Side key and electronic device using the same

Side key and electronic device using the side key

SIDE KEY AND ELECTRONIC DEVICE USING THE SAME

The present invention relates to a side key and an electronic device using the side key, and more particularly to a side key using two-material injection molding and an electronic device using the side key.

Electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, MP3 and MP4 are usually equipped with side keys. By operating the side keys, users can achieve a specific function, such as taking pictures, adjusting the volume, and playing music, so as to enhance the convenience of use.

A conventional side key includes a support body and a key body combined with the support body. The supporting body is arranged on the side of the printed circuit board of the electronic device, and the supporting body is formed with contacts protruding outwardly toward the side of the printed circuit board. The operator presses the key body of the side key to make the contact on the support trigger the side key switch arranged on the printed circuit board to realize a specific function. Nowadays, there are two main ways to combine the support body and the key body: One way is to form the support body and the key body separately, and then bond the support body and the key body with an adhesive. However, the stability of the bonding between the support body and the key body is often poor, which reduces the service life of the side key. Another method is double injection molding, which uses a male mold and a first female mold. Forming with a second female mold, wherein the male mold is a static mold, and the first female mold and the second female mold are movable molds. When molding, first combine the male mold with the first female mold, and inject the key body, then replace the second female mold and the first female mold with each other to combine the male mold with the second female mold, and inject the support body. After the mold, the side key of the integral structure is obtained. When the mold is opened, the position where the side key is ejected from the two-shot mold is not It can be set on the exterior surface, usually by forming a protruding surface at the connection between the key body and the support body for the ejector mechanism to hold. This easily causes the ejector mechanism to damage the side keys when ejecting the material, making it difficult to demold the side keys. Reduce the molding yield of the side key, and even damage the double-material injection molding mold.

In view of the above content, it is necessary to provide a side key using two-material injection molding that is easy to demold from an injection mold and an electronic device using the side key.

A side key is used in an electronic device with a shell and a printed circuit board arranged in the shell. The side key includes a support body and a key body, and the support body and the key body are formed by two-material injection molding. The supporting body is connected with the housing of the electronic device, the supporting body is formed with contacts for triggering the circuit of the printed circuit board of the electronic device, and the contacts and the key bodies are respectively formed on two opposite sides of the supporting body. The surface connecting the two ends of the key body and the support body is formed with two grooves for ejecting the side key during double-material injection molding. Each groove is arc-shaped and extends in a direction parallel to the support body. The groove is used for the ejector pin to move to the two sides of the key body to eject the side key during double-material injection molding.

An electronic device includes a housing, a printed circuit board arranged in the housing, and a side key. The side key includes a support body and a key body. The support body and the key body are formed by two-material injection molding. The supporting body is connected with the housing, and the supporting body is also formed with contacts for triggering the circuit of the printed circuit board, and the contacts and the key body are respectively arranged on two opposite sides of the supporting body. The surface connecting the two ends of the key body and the support body is formed with two grooves for ejecting the side key during double-material injection molding. Each groove is arc-shaped and extends in a direction parallel to the support body. The groove is used for the ejector pin to move to the two sides of the key body to eject the side key during double-material injection molding.

The above-mentioned side key can be easily removed from the injection mold during two-material injection molding by setting the groove. The middle ejector can achieve demolding, which can improve the yield of side key molding, and avoid the side key being difficult to demold and remaining in the injection mold, causing damage to the mold when it is used again.

<p>10Mobile phone</p><p>11Shell</p><p>112Side</p><p>114End</p><p>115Containment Space</p><p>1124Opening</p><p>12Kagu structure</p><p>122First fixing plate</p><p>124Second fixing plate</p><p>13Circuit connection board</p><p>131Side key switch</p><p>20Side button</p><p>21Support</p><p>212First surface</p><p>213Second Surface</p><p>23Key body</p><p>231First button</p><p>232Second button</p><p>2312, 2321Pressing part</p><p>2132Contact</p><p>2134Protrusion</p><p>2130,2320Connecting surface</p><p>238Skirt</p><p>239Joint</p><p>2315, 2325, 2316, 2326 groove</p>

Fig. 1 is a partial three-dimensional assembly diagram of a mobile phone using a side key according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a partial three-dimensional exploded view of the mobile phone shown in FIG. 1. FIG.

