Analysis
Capacitative touch control IC family has new 16-channel version
Omron Electronic Components Business Europe (OCB-EU) has extended its capacitative Touch Control IC family with a new 16-channel version. Omron’s B6TS touch sensors allow a non-conducting surface of any shape to be used as a control giving a new dimension to the styling of consumer brown and white goods and AV equipment, as well as vending machines, lift controls and security access.
The In consumer electrical goods the controls are normally designed to match the cosmetic appearance of the unit. The B6TS offers customers a great deal of freedom to build their own circuits around the sensor chip using their own defined electrode configuration. Omron offers an Evaluation Kit called the T-SIS (Touch sensor Smart Installation System) or “B6TWorkbench”, allowing designers to experiment with user-definable settings to achieve desired sensing performance and accommodate anticipated environmental changes in the custom specific touch panel (Man-Machine-Interface MMI).
To minimise the cost of the finished system, cost-effective commercial single-sided PCB materials such as FR-2 or CEM-1 can be applied. B6TS is suitable for use with almost all non-conducting materials such as plastic, rubber, glass, marble and wood. It can also be used with ITO (Indium-Tin-Oxide) and other clear materials to create back light touch keys for graphics and special lighting effects.