Vandal-proof Touchscreens

Does your display application require a touchscreen that can withstand the challenges of vandal abuse? When your touchscreen is subjected to unattended public access interactivity, vandal proofing can be a constant battle. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer when seeking a vandal proof solution.

However, there are means of increasing resistance to vandal abuse which can generally be addressed in three broad areas: impact protection, scratch/abrasion protection and liquid ingress protection.

Impact and scratch/abrasion damage are minimized by use of added glass top surfaces. Polymers, such as polycarbonate which are highly impact resistant, provide additional protection against impact, scratch and abrasion destruction. Optical bonding, provided by Planar Systems, fills the gap between the protective glass and LCD, keeping out dust and moisture and providing liquid ingress protection.

In addition, glass lamination and glass heat tempering will improve resistance to breakage. This approah can be applied to SAW, surface capacitive, projected capacitive, camera IR and matrix IR touch screens. Newer touch technologies such as force activated technologies can use a variety of tranparent media.

Get The Right Display Touch

With all of the different options of touch technology available on the market today, it's sometimes challenging to determine what type of touch sensor will work best for your display application. Fortunately, Planar has just released an easy-to-read eBook, Touch Display Sensors, that outlines five different touch sensors and explains how their specifications work for different applications.

Choosing the appropriate touch sensor can make the user experience for kiosks, outdoor digital signage and point of sale applications a breeze. The eBook will guide you through information about resistive, surface capacitive, projective capacitive, infrared and surface acoustic wave touch sensors. You'll discover that many enhancements, including optical bonding, can be added to the display surface to improve the view. Check out Planar's other eBooks to help with additional display questions.

A Touch Technology For Every Application

The popularity of touchscreen technology is growing immensely. You can find touchscreens available in grocery store self checkouts, movie rental kiosks and at airport check-in kiosks around the world. So, how do you decide which touch technology will work best for your specific application?

Just like displays, there are a variety of technologies that are best suited for the specific application, use and environment. Life cycle costs play a major role in choosing a touchscreen.

Resistive touch still dominates the marketplace, capturing approximately one-half of the touch market. Its low cost, stylus independence and technology maturity make for a difficult combination for other touch technologies to compete against.

In the small screen size (less than 4"), the projective capacitive touch sensor has made a strong entry into the market, resulting from Apple's iPhone introduction. It has spurred additional development with glass on glass resistive touch screens.

Large screen sizes (larger than 32") are being supplied with IR camera systems, which are relatively inexpensive and easily scalable.

Traditional surface capacitive, matrix IR and surface acoustic wave touch technologies dominate the mid-size (6" to 26"). Again, use, environment and cost play important roles in choosing the optimum technology.

With the myriad of choices in touch technology available for today's applications, which one suits your display function needs best? Look for the best touch technology for a rugged or outdoor environment in an upcomming post.

Transparent Multi-touch

This isn't a result of our new transparent EL technology, but it is interesting. Microsoft Research has developed LucidTouch, a concept product with the touch screen on the back of the panel. Read more about the technology at NewScientistTech.