Though touch screen technology first appeared in the mid-&#;s, it would take about two decades before being integrated into consumer devices. And another decade before appearing on mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). Today, touch screens have become ubiquitous: they&#;re used on all manner of devices we encounter in our everyday lives: ATMs, vending machines, gaming devices, GPSs, directories, and, of course, computer displays.

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With this ever-growing surge of touch technology, it&#;s rather easy to miss the many uses and variations in touch screens and how each configuration actually works. Because touch technology has been in use for so long, it should come as no surprise that some of the variations have been deemed &#;obsolete&#; or are only used for very specific display applications. We present here a listing of some of the most common touch technologies to summarize their features, benefits and limitations.

Surface Capacitive

Being an all-glass design, light transmission of surface capacitive touch screens is high, especially when compared to resistive touch screens. This improves display clarity and reduces eye fatigue. Its scratch-resistant top coat lends itself to durability in environments where frequent use is expected. This type of touch screen is ideally suited for rugged industrial and military applications.

Projected Capacitive

Designed for &#;full multitouch&#; capabilities, this touch screen technology goes beyond the traditional zoom, pinch, expand and rotate functionality. It offers an interactive tool of 20 resolvable touches at less than 6 millisecond point speed. This kind of responsiveness overcomes latency issues associated with software filtering factors and/or a slow touch response rate. The anti-stiction glass surface enhances simple and advanced gestures, even with nitrile, latex or vinyl gloves. With over touch sensing points, optimal precision and accuracy are simply &#;business as usual.&#;

Resistive

Through continual improvement, the technology that goes into resistive touch screens has been well established for many years, making it the &#;tried-and-true&#; option and an economic choice. This technology features a glass panel with a uniform resistive coating, and a thick polyester conductive (on one side) cover sheet separated by small, transparent insulating dots. When the screen is pressed with a finger or stylus, the conductive coating on the polyester makes electrical contact with the coating on the glass, thus registering a touch. Resistive touch screens are extremely resilient to wear and tear, making them a good choice for high-traffic applications.

Infrared Touch

Infrared touch technology doesn&#;t rely on an overlay or a substrate to register a touch, so it cannot physically &#;wear out,&#; thus ensuring a long product life cycle. Possessing superior optical performance and excellent gasket-sealing properties, an infrared touch screen is ideal for harsh industrial environments and outdoor kiosks. They work with a finger, gloved hand, stylus, and almost any object wider than 1/10&#;. They adjust to changing light conditions, even direct sunlight. In addition, they benefit from stable, no-drift calibration performance.

Surface Acoustic Wave  (SAW)

Featuring pure glass construction, Surface Acoustic Wave (SAW) touch screens will almost never physically &#;wear out&#; due to a superior scratch-resistant coating. Excellent light transmission ensures that the image clarity of the display remains sharp and vibrant. The stable, &#;drift-free&#; operation means that the touch response is always accurate. These touch screens work well with a finger, gloved hand or a soft stylus. And SAW touch screens have a sensitive touch response&#;they recognize the touch location and the amount of pressure applied.

Touch Screen Types Compared

To determine which type of touch screen will best suit your needs, we invite you to contact a Sales Engineer at 800.952. for a no-obligation consultation.

Resistive touch screens are created by placing a minimum of two flexible sheeting layers on top of a glass substrate. The sheets, polycarbonate in this instance, are coated with resistive substances and are held separate from each other by numerous tiny dots.

When pressed, the flexible layers of the resistive touch screen are pushed together and this has the effect of creating a slight change in the resistance levels operating on both the horizontal and vertical axis.

Sensors located on the screen&#;s edges are able to detect this change in resistance and determine the location of the change utilizing the horizontal-vertical axis coordinates to indicate the touch point. There are, of course, different types of touch technologies out there, including capacitive display, infrared, and surface acoustic wave (SAW), among others.

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Why resistive industrial touch screens need to be sealed

As a basic requirement, touch monitors that are to be used in industrial computer settings are designed to be waterproof, which means that their components themselves must be waterproof.

Our resistive screens easily meet or surpass IP65/66 and NEMA 12/4/4X environmental exposure standards in addition to being easily sealed up within the bezel of any standard industrial display unit. Technology which relies on optics, such as infrared isn&#;t quite so easily sealed and are thus are more susceptible to malfunction when exposed to extremely dirty surroundings.

Similarly, acoustic-based technologies have some weak points.

When they are bonded to an enclosure in order to seal the unit, as the bonding operation may bring about changes in the acoustic properties of the glass.

Touch displays that work with styluses and gloves

Resistive touch screens monitor can also be considered purely touch sensitive, as anything that is pressed against the screens will register as a touch. The obvious advantage of such a feature is that it&#;s possible for an operator to work with the screens using a stylus made out of almost any material, which is extremely useful in situations where high precision is required for effective operation and fingertips would simply be too large.

Another somewhat less obvious advantage of this is that one can operate the screens using a gloved hand.

Capacitive screens, for the most part, won&#;t function if the user is wearing heavy gloves because they work by detecting the electric properties of the user&#;s finger. Resistive screens have absolutely no problem in this area; heavy gloved operators can use our screens with ease &#; something that can&#;t be said for capacitive PC screens. Try it out on your capacitive smart screen and see for yourself!

No glass touch screen solutions

Most facilities working within the food and beverage industry have strict no exposed glass regulations, and this is for a good reason; they simply can&#;t afford to risk bits of chipped glass coming off the screens and falling into their customer&#;s food!

Most touch screens render themselves unsuitable in this regard as they use raw plate glass as their outer layers.

Our resistive screens avoid this pitfall by manufacturing extremely tough polycarbonate outer layers incorporating acrylic hard-coats to further boost their scratch-resistant qualities.

This outer layer is what we bond to the front of our industrial bezels so that they may be able to withstand extreme frontal impacts that completely shatter the LCD and touch sensor substrate without releasing glass into the environment. This quality is what makes us number one for clients who simply can&#;t compromise on this aspect.

The different resistive touchscreen types by Faytech North America

Our polycarbonate-layered screen sensors give them an edge over most other all-glass touchscreen devices but we do encounter the rare case of failure, such as when a user might try to make use of a box-cutter as a stylus, which might allow liquid to penetrate the screen through the cut membrane.

Should this be a possibility in your operating environment, we have two possible solutions for you; first off, we provide a line of industrial screen protectors made of the same material as the touch sensor itself but with a transparent adhesive added.

These were initially designed to protect displays in the very worst environments, but have proven effective low-cost screen protectors for our clients that are easily replaced with time and wear.

Second, we cater to those among our clients that would like all the benefits of resistive touchscreen PC systems while requiring a surface that&#;s entirely scratch-proof. These are armored touchscreens which are built with a thin glass layer within the outer screen&#;s layer.

They are extremely durable and resistant to scratches and cuts, which makes them highly suitable for industrial settings.

Contact us today to speak with our specialists about your specific industry needs.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Intelligent Touch Display Products. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.