News
admin
ATL Co., Ltd. has designed and built its own jig for button durability testing, and has now used it to run a temperature and humidity test. The test repeatedly actuates buttons inside an environmental chamber held at a set temperature and humidity to verify the durability of the specimen.
Buttons are among the parts a user touches most often, so evaluating their durability takes more than simply pressing them many times. In real use, heat, cold, and moisture act on the part at the same time, and only by applying environmental conditions and repeated actuation together does the result approach actual service conditions.
The challenge was how to actuate the buttons inside the chamber. General-purpose durability testers either do not fit inside the chamber or cannot easily be adapted to the differing button positions and actuation directions of each specimen. The jig was therefore designed specifically around the shape of the specimen.
The structure was kept simple. The specimen is fixed to a mounting plate, with one actuating rod standing in front of each button. Each rod carries a compression spring so that the actuating force is delivered steadily rather than all at once, and the tip that meets the button is made of resin rather than metal so that repeated contact does not damage the button surface. Stroke is adjustable per rod, so buttons at different heights are still pressed under identical conditions.
The drive section connects the rods through rod-end bearing links so that several rods travel together. Rather than actuating buttons one at a time, multiple buttons are operated simultaneously, allowing more specimens to be evaluated within the same test duration. The structural members are all aluminum, reducing deformation and corrosion inside a chamber where temperature and humidity change.
For this test, the jig was installed inside the chamber and the buttons were actuated repeatedly while the specified temperature and humidity were maintained, with changes in actuation feel and any appearance or functional defects checked throughout. Test conditions and pass criteria are set according to the customer's specification.
ATL designs and builds the equipment and jigs its test floor needs and applies them directly to testing. The company will continue developing jigs tailored to specific test items and specimen geometries, improving both the accuracy of its testing and the speed of its response.