Patent Application
20070051607
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a push-button switch assembly for a vehicle.
2. Background Art
Switch assemblies containing electrical components are used in many appliances, motor vehicles and the like. The typical switch assembly includes a housing, a printed circuit board having a switch, and a button plate. The printed circuit board is contained within the housing. Accordingly, the button plate is attached to the housing in a manner that aligns the buttons with the switch located within the housing. These conventional switch assemblies require the use of multiple manufacturing tools during the manufacturing process.
Particularly, referring to
The requirement of multiple manufacturing tools during the manufacturing process is cumbersome and inefficient. For example, the manufacturer must operate and maintain multiple tools to form the housing and the button plate. Also, formation of the housing and the button plate must be coordinated for assembling the switch assembly. Additionally, assembling the switch assembly requires at least the additional step of attaching the housing to the button plate. Thus, the above considerations increase the assembly and material costs, the possible failure modes associated with the switch assembly, and complicates construction of the switch assembly.
The present invention was conceived in view of these and other disadvantages of conventional switch assemblies.
The present invention provides a push-button assembly and method for a vehicle. The push-button assembly includes a housing having at least one housing finger that is defined by a housing opening. A push-button is integrated with the housing finger wherein the housing finger has a push-button stem integrated therewith. Additionally, the push-button assembly may include a light pipe capture that is also integrated with the housing. Furthermore, the assembly may include a circuit board having switch that is disposed within the housing.
A method of manufacturing the push-button assembly is included. The method includes forming the housing having the at least one housing finger and the push-button. The housing finger is defined by a housing opening and the push-button is located adjacent to the housing finger. The method also includes disposing a circuit board within the housing wherein the circuit board includes a switch attached thereto. The method may also include the housing being formed having an upper housing member and a lower housing member. Accordingly, the method may include forming a living hinge formed of a polycarbonate material that connects the upper housing member to the lower housing member.
The above embodiments and other embodiments, features, and advantages of the present invention are readily apparent from the following detailed description of the best mode for carrying out the invention and taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.
The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appendant claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood with reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanied drawings in which:
As required, detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale, and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for the claims and/or as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ in the present invention.
Now, referring to
Circuit board 28 includes a connector portion 29 that enables push-button switch assembly 10 to be coupled to a power source or adjacent systems within a vehicle. Additionally, housing 12 may include a light pipe capture 20 that provides a structure for containing a light tube.
A plurality of housing fingers 24 are defined by a housing opening 22. A push-button 26 is integrated with housing 12 via housing fingers 24. As such, housing finger 24 is formed so as to have a sufficient amount of flexibility to enable a user to press push-button 26, engage a switch coupled to circuit board 28 and return to the original un-pressed position. In one embodiment, push-button 26 is formed of a polycarbonate material.
Housing 12, which includes upper and lower housing members 14 and 16, housing fingers 24, and push-buttons 26, may be formed through the use of an injection molding process that utilizes a single injection molding tool. Such an injection molding tool is available from Great Lakes Mold, 50670 Rizzo Drive, Shelby Township, Mich. 48315. Alternatively, upper and lower housing members 14 and 16 may be formed through the use of a “2-shot” injection molding process utilizing the single injection molding tool. In such an embodiment, upper housing member 14 is formed of a polycarbonate material during a first shot. Accordingly, lower housing member 16 and hinge portion 18 may be simultaneously formed of a polypropylene material during a second shot. As such, the manufacturing process for housing 12 is improved over conventional manufacturing processes in that a single injection molding tool may be utilized and a separately manufactured button plate is not required.
Now referring to
Now referring to
As depicted by block 42, the circuit board and switch are assembled having the required circuitry in accordance with design parameters. As depicted by block 44, the circuit board having the switch is mounted within the housing. As depicted by block 46, the push-button switch assembly may be installed within a vehicle. In one embodiment, the push-button switch assembly is installed within the interior of the vehicle, particularly the ceiling area of the vehicle.
While embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described, it is not intended that these embodiments illustrate and describe all possible forms of the invention. Rather, the words used in the specification are words of description rather than limitation, and it is understood that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
