The invention concerns a control of the type specified in the introductory clause of Claim 1, as described in DE 102 02 371 B4.
In the previously known control disclosed by DE 102 02 371 B4, the control housing is equipped with a manually operated control rocker, which is rotatably supported in the control housing. A microswitch is located inside the control housing. The microswitch has a housing with a deformable snap disk, which produces a moving contact in the microswitch. At least two rest contacts are then provided in the switch housing, which are connected with the lines in the control housing. The control rocker acts on a switch actuator in the microswitch, thereby deforming the snap disk. In its rest position, the snap disk assumes a shape that is arched on one side. The switch actuator causes the snap disk to deform and move into a flat position or a position with the disk arched in the opposite direction. As a result, the microswitch moves from a noncontacting rest position into a contacting operating position. This control has numerous individual parts that take up a great deal of space.
DE 102 41 220 C1 discloses a snap disk, which can generate not only the digital signal according to the aforesaid rest position and operating position but also an analog signal. To this end, a cup-shaped region with two surfaces on the snap disk is proposed.
DE 198 23 894 C1 discloses an arched snap disk with at least two bearing points for a support bearing. At least one of the support elements is used as a fastening element for the snap disk. For this purpose, the fastening element is joined by webs with one of the bearing points.
DE 10 2004 040 395 A1 discloses an electric pushbutton switch, which has an arched snap disk in the switch housing below a pressure surface. The switch housing comprises a base, on which the push button is supported via an elastic bellows. The bellows is embraced by a cover with a hole, from which the push button projects. The cover has attachments, which support the base from below after the housing has been assembled. A control with a control rocker is not provided here.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,304 discloses an electric pushbutton switch, which likewise has an arched snap disk in a switch housing. The switch housing is closed by an overlying plate, by which a mechanical actuating element acts on the snap disk and thus triggers the switch. However, a disadvantage of this type of pushbutton switch is that the housing is unprotected from dust and liquid due to the overlying plate.
JP 5[1993]-041,141 discloses an electric pushbutton switch, which combines two snap disks in a switch housing, such that the snap disks are jointly actuated by a pushbutton switch cap. This switch is also not protected from the penetration of liquids and dust. Only the actuating element is put in place in such a way that it covers the base. However, since the actuating element must be operated and in the rest position stays in the unoperated state, it does not seal the base and does not provide protection against the penetration of dust and moisture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,837,411 discloses an electric pushbutton switch composed of a base and an operating member. In this patent, a rocker function is provided, where the operating member has an oblong design and can be operated on both sides, so that two different pushbutton functions are realized. Here again, however, the device fails to provide protection against the penetration of dust and moisture.
The objective of the invention is to develop a compact, inexpensive control of the type specified in the introductory clause of Claim 1. This is achieved by the measures listed in Claim 1, which have the following special significance.
In the invention, the control housing directly has the function of a switch housing, because it directly possesses the support bearing for bearing points of the snap disk. The control rocker then acts at the same time as a switch actuator. The invention then proposes to form the rest contacts of the switch and the electric lines in the control housing as a single piece and to mount them as insert grids inside the housing. Linear strands, which are possibly bent at an angle, are adequate for the insert grid to function as rest contacts beneath the snap disk. The outer end sections of these linear, current-carrying strands then serve as land contacts for electrical couplings to be connected to the control housing. After production of the control housing with integrated insert grid, it is then only necessary to mount the snap disk on the support bearing and then to set the control rocker on the control housing. There are only a few parts that are easy to handle and can be assembled quickly and compactly.
Additional measures and advantages of the invention are specified in the dependent claims and the description which follows and are illustrated in the drawings, which show several embodiments of the invention.
a shows a cross section through the control of the invention when the control rocker is in its rest position.
b shows the same cross section through the control after the control rocker has been moved into its contacting operating position.
a and 8b show two different designs for an insert grid in the control housing, which is inserted in the housing interior before or after the production of the control housing by injection molding and cooperates with a snap disk.
a shows a perspective view of another embodiment of an insert grid without a snap disk.
b shows the insert grid illustrated in
The control 10 shown in
As
The edge region 25 formed from the soft component 22 surrounds the central area 23 on the frame side. During the assembly of the control 10, the elastomeric frame is placed on a peripheral shell edge 15 of the control housing 11 shown in
The interior 55 of the control housing 11 has two cooperating swivel bearing parts 14, which engage the swivel bearing parts 24 of the control rocker 21 during the aforesaid assembly. In the present case, these cooperating bearing parts 14 consist of two bearing shells, which receive a web on the aforesaid bearing block 24 of the swivel bearing parts 24.