Fig. 3 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the side key according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the side key shown in FIG. 3 in another direction.

Hereinafter, the side key of the present invention and the electronic device using the side key will be further described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. The side keys of the present invention can be applied to electronic devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, MP3, and MP4. The following takes the side keys applied to mobile phones and used to adjust the volume as an example for description.

1 and 2, the mobile phone 10 includes a housing 11, a fixing structure 12, a circuit connection board 13, a printed circuit board (not shown), a battery (not shown), and a display module (not shown) . The two side portions 112 and the two end portions 114 of the casing 11 jointly enclose a substantially rectangular receiving space 115. The accommodating space 115 is used for accommodating components such as printed circuit boards, batteries, and display modules. The side portion 112 is formed with an opening 1124 for the side key 20 to pass through for the operator to perform a pressing operation. A three-side key switch 131 is welded on the circuit connection board 13, and the circuit connection board 13 is electrically connected to the printed circuit board. The side key 20 is fixedly arranged on the side 112 of the casing 11 and is arranged adjacent to the side key switch 131. The fixing structure 12 includes a first fixing plate 122 and a second fixing plate 124, which are used to support or fix a battery, a display module, and the like.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the side key 20 includes a support body 21 and a key body 23. The support body 21 and the key body 23 are combined into one body by two-material injection molding. The supporting body 21 is substantially plate-shaped, and includes a first surface 212 and a second surface 213 opposite to the first surface 212. The key body 23 is a bump formed on the first surface 212 of the support body 21 and includes a first key portion 231 and a second key portion 232 arranged at intervals. The two ends of the top of the first button portion 231 are respectively provided with two pressing portions 2312 marked by "+" and "-" symbols, which are used to adjust the volume of the mobile phone 10. The middle of the second key portion 232 has a pressing portion 2321, which is used to perform operations such as selection or confirmation. A contact 2132 is formed on the second surface 213 of the supporting body 21 at a position corresponding to each pressing portion 2312, 2321, and the contact 2132 is a cylindrical body protruding outward. A plurality of convex portions 2134 are vertically extended on the second surface 213 on both sides of each contact 2132. The plurality of protrusions 2134 are used to stably support the side keys 20 and form a movable space of the contacts 2132 along a direction perpendicular to the second surface 213.

Two grooves 2315 and 2316 are formed on the connecting surface 2130 connecting the two ends of the first button portion 231 with the support body 21. Two grooves 2325 and 2326 are formed on the connecting surface 2320 connecting the two ends of the second button portion 232 with the support body 21. The grooves 2315, 2316, 2325, and 2326 are basically arranged in a straight line. Each of the grooves is arc-shaped and extends in a direction parallel to the first surface 212 of the support body 21, and has a predetermined extension depth. The grooves 2315, 2316, 2325, 2326 are used for double-material injection molding of the side key 20 to cooperate with the ejector mechanism, such as ejector pins, to help eject the side key 20 from the injection mold during mold opening to achieve demolding . The connecting surfaces 2130 and 2320 are both non-appearance surfaces of the side key 20, so the grooves 2315, 2316, 2325, and 2326 provided on the connecting surfaces 2130, 2320 do not affect the appearance of the side key 20.

The material of the support 21 is a thermoplastic elastomer, which can be elastically deformed, preferably a thermoplastic rubber (Thermoplastic Rubber, TPR) or a thermoplastic polyurethane Ester (Thermoplastic Polyurethane, TPU). The key body 23 has a certain degree of hardness, and its material is preferably one of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene Copolymer, ABS) and polycarbonate (PC) or a combination of both .

