Using Capacitive Touch to Quickly Develop Contactless and Simpler Industrial Designs

New products are taking many of their industrial design cues from smartphones. The expectation is that interfaces like vending and ATMs, elevator controls, and even the basic light or power switch work similar to how a smartphone operates with touch, swipe, and gesture-controlled inputs. Made of glass, metal, or plastic with smooth edges, these control panels are underpinned with the same capacitive touch technology. Capacitive touch allows the product developer more freedom to design a superior interface but maintain the ease of use and responsiveness of a physical button.

Renesas' class-leading capacitive touch IP provides flexibility to implement very modern, sophisticated, and intuitive control systems. These interfaces support both self and mutual capacitance, allowing for very complex input controls. The Renesas capacitive touch sensing engine can also be configured to sense movement through the electrical field. This sensing of movement allows for the development of 3D gesture controls, eliminating the need to contact or operate any buttons or interfaces. In a post-pandemic world, reducing contact with physical interfaces can reduce the overall transfer of bacteria and other germs through commonly used public devices.

The resultant usage of capacitive touch technology gives the ability to design either touch and touchless interfaces that are intuitive to use, have fewer moving parts, are easy to clean and maintain, and can operate in adverse and harsh conditions, all while providing a very modern look and feel.