Bharat Institute of Technology

TOUCH SCREEN TECH NOLOGY

Only needs your finger.

What it is ?

Bharat Institute of Technology

A touch screen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touch screen can also sense other passive objects such as a stylus. A basic touch screen has three main components: 1 Touch sensor 2 Controller 3 Software driver The touch screen is an input device, so it needs to be combined with a display and a PC or other device to make a complete touch input system. The sensor generally has an electrical current or signal going through it and touching the screen can cause a voltage or signal change. This change is used to determine the location of the touch to the screen.

Bharat Institute of Technology

Touch Sensor
The touch sensitive surface is an extremely durable and flexible glass or polymer touch response surface, and this panel is placed over the viewable area of the screen. In most sensors there is an electric signal going across the screen, and a touch on the surface causes change in the signal depending on the touch sensor technology used . This change allows the controller to identify the location of the touch.

Controller
The controller is a device that acts as the intermediate between the screen and the computer. It interprets the electrical signal of the touch event.

Software Driver
The software driver is an interpreter that converts what signal comes from the controller to information that the operating system can understand.

Types of Touch screen

i. ii. iii. iv. Resistive touch screen Capacitive touch screen Infrared touch screen Surface acoustic wave (SAW) touch screen

Bharat Institute of Technology

Resistive Touch Screen

Construction
The resistive touch screen uses a glass panel with a uniform conductive ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) coating on the side surface. These two conductive layer is separated by a Insulating dot spacer. A PET film is a tightly suspended over the ITO coating surface of a glass panel.

Bharat Institute of Technology

Pressing the flexible top sheet creates electrical contact between the resistive layers, essentially closing a switch in the circuit.

Working Principle

Bharat Institute of Technology

The point of contact divides each layer in a series resistor network with two resistors and a connecting resistor between the two layers.

Bharat Institute of Technology

By measuring the voltage at this point the user gets information about the position of the contact point orthogonal to the voltage gradient. To get a complete set of coordinates, the voltage gradient must be applied once in vertical and then in horizontal direction. First a supply voltage must be applied to one layer and a measurement of the voltage across the other layer is performed. Next the supply is instead connected to the other layer and the opposite layer voltage is measured.

Specification
Operating Force Transparency Operating Voltage Response time Durability : : : : :

Bharat Institute of Technology

10-80 g >80% 5V DC <15ms 5yr

Surface Acoustic Wave

Bharat Institute of Technology

Construction & Working

Bharat Institute of Technology

There are 4 transducers attached to the bevelled edges of the glass for both X and Y axes ( 2 for transmitting and 2 for receiving). The control card sends electrical signals to transmitting transducers of both X and Y axes. The transducers convert these electrical signals from the control card into ultrasonic waves sent to the array of reflectors on the glass surface, and the acoustic waves are directed across to the front surface of the glass by the array of reflectors .

Bharat Institute of Technology

Reflectors on the opposite side gather and direct the waves to the receiving transducer, which reconverts them into an electrical signala digital map of the touch screen surface.

When you touch the screen, you absorb a portion of the wave travelling across it. The received signal is then compared to the stored digital map, the change recognized, and a coordinate calculated.

Specification
Construction Touch Activation Force Expected Life Performance : : :

Bharat Institute of Technology

Glass panel with transducers attached to the front surface of the glass. Typically less than 3 ounces (85 grams). SAW technology has been operationally tested to more than 50 million touches in one location without failure. up to 92% 10ms

Light Transmission Response Time

: :

Capacitive Touch Screen

Bharat Institute of Technology

A capacitive touch screen panel is one which consists of an insulator such as glass coated with a transparent conductor such as indium tin oxide . As the human body is also a conductor, touching the surface of the screen results in a distortion of the screen's electrostatic field, measurable as a change in capacitance. The location is then sent to the controller for processing.

Bharat Institute of Technology

Surface capacitance
In this basic technology, only one side of the insulator is coated with a conductive layer. A small voltage is applied to the conductive layer, resulting in a uniform electrostatic field. When a conductor , such as a human finger, touches the uncoated surface, a capacitor is dynamically formed. The sensor's controller can determine the location of the touch indirectly from the change in the capacitance as measured from the four corners of the panel.

Bharat Institute of Technology

Mutual Capacitance
There is a capacitor at every intersection of each row and each column. For example a 12-by-16 array, would have 192 independent capacitors. A voltage is applied to the rows or columns. Bringing a finger or conductive stylus close to the surface of the sensor changes the local electrostatic field which reduces the mutual capacitance. The capacitance change at every individual point on the grid can be measured to accurately determine the touch location by measuring the voltage in the other axis. Mutual capacitance allows multi-touch operation where multiple fingers, palms or stylus can be accurately tracked at the same time.

Specification
Response Time Clear Finish Operating Force Input Mode Durability : : : : :

Bharat Institute of Technology

<15ms 90% 10g Finger Only 2yr

Infrared Touch Screen

Bharat Institute of Technology

Bharat Institute of Technology

Construction
The touch frame contains a row of IR-light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photo transistors, each mounted on two opposite sides to create a grid of invisible infrared light.

Working
The IR-led continuously send the light horizontally and vertically. When a stylus, such as a finger, enters the grid, it obstructs the beams. One or more photo transistors from each axis detect the absence of light and transmit signals that identifies the x and y coordinates.

Specification
Input Method Touch Activation Force Touch Life Response Time Transparency Operating Voltage : : : : : :

Bharat Institute of Technology

Finger or gloved hand activation None, no force required. 60 Million touches on a single point >10mS 92% ~ 100% DC5V

Comparison between various type of touch screen

Resistive Transparenc y Resolution Accuracy Cost Sensitivity Advantages 75-85% Capacitive 85-92% SAW 85-92% Infrared 92-100%

High Low Low cost (for small sizes)

Very sensitive to scratch

High Moderate Moderate

Sensitive to dirt

High Low High

Sensitive to scratch

Low Low High

ambient light

cost detected Lowsizes). (forModerate cost. Not sensitive to Can which blocks. any small water drop- lets. object Can detect anyGood in harsh object. environments. Not sensitive to Not sensitive to Not sensitive to dust. moisture. Not sensitive tohumidity. humidity. Not sensitive to sensitive temperature. Not droplets. toNot sensitive to water temperature

Resistive Disadvantages

Capacitive

SAW

Infrared

High costs forFinger activation Delicate, expen-to Expensive, detlarge areas. only. sive and sensitive ection placed above scratch. screen and sensitive very sensitive to to ambient light. scratch. finger must stay in low fidelity and position the visibi- detection so for reduces no
lity of the screen. movement. Finger, Gloved Hand, Stylus Finger Finger, Gloved Hand, Soft Pliable Stylus Finger, Gloved Hand, Stylus

Input methods

References

Bharat Institute of Technology

www.wikipedia.com www.touchscreenguide.com www.scribd.com www.a-touch.com www.etouchtechnologies.com www.analog.com www.globalshiksha.com/Touch-Screen

Bharat Institute of Technology

Bharat Institute of Technology