In advanced industrial settings, there are generally three common types of touch screens used by OEMs to design a variety of applications- capacitive, resistive and infrared. The capacitive and resistive touch screen types have been in usage for many years, but infrared (IR) touch screens have recently gained momentum in industrial applications with several innovative versions.
An infrared touch screen is designed with an LCD display comprising an IR touch frame mounted around its perimeter. This IR touch frame entails Infrared LEDs and photodetectors along with an optical bezel or protective cover. The IR LEDs emit infrared beams (invisible to the naked eye) through the bezel, creating an optical grid on the display’s surface. When a touch event happens, it impedes some of the light beams and photodetectors detect these interruptions. Eventually, the controller identifies the touch point through which beams of the X and Y axis’ are blocked.
This is how an infrared touch screen work. However, there are many other aspects of IR-infrared touch screens. Read on to learn more.
Overview of Infrared Touch Screens
Infrared touch screens allow touch operations with a finger or pen. However, the considerable advantage of this touch technology can be better utilized in flat panel displays as the infrared raster matrix on which it works needs to be on the same plane.
Infrared detection technology can take a simple infrared detection system by using the infrared emitter and receiver tube of the same wavelength. If there are objects blocking the connection between the infrared emitter and receiver tubes, the signal will drop sharply at receiving end. Infrared touch screens were not popular when the majority of monitors were using Cathode Ray Tubes (CRT) having a curved surface. Hence, there’s a large gap between the real sensing touch plane and the arc-shaped corners in the display screen.
On the other hand, if infrared is used at a much closer distance with flat panel displays, the sensing touch is right at the surface which means there is no false activation particularly in the corners where this was a problem with CRT monitors.
Infrared emitters on the bezel transmit a fixed frequency signal, the receiver only senses this frequency, so the anti-jamming ability is powerful in IR touch screens with pulse mode. In case, the pulse mode modulates the signal on the working frequency, it can be used in applications requiring digital communication, which is commonly known as infrared communication. Remote controls of various household appliances, infrared communication of computers, and even the fastest optical fiber communication is typically designed with this particular technology.
Infrared Touch Screens by A D Metro
A D Metro offers the most innovative version of infrared (IR) touch screens known as Linear Correlating Infrared (LCIR) touch technology. LCIR touch screen is a great choice for applications that require multi-touch operations but face difficulty in integrating PCAP technology. Unlike standard IR technology, A D Metro’s LCIR (Infrared) touch screen technology offers reliable two-touch functionality and input compatibility with gloves and a 5mm stylus. Most importantly, it also offers 100% sunlight immunity even with strobing sunlight which standard IR can’t achieve. Coupled with optical clarity with maximum contrast and insignificant radio emissions, it is a perfect choice for defense and avionic applications.