When the side key 20 is molded by the two-material injection molding method, the key body 23 is first molded, and then the key body 23 is molded into the mold again to mold the support body 21 and combine it with the key body 23 as a whole. It should be noted that the two-material injection molding mold is provided with ejector pins (not shown) that are matched with grooves 2315, 2316, 2325, and 2326 on the key body 23, among which ejection pins are matched with grooves 2315, 2316 Move to the two sides of the first button portion 231 to perform ejection, and the ejector pins matched with the grooves 2325 and 2326 move to the two sides of the second button portion 231 to perform ejection. The preset extension depth of the grooves 2315, 2316, 2325, and 2326 should be less than the stroke of the ejector pin in the depth direction to prevent the ejector pin from interlocking with the groove and cause the ejection of the material.

The grooves 2315, 2316, 2325, and 2326 have a certain depth and height. The ejector pins matched with them can apply a larger pushing force to the key body 23 when the mold is opened, so that the key body 23 can be more smoothly removed from the injection molding process. Ejected from the mold. At this time, even if the key body 23 is embedded into the injection mold with a deeper depth or the support body 21 is thinner, the side key 20 can still be demolded relatively easily, which not only improves the yield of double-material injection molding, but also avoids The side key 20 is left in the injection mold because it cannot be demolded smoothly, causing the mold to be damaged when it is used again, which improves the service life of the injection mold to a certain extent.

In order to enhance the bonding force between the support body 21 and the key body 23, a plurality of skirts 238 may be formed at the joint between the key body 23 and the support body 21. The skirt 238 is embedded in the support body 21 and is embedded with the support body 21. In addition, the key body 23 can also form a coupling portion 239 protruding outward. Correspondingly, a number of openings (not shown in the figure) are formed on the support body 21 to be coupled with the coupling portion 239. In order to increase the bonding force between the key body 23 and the support body 21, the service life of the side key 20 is prolonged.

Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 4 at the same time. When installing the side keys 20, first pass the key body 23 out of the opening 1124 of the housing 11 of the mobile phone 10. The first fixing plate 122, the second fixing plate 124 and the housing 11 Pressure is applied from the periphery of the first surface 212 and the second surface 213 of the support body 21 to fix the support body 21 of the side key 20 and the housing 21 respectively. Each contact 2132 of the side key 20 corresponds to the position of the side key switch 131 provided on the circuit connection board 13 and is close to each other, so that when the key body 23 is pressed, the contact 2132 can trigger the side key switch 131. It can be understood that the side keys 20 can also be fixed in other ways.

When in use, the operator presses the pressing parts 2321, 2312 of the key body 23 of the side key 20 to elastically deform the support body 21, so that each contact 2132 acts and triggers the side key switch 131 of the circuit connection board 13 to conduct the circuit and generate control The signal controls the mobile phone 10 to perform corresponding functions. After the operator releases the pressure, the support body 21 returns to its original state, and each contact 2132 and the side key switch 131 of the circuit connection board 13 are automatically separated.

The support body 21 is a thermoplastic elastomer, which has a certain degree of flexibility, can absorb the impact energy generated by the collision of the contact 2132 and the side key switch 131, and play a buffering effect, thereby reducing the contact 2132 to the side key switch 131 or circuit connection The destruction of the board 13 enhances the softness and comfort of operation. The material of the key body 23 is selected from one or a combination of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene copolymer and polycarbonate, which has a certain hardness, which can ensure the beautiful appearance of the side key 20 and facilitate the pressing operation of the operator.

It can be understood that the circuit connection board 13 can also be omitted, and the side key switch 131 is directly arranged on the printed circuit board and the position of the side key switch 131 corresponds to the position of each contact 2132 of the side key 20.

In summary, this publication clearly meets the requirements of a patent for invention, so it filed a patent application in accordance with the law. However, the above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention, and cannot limit the scope of the patent application in this case. All the equivalent modifications or changes made by persons familiar with the technique of the present application in accordance with the spirit of the present invention shall be covered by the scope of the following patent applications.