from the lower mold 21. A recess (not shown) is provided for forming the protruding pin. Such a mold 20 is connected to an injection molding machine (not shown), and after the temperature of the mold 20 is controlled to 65 ° C. and the barrel temperature of the extruder of the injection molding machine is set to 220 to 260 ° C., The polymethylmethacrylate chips sufficiently pre-dried at 80 to 95 ° C. for 4 to 6 hours are fed into the barrel of the extruder and melted, and the injection hole 26 of the upper die 22 is filled.
Press in from. After press-fitting the required amount, the mold 20 is cooled by a cooling means (not shown). After the resin is sufficiently cooled, the upper and lower molds 21 and 22 are separated and the internal molded product is taken out to obtain a thickness of 2.95 mm, a length of 99.8 mm, a width of 149.9 mm, and a diameter of 1.48 mm. As a result, a resin plate 13 made of polymethylmethacrylate having two through holes on the periphery and having a very smooth and transparent property was obtained.

When the insulating sheet 11 is molded, the size of the cavity 23 of the mold 20 has a depth of 0.1.
Use 2mm, 100mm length, 150mm width,
This is connected to the injection molding machine. Then, the mold temperature is 135 ° C., the barrel temperature of the injection molding machine is 320 to 350 ° C.
After sufficiently controlling the temperature, polymethylmethacrylate chips that have been sufficiently pre-dried are supplied into the injection molding machine, melted, and then press-fitted into the mold 20. After sufficiently cooling, the mold was separated and the molded product was taken out to obtain an extremely smooth and transparent resin sheet having a thickness of 0.11 mm, a length of 99.3 mm and a width of 149.5 mm.

According to the method of simultaneously producing not only the outer shape but also the through hole by injection molding as described above, the step of cutting out the resin of the required size from the original plate and then forming the through hole is completely unnecessary. Overall, the manufacturing time can be shortened. Further, the generation of shavings and cut loss that occur when the through hole is drilled is eliminated. The resin plate thus formed is finally assembled as a transparent touch panel and framed with an aluminum chassis or the like.However, in order to perform this frame step quickly and accurately, an edge is formed on the periphery of the resin plate. If the shape of the void 23 of the mold 20 is provided so as to form a protrusion for insertion and attachment on this edge, a snap-fit type touch panel that is easy to assemble can be formed.

Thus, the resin plate 13 and the insulating sheet 1 are
By manufacturing 1 by an injection molding method, mass productivity can be extremely improved. Furthermore, mass production is possible by providing a plurality of molds 20 and simultaneously performing opening and closing operations by an appropriate driving means (runner). The cavity and the core pin that form the cavity of the mold may be provided on either the movable side or the fixed side of the mold 20,
It is desirable to provide it on the fixed side in order to eliminate the risk of the molded substrate falling off.

By the way, when connecting an interface or the like to the touch panel 10 thus formed, it is convenient to use a pinching type connector 30 as shown below, for example. FIG. 6 is a side view of the pinch-type connector 30, and FIG. 7 is a front view as seen from the direction of arrow A in FIG. The pinch-type connector 30 has a shape just like a clip, and two rocking members 31, 32 are pivotally supported so as to be mutually rockable around a support shaft 33. 32
A pair of contacts 34, 35 inside each one end of
Is provided. These contacts 34 and 35 are fitted and inserted into the through holes 12 and 14 (FIG. 4) provided in the insulating sheet 11 and the resin plate 13 of the touch panel 10 by the action of the pressing spring 40 described later, Electrodes 11b and 13b
Abut.

The contacts 34 and 35 are respectively connected to the swing member 3
Female connecting fitting 3 embedded in the other end of the swinging members 31, 32 via conductors 36, 37 embedded in 1, 32.
8 and 39. In addition, the swing members 31, 32
Is urged by the pressing spring 40 in a direction in which the pair of opposed contacts 34, 35 are opposed to each other.

The holding type connecting tool 30 is connected to the interface of the device in which the touch panel 20 is to be installed by inserting a male connecting tool (not shown) into the female connecting fittings 38, 39. Therefore, when the touch panel 10 is incorporated into the device, it can be connected to the device very easily by sandwiching the through holes 12 and 14 of the touch panel 10 with the contacts 34 and 35 of the pinch-type connector 30, and replacement work is also possible. It will be extremely easy.

Further, since it is not necessary to inject silver paste or the like into the through holes 12 and 14 provided in the touch panel 10 to perform conductive processing as in the first embodiment, the manufacturing steps are simplified. Although the present invention has been described above based on some embodiments, the configuration of the touch panel of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and for example, in the first embodiment, the through holes 4a, 4b, Even if the conductive parts composed of the conductive paste 8 and the concave-type connecting metal fittings 7 are not provided in 4c and 4d, they may be connected to the respective electrodes of the respective resistance films by the sandwich-type connecting tool as proposed in the second embodiment. Good. Of course, in this case, the necessary number of contacts of the pinch-type connecting device are provided only on one side of the swinging member.

Further, in the second embodiment, a concave connecting fitting may be embedded in the through hole with a conductive paste to form a conductive portion. In addition, when making the through-hole conductive, it is not limited to the method of burying the concave connection fitting as described above, and a convex (male) connection fitting may be embedded.
It is possible to inject only the conductive paste into the through hole and form the contact so that the head is exposed on the surface of the through hole. Further, electroless plating or sputtering with nickel or the like, solder injection, etc. It is also possible to use the above method.

