Capacitive touch screens are very popular for self service touchscreen applications, as they are durable, reliable and optically clear to allow the full brightness and colour of the display graphics to shine through. A clear glass sensor is attached to the front of the machines display, typically an LCD panel in one of the standard sizes offered by display vendors. For technical reasons, capacitive touchscreens are usually offered in a range of 6.4″ up to a maximum of 32″ in standard and wide aspect ratios.
The retail touchscreen application generates the images of touch input controls, such as menu buttons to confirm choices or a numeric keypad to enter a product code. When the user touches the glass sensor at the position of one of these features, an electronic controller calculates the position and communicates the co-ordinates to the computer program. With this information the program is then able to decode the users command and react accordingly.
The construction of the touchscreen sensor begins with a glass ‘mothersheet’ of high optical quality. Individual panels are then cut out of this sheet, to match the required display sizes. To make the glass touch sensitive for a touchscreen, it is first coated with a thin conductive layer which is transparent to the user.
The key three components of a touchscreen, the sensor, the electronics and the software all must work together to fulfill all the requirements for the kiosk to come together in the right way
