Electrical Switch
AssigneeJudco Manufacturing, Inc.
InventorIgorce Srbinovski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A keypad with a contact element in a form of a contact pill for intermittent contacting of printed circuit board (PCB) contacts on a PCB, where the contact element includes a plurality of irregularly shaped electrically conductive particles, and where the contact element is connected to the keypad or to an element of the keypad.
Claims20
A keypad comprising a pushbutton including a contact element for intermittent contacting of printed circuit board (PCB) contacts on a PCB, wherein the contact element comprises a plurality of discrete irregularly shaped electrically conductive particles, and wherein the contact element is coupled to the pushbutton.
A method for producing a contact element in a form of a contact pill comprising:
- forming a plurality of irregularly shaped particles via spraying jets of water on a falling stream of a molten first metal;
- bonding the plurality of irregularly shaped particles to a silicon substrate;
- and
- molding the silicon substrate onto a keypad.
An electrical system comprising:
- a printed circuit board (PCB) including a plurality of electrical traces;
- and
- a pushbutton disposed on the PCB, the pushbutton comprising:
- a substrate;
- and
- a contact element disposed on the substrate, the contact element comprising a plurality of discrete irregularly shaped electrically conductive particles;
- wherein a depression of the pushbutton causes contact of the contact element with the plurality of electrical traces on the PCB;
- and
- wherein contact of the contact element with the plurality of contacts on the PCB causes a change in orientation of one or more of the discrete irregularly shaped electrically conductive particles to create additional electrically conductive paths through the contact element between the plurality of contacts of the PCB.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.