Key structure

Abstract

The present invention provides a key structure, comprising a base, a carrier, a scissor structure, a heat-conducting member, an elastic member and a key cap. The scissor structure is movably pivoted between the base and the carrier. The heat-conducting member is arranged on the carrier. The elastic member is arranged on the base and abuts against the heat-conducting member through an opening of the carrier. The key cap is arranged on the carrier to clamp the heat-conducting member between the key cap and the carrier.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a key structure. Background Art

[0002] Currently, the cooling system in laptops is mainly air cooling, that is, using a fan to suck in cold air outside the body or discharge hot air inside the body. However, the current keyboard structure is mainly a membrane keyboard, in which the membrane blocks heat transfer and the keyboard cannot be used for heat dissipation.

[0003] However, the heat dissipation paths mentioned above are mostly concentrated on the sides and bottom of the body, and cannot provide the above-mentioned heat dissipation means for the keyboard on the body. For the keyboard of a notebook computer, a rubber dome is usually used for elastic reset, but it is easy to cause heat to be concentrated in the contact area between the rubber dome and the keycap. If observed with an infrared camera, it is obvious that there is a hot spot on the surface of each key of the keyboard. This phenomenon easily causes the user to clearly feel that the temperature of a specific (central) area of ​​the keycap is higher when touching the keycap, thus damaging the user's touch when operating the keyboard. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present invention is directed to a key structure which has both heat dissipation performance and beautiful appearance.

[0005] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a key structure includes a base, a carrier, a scissor structure, a heat conducting member, an elastic member, and a key cap. The scissor structure is movably pivoted between the base and the carrier. The heat conducting member is disposed on the carrier. The elastic member is disposed on the base and abuts against the heat conducting member through an opening of the carrier. The key cap is disposed on the carrier to clamp the heat conducting member between the key cap and the carrier.

[0006] Based on the above, the key structure further has a carrier and a heat-conducting member disposed between the elastic member and the keycap, wherein the elastic member is disposed on the base, and passes through the opening of the carrier and abuts against the heat-conducting member, so that the heat at the base can be smoothly transferred to the heat-conducting member via the elastic member, and the scissor structure and the carrier form a basic structure for supporting the heat-conducting member and the keycap. Accordingly, the key structure has an aesthetically pleasing appearance and at the same time, the heat is uniformly dissipated into the space where the key structure is located through the contact between the heat-conducting member and the elastic member. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a key structure according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0008] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Exploded diagram of the key structure;

[0009] Figure 3yes Figure 1 A cross-sectional view of a key structure;

[0010] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0011] Reference will now be made in detail to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whenever possible, the same reference numerals are used in the drawings and the description to refer to the same or like parts.

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of a key structure according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 2 yes Figure 1 Please also refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 In this embodiment, the key structure 100 is suitable for an electronic device to serve as an input interface for a user to control the electronic device, which will be further described in subsequent embodiments. The key structure 100 includes a base 140, a carrier 150, a scissor structure 130, a heat conductive member 120, an elastic member 160 and a key cap 110. The scissor structure 130 is movably pivoted between the base 140 and the carrier 150. The heat conductive member 120 is disposed on the carrier 150. The elastic member 160 is disposed on the base 140 and is structurally abutted against the heat conductive member 120 through the opening 151 of the carrier 150. The key cap 110 is disposed on the carrier 150 to clamp the heat conductive member 120 between the key cap 110 and the carrier 150.

[0013] Figure 3 yes Figure 1 Please also refer to Figure 2 and Figure 3 , the heat conducting member 120 is substantially sheathed on the inner surface of the keycap 110, and the material of the heat conducting member 120 is metal, while the material of the keycap 110 is plastic, so that the keycap 110 of this embodiment is integrally manufactured together with the heat conducting member 120 through insert molding. Furthermore, the manufactured keycap 110 and the heat conducting member 120 are substantially detachably assembled on the carrier 150 by a buckle structure, so that the user can also disassemble and assemble the keycap 110 and its inner heat conducting member 120 relative to the carrier 150, so as to facilitate maintenance or replacement according to use requirements.

[0014] In addition, as the aforementioned key structure 100 of the present embodiment is disposed in an electronic device, a portion of the heat generated by the electronic components inside the electronic device will inevitably be transferred to the key structure 100, and thus concentrated and accumulated in the key structure 100 and not easily dissipated. Accordingly, the key structure 100 of the present embodiment has the aforementioned component configuration, especially the elastic member 160 passes through the opening 151 of the carrier 150 and abuts against the heat conductive member 120.

[0015] Here, the elastic member 160 is, for example, a rubber dome, and the structural contact area between the elastic member 160 and the heat-conducting member 120 is smaller than the area of ​​the heat-conducting member 120. The elastic member 160 has a body 161 and a heat-conducting medium layer 162 disposed outside the body, so that the heat of the base 140 can be transferred to the heat-conducting member 120 and evenly diffused in the heat-conducting member 120. In other words, since the heat-conducting member 120 has a good thermal conductivity coefficient, it can avoid the heat being confined to the contact surface between the heat-conducting member 120 and the elastic member 160, and even the heat can be dissipated to the keycap 110 or its environment through the heat-conducting member 120, thereby increasing the heat dissipation path. At the same time, because the heat-conducting member 120 has a better heat conduction effect, it can avoid the possibility of heat concentration that is not conducive to the user's operating touch. In another embodiment not shown, the elastic member 160 can also be made of an elastic material with a higher thermal conductivity coefficient.

