Electronic Pen Core Body Microtexture for Friction and Fine Tip Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electronic pen core bodies using soft materials like elastomers or felts attached to hard plastics for improved friction and visibility suffer from wear issues and difficulty in forming a thin pen tip shape, leading to degraded visibility and inadequate friction on various surfaces.
Innovation Solution
The electronic pen core body features a front end portion with projections and depressions along its circumferential and axial directions, allowing for a hard material construction that provides adequate friction and maintains a thin, visible pen tip shape, enhancing usability and visibility on surfaces such as glass.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a soft material such as an elastomer or a felt is attached to a front end of a hard plastic material such as POM, then the sense of ease in using the core body is improved based on an adequate amount of friction generated, but the soft member such as an elastomer tends to be easily worn and is difficult to form into a thin (fine) pen tip shape
Solution Approach 1:
The invention applies local quality by forming projections and depressions only in the front end portion of the core body that contacts the input surface, while the rest of the core body maintains its hard material properties. This localized surface modification provides the needed friction for ease of use without compromising the overall durability and thin shape of the pen tip.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the surface parameters of the core body by creating projections and depressions with specific dimensions (protruding portions with height of 1-10 μm and width of 1-10 μm). This parameter modification increases surface friction and generates the adequate amount of friction needed for ease of use while maintaining the hard material's wear resistance and thin profile.
2Ease of operation
If a soft material such as an elastomer or a felt is attached to a front end of a hard plastic material such as POM, then the sense of ease in using the core body is improved based on an adequate amount of friction generated, but it is difficult to form into a thin (fine) pen tip shape
Solution Approach 1:
The projections and depressions are formed only in the front end portion of the core body, leaving the main body and tip shape unaffected. This localized modification allows the pen tip to maintain its thin, fine shape while the surface projections provide the necessary friction for ease of use.
Solution Approach 2:
By controlling the dimensions of the projections and depressions (height of 1-10 μm, width of 1-10 μm), the invention achieves adequate friction without significantly increasing the overall size or compromising the thin profile of the pen tip.
3Ease of operation
If the core body slides too much on a glass surface or a resin surface as the input surface, then the sense of ease in using the core body is degraded, but using a hard resin material such as POM results in the core body being tear/shave resistant and easily slidable
Solution Approach 1:
The projections and depressions are formed only in the front end portion of the core body that contacts the input surface. This localized surface modification increases friction at the contact point, providing adequate resistance for ease of use on glass and resin surfaces, while the rest of the core body remains smooth and slidable.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the surface friction parameters by creating projections with specific dimensions (height of 1-10 μm, width of 1-10 μm). This controlled parameter modification generates adequate friction force for ease of use without compromising the overall slidability of the hard material core body.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The design improves the sense of ease and visibility of the pen tip by generating appropriate friction while maintaining wear resistance, ensuring a fine and clearly visible pen tip on different surfaces.
Implementation Method 1
Friction between the input surface and the pen tip is an important factor for the sense of ease in using the electronic pen on the input surface
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic pen core body includes a front end portion configured to project outward from an opening on one end side in an axial direction of a tubular casing of an electronic pen. A plurality of projections and depressions are provided along a circumferential direction of the electronic pen core body and/or along an axial direction of the electronic pen core body, in at least a part of the front end portion. The part of the front end portion is configured to come into contact with an input surface when the electronic pen performs an indication input on the input surface by the electronic pen.