Touchscreens are everywhere, whether you are shopping through your smartphone or at a self-serving kiosk. The extensive use of touch screens definitely gives the touch panel manufacturers to work on different panels for the perfect match for the products.
Every panel has its advantages and disadvantages and is based on suitability as per the demand. To your surprise, the very first touch display was developed in 1965. That was a long time, about 4 decades before the smartphone was even in our thoughts.
Despite the ease of use of the panels, the core technology is more sophisticated than it seems because there are four different types of touch panels.
So let us understand the touch panels and the different types of panels in the market.
Touch Panels: An Overview
Touch panels, which serve as the primary user interface, significantly impact how users see well-designed and usable mobile devices. These parts have increased in complexity and capability thanks to ongoing innovation.
Simply described, touch panels, usually referred to as touchscreens or touch monitors, are devices that let users interact with computers directly with their hands. More specifically, a user’s touch is sensed by internal sensors, converted into an instruction command, and then translated into a visual function.
In a continual effort to address the expanding needs of consumers in brand-new and cutting-edge applications and surroundings, many manufacturers of touch panels continue to look for new technologies and enhance existing ones.
Now let us find out the four different types of touch panels.
1. Resistive Touch
2. Projected Capacitive Touch
3. Optical Imaging Touch
4. Infrared Touch Panel
Resistive Touch
A resistive touch panel recognizes only one touch, such as the contact of your finger or a stylus, in order to detect input. The glass substrate at the top of the structure and the layers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) covered with indium-tin-oxide (ITO) make up the composition of RTP.
Resistive touch panels are low-cost options that detect commands by applying pressure to the screen. This pressure sensitivity is often restricted to single-point touch. It has a maximum screen size of 20 inches, which is acceptable for many usage scenarios—our blog, Touch Panels: Resistive Vs. Capacitive is a perfect one to learn more about the resistive touch panel.
However, despite their adaptability, resistive touch panels are less resistant than their counterparts. Furthermore, because it relies solely on single-point contact, this touch panel cannot genuinely support multitouch capability.
Projected Capacitive Touch
Projected capacitive touch panels are the touch panel option for you if you tend to “go with what you know.” Projected Capacitive touch screens are renowned for their excellent precision and quick response times thanks to their electrical-based touch sensing.
Projected Capacitive touch panels, often referred to as PCAP, PCT, or Capacitive Touch Panels, enable multitouch by using electrical characteristics of the human body as input for numerous points of contact. PCAP comprises a flexible printed circuit connecting the touchscreen controller and a projected capacitive touchscreen laminated with a protective lens.
Optical Imaging Touch
The touch input on the screen is detected by optical imaging touch technology using infrared cameras and light. Depending on the components utilized, the precision of touch input with optical imaging touch can change.
Multitouch optical imaging touch panels typically range from 19 to 100 inches. These devices use imaging for touch detection. Therefore, any touch, such as fingers, styluses, gloves, etc., can be used to enter commands on the screen.
Infrared Touch
Infrared touch technology uses a break in light beams to detect touch inputs. In infrared touch displays, touchpoints are determined when the infrared rays are interrupted. The infrared rays are arranged as a grid on the panel itself.
Sizes for infrared touchscreens range from 10 to 120 inches and support multiple touches. On an infrared touch panel, commands can be entered using fingers, thick pens, or gloves, and touch recognition can differ depending on the installed components.
What’s More To See
Touch panels are, in the end, here to stay for a long. The degree of adoption of this technology in the four decades since its development is astounding.
It would be incorrect to think that the uses for any of these touch panels are just applicable to consumer-level or previously mentioned products. Many other sectors and aspects of daily life use these types of touch panels.
Touch-based solutions are always required, whether it is in the fields of finance, manufacturing, retail, healthcare, or education. Moreover, in many of these industries, these touch panels are more frequently utilized to sell solutions to businesses than items to consumers. These touch-based technologies work with the so-called “Internet of Things” to significantly influence practices.
With MicroTips Technology, you can get the best custom-made touch panels per your desired product requirement.