SWITCH DEVICE

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a switch device.

As a conventional switch device, a control switch for an automatic transmission is described for example in the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-155068 which generates a position signal indicating a shift position such as parking, reverse, neutral, drive, second gear, and first gear.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In the aforementioned conventional technology, a main body of the switch device is formed by bonding a body and a cover by a rivet, but the main body may also be formed by joining the body and cover to each other by means of adhesion.

In this case, the body and cover may be joined together by, for example, ultrasonic welding or the use of an adhesive. However, welding burr or extra adhesive produced while adhering or welding could stick out the outer peripheral surface of the main body. This may deteriorate the appearance of the main body, and welding burr or the adhesive sticking out on the peripheral surface may be solidified and fall off, creating a foreign matter.

Therefore, on object of the present invention is to obtain a switch device which is able to prevent welding burr or excessive adhesive from sticking out from an outer peripheral surface of a main body.

In order to attain the above object, the present invention provides a switch device which comprises a main body formed by joining a peripheral portion of a body and a peripheral portion of a cover, and a escape portion provided between an outer peripheral surface of the main body and a joined portion of the body and the cover.

According to the present invention, since the escape portion is provided between the outer peripheral surface and the joined portion of the main body, welding burr or excessive adhesive can be prevented from sticking out from the outer peripheral surface of the main body. As a result, deterioration of the appearance of the main body can be prevented, and welding burr or the adhesive sticking out and solidified on the peripheral surface can be prevented from falling off and creating a foreign matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a switch device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the switch device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is an explanatory view showing an operation of a movable contact and fixed contacts according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the switch device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a view illustrating a vicinity of a welded portion of Fig. 4 before welding.

Fig. 6 is a view illustrating the vicinity of the welded portion of Fig. 4 after welding.

Figs. 7A and 7B are views showing a conventional welded portion, in which Fig. 7A is a view before welding and Fig. 7B is a view after welding.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the drawings. A control switch for an automatic transmission will be described below as an example of a switch device. Figs. 1 to 6 are views showing an embodiment of a control switch for an automatic transmission according to the present invention. First of all, a rough structure of the control switch for an automatic transmission will be described with reference to Figs. 1 to 4.

As illustrated in Fig. 1, the control switch for an automatic transmission of this embodiment is provided with a housing (main body) 1 including a body la and a cover lb that are respectively made from synthetic resin molded into approximate fan shapes, and a movable body 10 which is turnably accommodated in the housing1.

The movable body 10 is provided with a main body 11 and a cylindrical axis portion 13 which is provided at one end portion of the main body 11 and in which a press-fit hole 17 is formed where a non-illustrated shaft is inserted. Also, a depressed area 12 (see Fig. 4) is provided on a surface of the main body 11 which faces the body la, and the depressed area 12 accommodates a plurality of movable contacts 15 which are elastically biased to the side of the body la by coil springs 14. In Fig. 1, only one movable contact 15 is illustrated for convenience.

The body la is formed into a flat and approximate fan shape in which one surface (top surface) is open, and a bearing hole 4 is provided in the thickness direction (the vertical direction in Fig. 1: the axis direction of the shaft) in an area equivalent to the pivot of the fan to turjiably and pivotally support the movable body 10 with one end (the bottom end) side of the axis portion 13 inserted therethrough. Also, in the inner bottom surface 7 of the body la, a plurality of band plate-shaped conductive bodies 3 are insert-molded, whose one end portions have fixed contacts 2, respectively. Each of the fixed contacts 2 is arranged in a concentric arc state about the bearing hole 4, and is facing the movable contacts 15 provided at the movable body 10 within the housing 1.

Also, a cylindrical connector portion 20 surrounded by a peripheral wall is integrally formed in the body la. On the inner bottom surface of the connector portion 20, a plurality of conductive bodies 3 are arranged in more than one line with the ends thereof projecting, thus forming a connector terminal (not illustrated).

