Four-wire touchscreens for compact applications

Elo TouchSystems has added a family of four-wire resistive touchscreens to its existing resistive touchscreen product line.

Elo TouchSystems has added a family of four-wire resistive touchscreens to its existing resistive touchscreen product line.

Applying Elo's expertise from its AccuTouch resistive product line, these new AT4 resistive touchscreens are optimised to meet the demanding customer requirements for smaller size applications.

Proven in the Japanese market over the last two years, Elo's new AT4 resistive touchscreens are now available to the rest of the world.

Elo's extended resistive technology offering joins the CarrollTouch scanning infra-red (IR), and IntelliTouch, SecureTouch, and iTouch surface wave touch technologies the largest touch technology offering from any manufacturer.

The new AT4 series of resistive touchscreens are available in 6.0, 8.4 and 10.4in standard sizes, as well as customised models.

They are supported by Elo's new 2215 mini serial controller board and renowned Coach IIs (controller on a chip) controller chip to take full advantage of Elo's SmartSet protocol and drivers, plus they are also compatible with microprocessors with embedded four-wire interfaces.

Elo's AT4 resistive touchscreens offer stable, drift-free, accurate operation, fast touch response, and durability, and can be activated by a finger, gloved hand, or stylus.

Their operation is not affected by dirt, dust, water, or light.

The new AT4 resistive touchscreens are ideal for OEMs and systems integrators who need to provide a cost-effective solution for industrial applications, portable medical and field automation devices, access control terminals, office equipment, home appliances, and wearable computers almost anywhere a small display is used.

For larger resistive sizes, AccuTouch five-wire resistive technology continues to be the touchscreen of choice.

"For customers who require a stable, accurate, affordable touch solution, Elo's resistive touch technology has become the de facto standard", says Mike Sigona, European Marketing Manager.

"With over 30 years of experience in resistive technology, we developed the new AT4 resistive touchscreens as a result of our customers' expressed desire for entry-level touchscreens at a lower price point without sacrificing features such as durability and ease of operation".

Elo's AT4 resistive touch technology consists of a glass panel coated with electrically conductive and resistive layers.

A polyester cover sheet is tightly suspended over the top of the glass, separated from it by small, transparent insulating (separator) dots.

This cover sheet has a hard, durable coating on the outer side and a conductive coating on the inner side.

During operation, the controller circuit applies a voltage gradient across the resistive surfaces.

The voltages at the point of contact are the analogue representation of the position touched.

The controller digitises these voltages and transmits them to the computer for processing.

Elo's Coach IIs chip operates at both 3.3 and 5V and is packaged with a small footprint of 12.15mm by 12.15mm.

It also incorporates a power-down mode in which power consumption can be reduced by as much as 95%.

The compact size, lower operating voltage, and reduced power consumption of the Coach IIs make it the perfect partner for Elo's cost-effective AT4 four-wire resistive touchscreens and battery-powered applications.

The Coach IIs is also fully compatible with Elo's SmartSet protocol and all of Elo's standard software drivers.

The new 2215 serial controller board is about half the size (60.325 x 31.75mm) of the existing 2210 controller, but is 100% software compatible as it uses the new Coach II chip with power-down mode and Elo's standard SmartSet protocol and drivers.

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