Zytronic offers a contactless touch sensor option that can detect user interactions up to 30 mm from the glass surface.
ZyBrid Hover

Contactless touch thanks to ZyBrid® hover

Zytronic offers a contactless touch sensor option that can detect user interactions up to 30 mm from the glass surface. Based on fully customizable touch sensors, ZyBrid® hover was developed to make publicly used touch surfaces, such as those at self-service kiosks, hygienic to use.

ZyBrid® hover works in conjunction with Zytronic's ZXY500™ projected capacitive (PCAP) controller, which uses proprietary firmware to increase sensitivity far beyond what is normally possible. This, together with a specially designed touch sensor, can produce a significantly deeper touch field. Furthermore, the multi-touch sensor can recognize basic gestures (such as zooming, pinching and swiping) even when the user is wearing thick gloves. It can also be set to work in standard touch mode, of course, with direct user contact to the surface of the touchscreen.

Advantages over other technologies

Most other techniques used to implement a touchless touchscreen rely on infrared or camera-based touch detection hardware attached to the front edges of the screen. Such arrangements inevitably create unsightly, protruding bezels that can harbour pathogens and make it difficult to effectively clean the screen. They are also susceptible to "false" or accidental touches, as they react to any object that interrupts the IR light beams or enters the camera's field of view - such as a sleeve or raindrops. In addition, intense direct sunlight and dirt that accumulates on the surface can affect performance or prevent these systems from working. PCAP touch technology responds only to fingers or a conductive stylus, so it is far less prone to such performance problems.

Current PCAP-based touchless technologies typically respond only up to about 10 mm from the screen surface and generally cannot detect a touch with a gloved hand. This is because they rely on either ITO or a metal mesh to create the projected capacitive matrix on the back of the sensor - and both have relatively low conductivity. In contrast, ZyBrid® hover applies a proprietary copper matrix pattern to the back of their touch sensors. Combined with the latest ZXY500™ controller and custom firmware, this allows changes in transmitted energy to be detected from further away than ever before. This means that touches can be registered at a distance of at least 30 mm from the surface of the screen, even by a gloved hand.

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