Product category: Touchscreens and Touch Sensors
News Release from: The Bergquist Company | Subject: Five-wire resistive touchscreens
Edited by the Electronicstalk Editorial Team on 22 October 2002
Five-wire touchscreens take
the tough life
Five-wire resistive touchscreens from Bergquist bring a wide range of benefits to applications that encounter heavy usage in varied temperature, harsh environments
Bergquist's five-wire solutions overcome the significant limitations associated with existing four-wire and other touchscreen technologies. These drawbacks include limited life, susceptibility to damage and a need for recalibration during temperature changes and other environmental conditions.
This article was originally published on Electronicstalk on 22 October 2002 at 8.00am (UK)
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The construction of five-wire touchscreens consists of two opposing electrically conductive, transparent elements.
The bottom layer is made of glass and has a transparent metallic coating.
The top layer is a polyester film that is sputter coated on its underside with conductive indium tin oxide (ITO).
Separation of the two layers is achieved using near invisible separator dots.
Bergquist's patented process coupled with the use of a minimum number of layers, significantly improves the overall clarity and cosmetic appearance of the touchscreen compared to existing products on the market; It also results in industry-leading light transmission figures.
Bergquist's five-wire touchscreens offer exceptional levels of durability and achieve a life expectancy of approximately 30 million actuations; this compares to around 1 million for four-wire solutions.
Such performance is achieved by using the stable bottom substrate for both x and y-axis measurements.
The top layer, which is exposed to the environment and is susceptible to damage caused by intense use or harsh operating conditions, is only required to act as a voltage-measuring probe.
This configuration also results in high-speed operation and a positional accuracy of 98.5 %Many touchscreens on the market use the top layer for y-axis measurements, this means that ambient temperature and humidity changes can cause drift that requires field recalibration.
Thermal expansion and contraction of the top layer can also lead to long-term degradation of the material coatings.
Bergquist five-wire touchscreens do not require compensation and their operation and accuracy is unaffected by any damage to the top layer.
The long-life and durable nature of Bergquist five-wire touchscreens is further enhanced by excellent chemical resistance and a -10 to +50C operating temperature range.
Target applications include medical equipment, industrial controls, banking ATMs and gaming.
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