Which Touch Screens Are Best for Industrial Applications?

Touchscreens have been around for decades, but their high accuracy is a new feature. Read on to learn about the best touchscreens for industry use.

Which Touch Screens Are Best for Industrial Applications?

Touchscreens haven’t always worked as flawlessly as they do on iPhones, but the bar has been raised. Today, there are several options for different types of touchscreens, and some are preferable for certain applications. Read on to discover which touchscreens are best for industrial applications.

Capacitive Touchscreen

Apple uses capacitive touchscreens on their iPhones and iPads—and while the touch technology is highly accurate, it’s also highly expensive. The niche use of capacitive touchscreens makes this a poor choice for use in industrial settings, especially when you factor in that they only respond to bare fingers. If you want to use this touchscreen with a gloved hand, you’re out of luck!

However, if you need touchscreens for indoor or office use, capacitive touchscreens will do the trick (if you’re willing to spend the money, of course).

Surface Acoustic Wave Touchscreen

Surface Acoustic Wave, or SAW, touchscreens have an interesting dichotomy. First, they don’t require conductivity to function, which means you can use them with practically any instrument—bare fingers, gloved hands, or styluses—but it’s also easy to damage SAW touchscreens. That’s because SAW screens don’t have a protective layer, making them far from ideal in an industrial setting.

Infrared and Optical Touchscreens

As opposed to SAW touchscreens, which use ultrasonic waves to determine the point of contact, infrared and optical touchscreens instead use infrared light beams and internal cameras, respectively. These options do, however, share the problem of damage susceptibility with SAW touchscreens.

Resistive Touchscreen

Resistive touchscreens, like the Pro-Face touch panel, are commonly used, and for a good reason! They are easy to produce (and easy to produce inexpensively) and have great durability. Resistive touchscreens use several layers on the screen for precise contact recognition, but this also has a secondary benefit—more layers equate to more protection!

Now that you know which touchscreens are best for industrial applications, make sure you find the display that provides the best balance of affordability and utility.