Appliance Design - February 2008 - (Page 27) CONTROLS & SENSORS tance. The various different modules have additional displays for timer, dual zones and other features. Zapf adds that a touch control panel’s touch point diameter ranges from 6 mm up to 10 mm. Touch controls can be used in conjunction with every IR-transmissive material. For Cherry’s Touch Controls, an infrared transparency of about 30 percent is sufficient. The substrate materials can be tinted or come in a variety of color options such as white, blue, grey and silver. He adds that glass is used at a thickness of about 3 mm to 4 mm, but with the aid of a mechanical adapted mounting sleeve, which helps to focus the IR, the use of thicker materials are possible. While the system can see through light-transmissive material, it cannot be used with other materials such as metal as can other technologies such as acoustic systems. The company’s newest product is its slider touch control. The most advanced version of its optical component sliders use cross-light coupling. This means that every IR transmitter has photosensors on either side to help determine the direction of finger movement. (See Fig. 2.) “Sliding the finger to either side changes the balance of the signal to the neighboring photosensors and thus indicates even the smallest movements,” says Zapf. By sliding a finger along the operation line, the heat setting can be varied conwww.applianceDESIGN.com Fig. 4. Cherry offers multiple slider designs. stantly without having to enter repeated commands to turn the heat up or down, as one would with a conventional slew control system. In addition, using the slider technology enables both the selection of the burner and the choice of the heat setting with the single touch of a finger. Zapf says that most users find the patented technology to be self-explanatory because of well-designed symbols that point the user to the correct operation. The technology provides for “high flexibility,” he says, as the arrangement of the sensor array is flexible. A slideroperated control can be realized in many different layouts and orientations. Zapf says the easiest and most popular arrangement is in a line or circle with a slider length of 6 cm to 8 cm. Zapf adds that the technology offers a “kind of simplicity” in terms of the system’s modularity and configurability that allows for a freedom of design using the slider technology. (See Fig. 3.) This flexibility is helping the company expand the applications on which the technology can be used (See Fig. 4). Zapf says that they are presently working with several customers to create touch controls for other household appliances, home entertainment devices, medical and other applications. < For more information, enter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 Or email: andreas .kohlmeyer@cherry .de applianceDESIGN February 2008 27 http://www.appliancedesign.com
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