As
As seen in a top view, the snap disk 40 has the shape of a four-pointed star, whose four points serve as bearing points 41. The snap disk 40 is provided with an arch 43, which is curved convexly towards the upper side 42 of the disk. This convex arch 43 is indicated by a dot-dash line in
At the inner end of the combined insert 30, there is a flat support bearing 37 for the snap disk 40. Two clips 38 are located on opposite sides of the support bearing 37. Each clip 38 has two openings 39 for receiving the tapering bearing points 41 of the snap disk 40. At the two other opposite locations of the support bearing 37, guide elements 48 can be provided, such as the webs 48 shown in
After completion of the assembly consisting of the control housing 11 and the combined insert 30, as mentioned above, it only remains to place the prefabricated snap disk 40 on the support bearing 37. The control rocker 21 is then joined with it in the manner that has already been described, as shown in
a indicates the position of a swivel bearing 13 between the control rocker 21 and the control housing 11, which results from the described engagement position between the swivel bearing part 24 on the control side and the cooperating swivel bearing part 14 on the housing side. If the handle 23 is operated in the direction of the force arrow 29 in
In the housing 11′, the cooperating swivel bearing parts 14 are positioned basically in the middle with respect to the broad dimension of the control housing 11′, which serves to realize a central position of the swivel bearing 13 described in connection with
a shows a second embodiment of an insert grid 32.2, which consists of two grid rods 32.2 and 33.2. After the control housing (not shown here) has been produced, the grid rods 32.2, 33.2 are inserted in well-defined locations inside the housing. This can be accomplished by pushing them through the wall of the housing, which can also be suitably weakened in these well-defined places. In the process, the associated front end sections 35.2, 36.2 arrive in a region of the housing in which the support bearing for the bearing points of the snap disk 40, which is only indicated in
In a view that is analogous to
One difference is that the two grid rods 32.3, 33.3 have a flat cross section, e.g., a rectangular cross section. Another difference is that the associated front end sections 35.3, 36.3 have profilings 19 at the ends of the rods. In the present case, these profilings consist of a cutting edge 49, which clears its own path through the wall of the housing when the grid rods 32.3, 33.3 are pressed into the associated control housing during their assembly. The grid rods 32.3, 33.3 are elongated like the blade of a dagger. Naturally, instead of a subsequent insertion movement, the grid rods 32.2 to 33.3 could also be placed as an insert into the mold that is used for the injection molding of the control housing.
a shows another embodiment of an insert grid 31.4. One of the grid rods 32.4 has an inner section 47, which is wound into a more or less U-shaped structure and forms four support bearings 50.4 for the four bearing points 41 of the snap disk 40, which are shown in
One of the grid rods 32.5 of the insert grid 31.5 likewise has a flat profile, while the other grid rod 33.5 has a circular cross section. The two rear end sections 34 of the two grid rods 32.5, 33.5, which are part of a future electric plug on the control housing, are recessed into the same shape and have an almost square cross section. The grid rod 32.5 with the flat profile has a flat inner section 57 that is bent at an angle and wound into the shape of an octagon. Upwardly projecting tongues 52.4 are again present on three of the octagonal sides of the inner section 57. Four support bearings 50.5 for the tapering bearing points 41 of a snap disk 40, which is illustrated with dot-dash lines in
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
10 2006 024 292 | May 2006 | DE | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/EP2007/002526 | 3/22/2007 | WO | 00 | 11/20/2008 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
WO2007/134663 | 11/29/2007 | WO | A |
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
3529109 | Cross | Sep 1970 | A |
3691324 | Brantingson | Sep 1972 | A |
4343973 | Main | Aug 1982 | A |
4438304 | Kennedy | Mar 1984 | A |
4739127 | Higuchi et al. | Apr 1988 | A |
4760221 | Yoshida et al. | Jul 1988 | A |
4837411 | Best | Jun 1989 | A |
5982269 | Sorenson | Nov 1999 | A |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
198 23 894 | Jan 2000 | DE |
102 02 371 | Aug 2003 | DE |
102 41 220 | Oct 2003 | DE |
102 49 579 | May 2004 | DE |
102004040395 | Mar 2005 | DE |
05 041141 | Feb 1993 | JP |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20090090143 A1 | Apr 2009 | US |