Technical Articles & Industry Trends

Top 3 Industrial PC Touch Screen Technologies

While there are many types of touch screen technologies available for industrial touch screen pcs, three stand out as the most practical and cost-effective options for most application.

Resistive

This type of screen is comprised of 2 elements, a glass panel and a film screen, both with a thin metallic coating. The panel and the screen are stacked on top of each other, with the metallic coated sides facing each other and a small gap between the panel and the screen. When a user pushes down against the film screen, the electrically charged metallic layers touch and transfer electrical current. This action signals a screen touch at the specified location. Many different objects can be used on a resistive screen to interact with the interface, as long as sufficient pressure is applied to trigger a screen touch. As such, this is a popular option in facilities where touch screen users are required to wear gloves while interacting with the computer screen.

Surface Capacitive

This touch screen technology utilizes the static electricity capacity of the human body to register its screen touches. The screen is designed by adding a thin layer of electrodes on top of a glass panel. When the panel makes contact with human skin or with another capacitive object (like a stylus with an electrical charge), the screen will transfer a small amount of electrical current to the user’s skin. This transfer of energy is registered by the unit as a screen touch. Unlike resistive based touch screen technology, the capacitive screen cannot register screen touches without direct contact from a capacitive object.

Projected Capacitive

Like the surface capacitive screen technology, the projected capacitive screens operate by using a layer of electrodes to create an electrical current that is read by sensors in the screen. However, unlike the surface capacitive screens, the projected capacitive screen uses a three dimensional electrostatic field to pinpoint and register screen touches by the user. Unlike the surface capacitive screens, this technology allows for the use of thin gloves on the screen, as well as multi-touch inputs from the user.

Available Solutions

Teguar offers a wide range of industrial touch screen pcs for every application, with specialized units designed to be waterproof, sunlight readable, or explosion-proof. Regardless of whether you are looking for a resistive, surface capacitive, or projected capacitive screen, we have a solution to meet the needs of your specific operations.