[0016] Please refer to Figure 1 and Figure 2 In this embodiment, the material of the heat conductive member 120 is metal, and its surface has an anodized layer, and the keycap 110 is transparent, wherein the anodized layer further forms a pattern (or character) 121, so that it can be viewed by the user through the transparent keycap 110. In other words, the key structure 100 of this embodiment does not need to form the required pattern or character on the keycap 110, but instead on the heat conductive member 120. This can prevent the keycap 110 from being worn or falling off due to long-term use. At the same time, by performing different processes of anodizing on the metal, the heat conductive member 120 can also be further provided with different colors or glosses, thereby producing a visual recognition effect.

[0017] In another embodiment, the pattern 121 (or character) may also be formed by configuring a coating with different colors or glossiness on the surface of the heat conductive element 120, and then forming the desired pattern 121 (or character) by laser engraving.

[0018] like Figure 3As shown, the base 140 of this embodiment includes a bracket 142 and a thin film circuit 141, wherein the scissor structure 130 is pivotally connected and stands on the bracket 142, and the elastic member 160 also includes a conductive layer 163 configured on the inner surface of the body 161, which is actually configured on the supporting bottom 165 of the elastic member 160 and the abutting protrusion 164 in the center of the dome, wherein the conductive layer 163 located at the supporting bottom 165 is supported and electrically abutted against the conductive pad A1 on the thin film circuit 141, and when the user applies force to press When the key structure 100 causes the elastic member 160 to deform and the abutting protrusion 164 to abut against the conductive pad A2, the conductive pad A1, the conductive layer 163 of the elastic member 160 and the conductive pad A2 can be electrically connected to each other, thereby generating a trigger signal when the key structure 100 is pressed. Once the user no longer presses the key structure 100, the elastic force accumulated by the elastic member 160 due to the aforementioned deformation is sufficient to drive the keycap 110 to reset, thereby restoring the state in which the abutting protrusion 164 is suspended above the conductive pad A2.

[0019] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a portable electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 4 And compare Figure 1 In the present embodiment, the key structure 100 is suitable for a portable electronic device 10. Here, a laptop computer is taken as an example. The portable electronic device 10 has a body 11 and at least one heat source 12 (two heat sources 12 are shown as an example here, such as a central processing unit CPU and a display chip GPU of the laptop computer system, but not limited to this). The heat source 12 is configured in the body 11, and the key structure 100 is configured on the body 11. A part of the heat generated by the heat source 12 will be transferred to the base 140 of the key structure 100. Since the elastic member 160 has the aforementioned heat conductive medium layer 162, the heat transferred to the base 140 can be smoothly transferred to the heat conductive member 120 through the heat conductive medium layer 162.

[0020] To sum up, in the above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention, the key structure further includes a carrier and a heat conductive member between the elastic member and the keycap, wherein the elastic member is arranged on the base, and passes through the opening of the carrier and the structure abuts against the heat conductive member, so that the heat at the base can be smoothly transferred to the heat conductive member via the elastic member, and the scissor structure and the carrier form a basic structure for supporting the heat conductive member and the keycap.

[0021] Accordingly, when the heat generated by the heat source in the portable electronic device is transferred to the base of the key structure, the heat can be transferred to the heat conductive member 120 through the heat conductive medium layer on the outer surface of the elastic member, and because the heat conductive member has a better thermal conductivity and its area is larger than the contact area between the elastic member and the heat conductive member, the heat transferred to the heat conductive member will not be concentrated on the contact surface between the elastic member and the heat conductive member, thereby improving the aforementioned hot spot situation. The key structure can have an aesthetic appearance and at the same time, the heat is uniformly dissipated into the space where the key structure is located through the contact between the heat conductive member and the elastic member.

[0022] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A key structure, characterized in that: include: Pedestal; Carrier; A scissor structure, movably pivoted between the base and the platform; A heat conducting member, disposed on the carrier; An elastic member, disposed on the base and abutting against the heat conducting member through the opening structure of the carrier; as well as A keycap is arranged on the carrier to clamp the heat conductive member between the keycap and the carrier. The key structure is suitable for a portable electronic device. The portable electronic device has a body and at least one heat source. The heat source is arranged in the body. The key structure is arranged on the body. A part of the heat generated by the heat source is transferred to the base of the key structure. The elastic member has a heat conductive medium layer to transfer the heat transferred to the base to the heat conductive member.

2. The key structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The structural contact area between the elastic member and the heat conducting member is smaller than the area of ​​the heat conducting member.

3. The key structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The surface of the heat conducting member has an anodized layer, and the key cap is transparent.

4. The key structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The surface of the heat conducting member has a pattern, and the key cap is transparent.

5. The key structure according to claim 4, characterized in that: The surface of the heat conductor has a coating layer, and the coating layer is engraved by laser to form the pattern.

6. The key structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The heat conducting member is sleeved on the inner surface of the key cap.

7. The key structure according to claim 1, characterized in that: The material of the heat-conducting member is metal, the material of the key cap is plastic, and the key cap and the heat-conducting member are integrally made by insert injection molding.

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