Further, in each of the above-mentioned embodiments, transparent members are used as the touch-side substrate and the non-touch-side substrate on the premise of the transparent touch panel, but it is necessary to install and use them in front of the screen of the CRT or the like. In a touch panel without a touch panel, for example, a touch panel with operation guides drawn on the surface, it is not necessary to use a transparent member. Also, the insulating spacer was formed by distributing dots of ultraviolet curable resin in a matrix on the resistive film of the non-touch side substrate (Fig. 3), but the insulating spacer has such a structure. However, for example, a transparent resin sheet in which a plurality of openings are formed in a matrix in advance may be sandwiched between the touch-side substrate and the non-touch-side substrate. At that time, if the radius of curvature of the touch-side substrate is made smaller than that of the non-touch-side substrate, a gap naturally occurs between both resistance films, and thus the insulating spacer can be omitted. . In short, the resistance film on the touch-side substrate and the resistance film on the non-touch side are kept in non-contact with each other when there is no external pressure, and when the touch-side substrate is pressed from the outside, the resistance film does not interact with each other. It suffices that the touch-side substrate and the non-touch-side substrate are arranged to face each other so as to come into contact with, and the insulating spacer is not an essential requirement of the present invention.

[0044]

As described above, claims 1 to 5
According to the invention of claim 1, a through hole is provided in at least one of the two substrates forming the touch panel, and the through hole forms a connection portion for connecting to the electrode of the resistance film of the touch panel, and from this portion, an external connection is made. Since the electrical signal can be taken out via the tool, the connection lead wire is directly pulled out from the side surface of the touch panel as in the past, which eliminates the risk of disconnection during handling such as mounting and repair, and handling and maintenance are extremely difficult. It will be easier.

Further, according to the second aspect of the invention, since the through holes are formed by the number of electrodes, individual connecting portions can be formed for each electrode, and the electrical isolation is improved. According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the through hole that forms the connection portion is provided outside the resistance film formation position on the substrate, the connection portion with the electrode can be formed without hindrance to the formation of the resistance film. .

According to the invention of claim 4, the through hole is formed only on one of the substrates, the conductive member is provided in the through hole, and the conductive member and each electrode are formed on the respective substrates. Since it is electrically connected to the formed conductive film via a connecting agent, the external terminal can be connected from one direction of the front surface or the back surface of the touch panel, which simplifies the mounting, and the internal electrical connection via the conductive member. The signal can be reliably pulled out.

Further, according to the invention of claim 5, since the conductive member of claim 4 is a female or male metal fitting, an external terminal fitted to the metal fitting can connect the touch panel to the device body. Easy and reliable. In addition, claim 6
According to the invention, at least one of the two substrates is formed by injecting resin into a mold in which a predetermined number of pins are erected inside beforehand, so that a substrate of a required size having a through hole is formed. A touch panel that can be obtained all at once, is lightweight, and is suitable for mass production can be provided.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a first embodiment of a touch panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing how the touch panel of FIG. 1 is assembled.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of arrangement of insulating spacers formed of an ultraviolet curable acrylic resin.

FIG. 4 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view of a main part of a second embodiment of the touch panel according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional view showing the structure of a mold for injection molding a resin plate.

6 is a side view showing a configuration of a pinch-type connector for connecting to the touch panel of FIG.

7 is a front view of the pinch-type connector shown in FIG. 6 viewed from the direction A. FIG.

FIG. 8 is an assembly diagram showing a configuration of a conventional touch panel.

9 is a partial vertical cross-sectional view showing a connection portion of the touch panel of FIG. 8 with a lead wire.

FIG. 10 is a vertical cross-sectional view for explaining the operation of the touch panel of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1, 10 Touch panel 2, 11 Insulating sheet 2a, 3a, 11a, 13a Resistive film 2b, 2c, 3b, 3c, 11b, 11c, 13b, 1
3c Electrode 3 Glass plate 4a, 4b, 4c, 4d, 12, 14 Through hole 6 Insulating spacer 7 Recessed connection metal fitting 13 Resin plate 20 Mold 30 Clamping type connection tool 31, 32 Oscillating member 34 Contact point 36 Conductor wire 38 Female type connection Metal fittings

Front Page Continuation (72) Inventor Yukio Murakami 163 Morikawahara-cho, Moriyama-shi, Shiga Gunze Ltd. Electronic Functional Materials Center

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A resistance film is formed on each of the opposing inner surfaces of two substrates which are spaced apart when not pressed and are brought into contact with each other when pressed, and a resistance film is formed through electrodes provided at both ends of both resistance films. While alternately supplying power to the resistance film, in a touch panel adapted to take out an electric signal corresponding to the contact position of both resistance films at the time of pressing from the non-power supply electrode, a through hole is formed in at least one of the two substrates,
The touch panel is characterized in that a connection portion for electrically connecting an external terminal and an electrode of the resistance film is formed by the through hole. 2. The through hole is formed by the number of electrodes provided on the resistance film.
The touch panel described. 3. The through hole is formed in a substrate portion outside a resistance film forming position.
Or the touch panel described in 2. 4. The through hole is formed only on one of the substrates, a conductive member is provided in the through hole, and the electrode and the conductive member on the same substrate are formed on the substrate. 4. The conductive film and a connecting agent are connected, and the electrode on the other substrate and the conductive member are connected by the conductive film and the connecting agent formed on the other substrate. Touch panel. 5. The conductive member provided in the through hole comprises:
The touch panel according to claim 4, wherein the touch panel is a female or male fitting fitted in the through hole. 6. At least one of the two substrates is formed by injecting a resin into a mold in which pins for forming the through holes are provided upright in advance. The touch panel according to any one of claims 1 to 5.