Touch switch

A touch switch is a type of switch that only has to be touched by an object to operate. It is used in many lamps and wall switches that have a metal exterior as well as on public computer terminals. A touchscreen includes an array of touch switches on a display. A touch switch is the simplest kind of tactile sensor.

Types

There are three types of switches called touch switches:

Capacitance switch

A capacitance switch needs only one electrode to function. The electrode can be placed behind a non-conductive panel such as wood, glass, or plastic. The switch works using body capacitance, a property of the human body that gives it great electrical characteristics. The lamp keeps charging and discharging its metal exterior to detect changes in capacitance. When a person touches it, it increases the capacitance and triggers the switch.

Capacitance switches are available commercially as integrated circuits from:

Azoteq IQSProxSense: IQSProxSense range of capactive touch and proximity sensing devices.^[1]
Analog Devices: Model AD7147 (12 channel).
Atmel QTouch: QTouch series of semiconductors including the simple QT 1010/1/2 devices.^[2]
Cypress Semiconductor CapSense: The CY8C21434 can be configured as an 8-channel capacitance sensor, as used in the Apple iPod
Freescale Semiconductor: Model MPR083 and MPR084 can be configured as an 8-touch-pad sensor.^[3]
Holtek Semiconductor BS Series: Holtek BSxxx series of device offers a huge range of fixed function touch switch ICs as well as MCUs with embedded touch key functions.
Microchip mTouch: Model PIC16F707 (32 channel).
Omron: Model B6TS04LT (4 channel) and B6TS08LT (8 channel).
Panasonic Semiconductors : Panasonic Touch Key Microcomputers.^[4]^[5]
Rapid Keypads: Model BSQ-XX2ML (6 - 32 channel) ICs communicate via USB, Serial, SPI, I2C and other custom communication protocols.^[6]
touchSEMI: Model TSM12 (12 channel) and complete touch sensors and capacitance comparators line.^[7]

These devices can also be used as a short-range proximity sensor.

Resistance touch switch

A resistance switch needs two electrodes to be physically in contact with something electrically conductive (for example a finger) to operate. They work by lowering the resistance between two pieces of metal. It is thus much simpler in construction compared to the capacitance switch. Placing one or two fingers across the plates achieves a turn on or closed state. Removing the finger(s) from the metal pieces turns the device off.

One implementation of a resistance touch switch would be two Darlington-paired transistors where the base of the first transistor is connected to one of the electrodes.

Also, an N-Channel, enhancement-mode, metal oxide field effect transistor can be used. Its gate can be connected to one of the electrodes and the other electrode through a resistance to a positive voltage.

Piezo touch switch

Piezo touch switches are based on mechanical bending of piezo ceramic, typically constructed directly behind a surface. This solution enables touch interfaces with any kind of material. Another characteristic of piezo is that it can function as actuator as well. Current commercial solutions construct the piezo in such way that touching with approximately 1.5 N is enough, even for stiff materials like stainless steel.

Piezo touch switches are available commercially from:

Aito BV (complete UX-Chip)
Algra (modules)
Barantec (switches, keypads, custom keyboards and panels)
Stern Engineering] (modules)

References

External links

Example schematics

Sensors

Acoustic, sound, vibration	Geophone Hydrophone Microphone Seismometer

Automotive, transportation	Air–fuel ratio meter Blind spot monitor Crankshaft position sensor Curb feeler Defect detector Engine coolant temperature sensor Hall effect sensor MAP sensor Mass flow sensor Omniview technology Oxygen sensor Parking sensors Radar gun Speed sensor Speedometer Throttle position sensor Tire-pressure monitoring system Torque sensor Transmission fluid temperature sensor Turbine speed sensor Variable reluctance sensor Vehicle speed sensor Water sensor Wheel speed sensor

Chemical	Breathalyzer Carbon dioxide sensor Carbon monoxide detector Catalytic bead sensor Chemical field-effect transistor Electrochemical gas sensor Electrolyte–insulator–semiconductor sensor Electronic nose Fluorescent chloride sensors Holographic sensor Hydrocarbon dew point analyzer Hydrogen sensor Hydrogen sulfide sensor Infrared point sensor Ion selective electrode Microwave chemistry sensor Nitrogen oxide sensor Nondispersive infrared sensor Olfactometer Optode Oxygen sensor Pellistor pH glass electrode Potentiometric sensor Redox electrode Smoke detector Zinc oxide nanorod sensor