As illustrated in Fig. 3, as the movable body 10 within the housing 1 turns about the axis portion 13, the movable contact 15 which is in contact with the pair of fixed contacts 2 arranged in line rides on the top surface of a rib 8 while shrinking the coil spring 14 by elastic deformation and sliding along a side surface of one end of the rib 8, and moves away from the fixed contacts 2. Then, when the movable contact 15 reaches the other end portion of the rib 8 while sliding on the top surface of the rib 8, the movable contact 15 falls on another pair of fixed contacts 2 while sliding along the side surface of the other end portion by using an elastic restoring force of the coil spring 14. Thus, the movable contact 15 held by the movable body 10 selectively comes in contact with or moves away from each of the fixed contacts 2 in accordance with a turn position of the movable body 10 with respect to the housing 1. Hence, a position signal corresponding to a shift position of an automatic transmission is extracted through a counterpart connector connected to the connector portion 20.

Further, as illustrated in Fig. 1, approximate mountain shaped guard portions 16 are projecting from and integrally formed on both sides of the pivot part of the fan shape of the body la. At each of the guard portions 16, a cylindrical reinforcement member 30 is insert-molded and is provided with an oval-shaped bolt insertion hole 31 through which a bolt for attaching the housing 1 to an automobile body (or an automatic transmission) is inserted.

The cover lb is formed into a flat and approximate fan shape to cover the opening portion (top surface) of the body la, and, similarly to the body la, a bearing hole 5 is provided in the thickness direction (the vertical direction in Fig. 1: the axis direction of the shaft) in an area equivalent to the pivot of the fan to tumably and pivotally support the movable body 10 with the other end (the top end) side of the axis portion 13 inserted therethrough.

The control switch for an automatic transmission having the aforementioned structure is attached to an automobile body (or an automatic transmission) by pressing the shaft (not illustrated) into the press-fit hole 17 of the movable body 10 and tightening a nut to a bolt inserted through the bolt insertion hole 31 of the reinforcement member 30. Then, the shaft (not-illustrated) and the movable body 10 are integrally turned by a changing operation of a gear shift lever of the automatic transmission, and each position signal is extracted in accordance with a turn position of the movable body 10 with respect to the housing 1.

Incidentally, in the control switch for an automatic transmission according to this embodiment, the body la and the cover lb of the housing 1 are joined together by ultrasonic welding.

Specifically, as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, a water-proof packing 18 is located in a peripheral groove 9 formed at the iimer side of the peripheral portion 6 of the body la, and the movable body 10 to which the coil springs 14 and the movable contacts 15 are attached is accommodated inside. By carrying out ultrasonic welding to the peripheral portion 6 of the body la and the peripheral portion 19 of the cover lb in this state, the peripheral portions 6 and 19 are joined together, thus forming the housing 1.

Here, in this embodiment, as shown in Figs.5 and 6,a depressed escape portion (escape portion) 40 is provided between the outer peripheral surface Ic of the housing 1 and the welded portion (joined portion) 50 of the body la and the cover lb. This enables welding burr 60 produced during welding to be received and escaped in the depressed escape portion 40.

In the peripheral portion 6 of the body la, an inner peripheral side bottom surface 42 and an outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 are formed at different levels. Similarly, an inner peripheral side bottom surface 47 and an outer peripheral side bottom surface 48 are formed at different levels in the peripheral portion 19 of the cover lb. By creating different levels in the peripheral portion 6 of the body la and the peripheral portion 19 of the cover lb, the welded portion 50 can be formed between the contact surfaces of the inner peripheral side bottom surfaces 42 and 47 provided at higher levels.

