Advantages over conventional membrane and metal dome based keyboards:

• Significantly reduced contact bounce
  
• Long key travel, providing improved tactile feedback (even when operated by someone wearing gloves, a clear click can be sensed)
  
• No metal parts, resulting in a longer switch life and greater reliability.

ClickTouch retains essentially the same ergonomic performance as standard mechanical push buttons, but is also:

• Dust-tight
• Water-tight
• Chemically resistant
• Circuit layers are printed on polyester substrates with special silver, carbon and insulation inks, with additional protection against oxidation provided by over-printing with carbon.

Key benefits of ClickTouch technology:

• Long-lasting: in excess of 6 million actuations
• Long travel: up to 2mm
• Low contact bounce of <2ms
• Tactile response: hard and soft variation
• Stable operation in temperatures from -10 deg C to +65 deg C
• Dust, water, scratch and chemical resistant
• Aesthetically pleasing, slim-line, ergonomic design
• Cost-effective

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Simplified membrane keyboards, where the lower part of the circuitry is replaced by a PCB. They represent a reliable, compact and cost-effective alternative to complete membrane switches.

Specific features:

• Low tooling cost
  
• Low unit price
  
• Available in small quantities
  
• Low profile
  
• Combines PCB and carrier-plate function
  
• Functions as a switch under an elastomer keypad or plastic keys
  
• Can be actuated with an actuator
  
• Can be backlit by LEDs, EL or Fibre Optics
  
• As a contact layer on a PCB

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Silicone rubber moulded keypads. Moulding allows freedom in the aesthetic and ergonomic design of the keypad.

Design flexibility:

• Keys and base material can have screenprinted background or moulded colours.
  
• Durable legends can be screenprinted or "engraved" onto keytops
  
• Variety of different key shapes are available
  
• Broad range of tactile responses with excellent feedback
  
• Four-directional joystick buttons are available in addition to conventional pushbuttons

RubberTouch keyboards are particularly suitable for applications such as mobile phones and access control.

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Based on standard ClickTouch design. Vandal-proof keypads have a metal top plate and metal push buttons with a patented end-of-travel protection.

Advantages:

• Cost-effective vandal-proofing solution
  
• Fully protected against heavy impacts
  
• Available in aluminium or stainless stell enclosures
  
• Surface can be blank metal, anodised or powder coated
  
• Texts and keys are engraved and coloured

Vandal-proof keyboards guarantee electrical contact in environments where keyboards need additional protection: e.g. telephone keyboards, lifts, door codes, banking terminals.

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Solid-state, light-emitting devices. Allows keyboards to be used in low ambient light conditions.

Electroluminence (EL) is the emission of light under electric-field excitation: the conversion of electrical energy into light energy in the form of photons.

In electrical terms, an EL lamp is a light emitting capacitor and is driven from an AC power supply.

Advantages over conventional back-lighting:

• Effective, economical means of back-lighting
  
• Low power consumption
  
• Low heat and infra-red emissions
  
• Flexible
  
• Uniform light source
  
• Ultra-thin
  
• High Life
  
• Low tooling cost
  
• Low unit price
• Range of colours

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Highly responsive and easy-to-use resistive touch screen technology, which can be combined with other input devices, such as membrane keyboards, to produce fully integrated systems.

Advantages of ScreenTouch:

• Low cost
  
• Straightforward and easy to operate
  
• Reliable. Can be operated with gloved hands, and are not prone to false inputs
  
• High quality. Entails a mimimal reduction in light transmission and detail on the display
  
• Lightweight. Ideal for applications where weight is a consideration, such as portable devices
  
• Tough. Highly resistant to chemicals and abrasion
  
• Durable
  
• Versatile. Matrix and analogue versions and film/glass and film/film versions available

Resistive touch screens are composed of two layers of polyester, coated on the inner surface with conductive material. These layers are laminated together, with the conductive surfaces separated by non-conducting spacer dots.

The screen can then be placed on a glass - for increased rigidity and optimum clarity - or polycarbonate back panel - for applications where glass is unsuitable - and mounted in front of an LCD, TFT or other type of flat display panel.

The surface of the screen that comes into contact with the operator is coated with chemical and abrasion resistant finishes, either hardcoated or anti-glare.

We offer two types of touch screen: matrix and analogue.

Matrix: Resistive touch screens are etched to form switch areas, typically arranged in rows and columns, although custom arrangements are also available. When contact is made with a point on the screen, a circuit is closed, which indicates which row and column has been selected. Matrix touch screens are simple and reliable, and suitable for applications with on-screen menu selection.

Analogue: Analogue screens offer increased flexibility in the way in which the keyboard is laid out. Rather than closing a circuit, analogue systems have two opposing planes of material, driven with a constant DC voltage. When contact is made with a point on the screen, the opposing plane detects the drop in voltage. The change in voltage can then be used to determine the X and Y co-ordinates. Analogue touch screens are highly accurate and are ideal for mouse-driven or high-resolution applications.

Typical applications: process control, biomedical, military, telecoms and retail outlets, as well as a variety of industrial applications.

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Advantages:

• Long lifetime
  
• Chemical-resistant
  
• Can be customised
  
• PC/AT or PS/2 connection
  
• Enclosed or panel-mounted versions available
  
• Multiple language versions available

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Based on a capacitive technique, the developer can create up to 48 touch keys of different size and shape, which can be read out by means of a single custom IC.

The keys still work through over 20 mm of glass or plastic, which give access to a wide range of new applications (such as protection against vandalism, heat, frost, etc.).

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The CFS converts pressure, weight and forces towards a measurable electrical quantity: resistance. As to construction, Force Sensors are comparable with the Clicktouch membrane switches. While combining this top technology with well-controlled production processes, sensors are made that are also thin, light and flexible. Furthermore, these can be designed completely customised and can be combined with and within a membrane switch keyboard.

The resistance value, as well as the sensitivity, can be customised by adapting the layout of the sensor and by selecting the appropriate materials for the specific application. Because of its functionality and low costing price, the CFS can be used in large domains: most reasonable is the application as potentiometer without moving parts, but also applications in the medical sector (e.g. to determine force spreads), for the detection of persons or as touch pads are most convenient. In short: possibilities are countless. Furthermore this sensor can also offer an alternative for the classic membrane switches in high demanding (temperature, mounting on difficult surfaces, high/low environmental pressure) applications.

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Uniform heating solution to many heating problems. Consists of a sheet of polyester, screenprinted with carbon ink, which heats uniformly when a current is applied through it.

• Self-adhesive, easy-mount versions available
  
• Very thin
  
• Custom-made to your specifications
  
• Low tooling costs - can be made in small quantities
  
• Flexible. Can be applied to curved surfaces such as tubes

Applications include: LCD-heating, keyboard heating, cameras, condensing elements for mirrors. Alternatively if the film is printed with a continuous loop in silver or carbon, it can be used as part of an alarm device to detect intruders.

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