Electric, magnetic, radio	Current sensor Electroscope Galvanometer Hall effect sensor Hall probe Magnetic anomaly detector Magnetometer MEMS magnetic field sensor Metal detector Planar Hall sensor Radio direction finder Test light

Environment, weather, moisture	Actinometer Bedwetting alarm Ceilometer Dew warning Electrochemical gas sensor Fish counter Frequency domain sensor Gas detector Hook gauge evaporimeter Humistor Hygrometer Leaf sensor Psychrometer Pyranometer Pyrgeometer Rain gauge Rain sensor SNOTEL Snow gauge Soil moisture sensor Stream gauge Tide gauge Weather radar

Flow, fluid velocity	Air flow meter Anemometer Flow sensor Gas meter Mass flow sensor Water metering

Ionising radiation, subatomic particles	Bubble chamber Cloud chamber Geiger counter Neutron detection Particle detector Scintillation counter Scintillator Wire chamber

Navigation instruments	Airspeed indicator Machmeter Altimeter Attitude indicator Depth gauge Fluxgate compass Gyroscope Inertial navigation system Inertial reference unit Magnetic compass MHD sensor Ring laser gyroscope Turn coordinator Variometer Vibrating structure gyroscope Yaw-rate sensor

Position, angle, displacement	Accelerometer Auxanometer Capacitive displacement sensor Capacitive sensing Gravimeter Inclinometer Integrated circuit piezoelectric sensor Laser rangefinder Laser surface velocimeter Lidar Linear encoder Linear variable differential transformer Liquid capacitive inclinometers Odometer Photoelectric sensor Piezoelectric accelerometer Position sensor Rate sensor Rotary encoder Rotary variable differential transformer Selsyn Sudden Motion Sensor Tachometer Tilt sensor Ultrasonic thickness gauge Variable reluctance sensor Velocity receiver

Optical, light, imaging	Charge-coupled device Contact image sensor Electro-optical sensor Flame detector Infrared Kinetic inductance detector LED as light sensor Light-addressable potentiometric sensor Nichols radiometer Optical fiber Photodetector Photodiode Photoelectric sensor Photoionization detector Photomultiplier Photoresistor Photoswitch Phototransistor Phototube Position sensitive device Scintillometer Shack–Hartmann wavefront sensor Single-photon avalanche diode Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector Transition edge sensor Tristimulus colorimeter Visible-light photon counter Wavefront sensor

Pressure	Barograph Barometer Boost gauge Bourdon gauge Hot-filament ionization gauge Ionization gauge McLeod gauge Oscillating U-tube Permanent Downhole Gauge Piezometer Pirani gauge Pressure gauge Pressure sensor Tactile sensor Time pressure gauge

Force, density, level	Bhangmeter Force gauge Hydrometer Level sensor Load cell Magnetic level gauge Nuclear density gauge Piezoelectric sensor Strain gauge Torque sensor Viscometer

Thermal, heat, temperature	Bimetallic strip Bolometer Calorimeter Exhaust gas temperature gauge Flame detection Gardon gauge Golay cell Heat flux sensor Infrared thermometer Microbolometer Microwave radiometer Net radiometer Quartz thermometer Resistance thermometer Silicon bandgap temperature sensor Special sensor microwave/imager Thermistor Thermocouple Thermometer

Proximity, presence	Alarm sensor Doppler radar Motion detector Occupancy sensor Passive infrared sensor Proximity sensor Reed switch Stud finder Touch switch Triangulation sensor Wired glove

Sensor technology	Active pixel sensor Back-illuminated sensor Biochip Biosensor Capacitance probe Carbon paste electrode Catadioptric sensor Digital sensors Displacement receiver Electromechanical film Electro-optical sensor Fabry–Pérot interferometer Fisheries acoustics Image sensor Image sensor format Inductive sensor Intelligent sensor Lab-on-a-chip Leaf sensor Machine vision Microelectromechanical systems Photoelasticity Quantum sensor Radar Ground-penetrating radar Synthetic aperture radar Radar tracker Sensor array Sensor fusion Sensor grid Sensor node Soft sensor Sonar Staring array Transducer Ultrasonic sensor Video sensor technology Visual sensor network Wheatstone bridge Wireless sensor network

Related	List of sensors

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/25/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.