Although the depressed escape portion 40 may be provided at any location as long as it is between the outer peripheral surface Ic of the housing 1 and the welded portion 50, the depressed escape portion 40 is provided at the outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 of the body la in this embodiment. More specifically, the depressed escape portion 40 is formed by making a depression in a corner part of the outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 along a step surface 44 which connects the inner peripheral side bottom surface 42 and the outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 of the body la. In addition, the depressed escape portion 40 is provided at the entire circumference of the body la as shown in Fig. 1.

In this embodiment, the body la and the cover lb are molded articles made of a thermoplastic resin, and the outer peripheral side bottom surfaces 43 and 48 are joined together as the welded portion 50 are welded by ultrasonic welding.

At this time, the depressed escape portion 40 provided in the outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 of the body la receives welding burr 60 produced while welding, thus preventing the welding burr 60 from sticking out from the outer peripheral surface Ic of the housing 1.

As illustrated in Figs. 7A and 7B, in a conventional structure, when a welded portion 150 of a body 101a and a cover 101b are welded, welding burr 160 could stick out from an outer peripheral surface 101c through a gap between peripheral portions 106 and 119.

On the contrary, in this embodiment, the depressed escape portion 40 provided between the outer peripheral surface Ic and the welded portion 50 of the housing 1 can receive the welding burr 60 effectively, allowing the welding burr 60 to escape therein. As a result, problems such as deterioration of the appearance of the housing 1 due to the exposed welding burr 60 and that welding burr 60 that sticks out becomes solidified and falls off, creating a foreign matter can be prevented.

As described above in detail, in the control switch for an automatic transmission of this embodiment, the depressed escape portion (escape portion) 40 is provided between the outer peripheral surface Ic of the housing (main body) 1 and the welded portion (joined portion) 50 of the body la and the cover lb. Hence, the welding burr 60 can be prevented from sticking out from the outer peripheral surface Ic of the housing 1. As a result, problems such as deterioration of the appearance of the housing 1 and that welding burr 60 that sticks out from the outer peripheral surface Ic becomes solidified and falls off, creating a foreign matter can be prevented.

Also, in this embodiment, the depressed escape portion (escape portion) 40 is provided along the entire circumference of at least either one of the body la and the cover lb. Therefore, the welding burr 60 can be prevented from sticking out from the outer peripheral surface Ic of the housing 1 more reliably.

It is preferred that the depressed escape portion (escape portion) 40 be structured as a depressed groove provided in at least either one of mutually opposing faces of the body la and the cover lb.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been explained so far, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various changes may be made.

For example, the depressed escape portion 40 is provided in the outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 of the body la as illustrated Fig. 5 but may also be provided at a step face 49 which connects the inner peripheral side bottom surface 47 and the outer peripheral side bottom surface 48 of the cover lb. In this case, the depressed escape portion can be formed by making a depressed portion in the step face 49 of the cover lb towards the outer peripheral side (to the side of the outer peripheral surface Ic).

Also, the depressed escape portion 40 may also be provided in both the aforementioned step face 49 of the cover lb and the outer peripheral side bottom surface 43 of the body la. This is more preferred because the depressed escape portion 40 can be prevented from being filled with the welding burr 60.

Further, in this embodiment, the peripheral portion 6 of the body la and the peripheral portion 19 of the cover lb are joined together by ultrasonic welding, but may be joined together by using an adhesive as a matter of course. In this case, excessive adhesive can escape into the depressed escape portion 40.

Furthermore, a control switch for an automatic transmission has been described as an example of the switch device, but the present invention is not limited thereto and may be any switch device of which main body is formed by adhering a peripheral portion of a body and a peripheral portion of a cover.

What is claimed is:

1. A switch device, comprising:

a main body formed by joining a peripheral portion of a body and a peripheral portion of a cover; and

a escape portion provided between an outer peripheral surface of the main body and a joined portion of the body and the cover.

2. The switch device according to claim 1, wherein the escape portion is provided along the circumference of at least either one of the body and the cover.

3. The switch device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the escape portion is a depressed groove provided in at least either one of mutually opposing faces of the body and the cover.