What is the goal of an environmental simulation?
Extreme temperature fluctuations, moisture, dust, impacts or strong vibrations even occur simultaneously in many areas of application, but must not have any influence on the functionality of a touchscreen. The aim of the environmental simulation for touchscreens offered by Interelectronix is to:
Reliable quality
Environmental simulation for industrial monitors and embedded HMI industrial computers
Interelectronix specialises in the development and manufacture of high-quality touch screens and touch panels.
The use of our touchscreens in sensitive applications as well as in applications that are exposed to particularly harsh environmental conditions makes it necessary to place particularly high demands on the quality of our touchscreens. If technically immature products come onto the market or products that have not been optimally developed with regard to the expected requirements with regard to the environmental situations that actually occur, a company incurs very high costs. It is not only the costs for the replacement of a component and the associated downtime that need to be named, but more relevant are the costs associated with a loss of image, which can be considerably higher than the direct costs.
Each touch technology has its own failure mechanisms and is exposed to different environmental influences over the course of its service life. The special competence of Interelectronix is to tailor suitable environmental simulation tests for the loads that occur. These application-specific tests consist of several specific individual tests for the respective touch technology and the specific characteristics of the place of use.
The use of requirement-specific environmental simulations is part of our reliability engineering approach, which specifies the reliability of our touchscreens and touch panels as a premise for development, testing and manufacturing.
The stress factors that affect a touch screen can be determined not only by environmental influences that occur by the operation of the touch screen, but in many cases also by the device in which the touch screen is installed.
In addition to the individually determined environmental simulations we offer, we offer Environmental Stress Screening (ESS).
In this process, early failures can be detected in the context of production tests due to loads on the touchscreen with application-specific defined environmental influences. The aim of the ESS is to expose production-ready products to mechanical, thermal or chemical stress factors in order to uncover latent weak points of the finished product.
System security and durability are directly related to the quality of a product. However, quality is not only determined by the deterministic properties of a touch screen, such as the materials used.
A development approach that precisely analyzes the operating conditions and determines a material selection as well as a design approach is also crucial, so that a touchscreen is optimally designed for the expected environmental influences and tested by means of suitable environmental simulations.
The application-specific environmental simulations as well as the Environmental Stress Screening procedure we use are part of our reliability engineering strategy, which as a result means that Interelectronix 's touchscreens and touch panels are not only of particularly high quality, but also optimally aligned with real requirements.
In many cases, touchscreens are exposed to aggressive harmful gases that lead to corrosion of the materials used.
The list of air pollutants with which touchscreens can come into contact in outdoor areas is already very extensive.
In industrial applications, on the other hand, considerably more and more aggressive harmful gases occur, which immensely accelerate the wear and tear of the touchscreen surface and can thus lead to premature failure of a touchscreen.
Reduce harmful gas impairments
Interelectronix specialises in the production of particularly vibration-resistant touchscreens.
The high durability of our touchscreens has been proven and certified in various test procedures.
Test methods for shock and vibration loads
Test of resilience
This test method tests the functionality and resistance of the touchscreens to loads caused by oscillations, vibrations and sudden shocks.
In the shock-vibration test carried out by Interelectronix , loads are simulated that can occur according to the planned areas of application.
The touchscreens manufactured by Interelectronix are already suitable for use in unusual climatic conditions in their standard version.
In order to prove the functionality of our touchscreens under extreme climatic conditions, we carry out extensive climate change tests. These prove that the touchscreens of Interelectronix can withstand extreme cold and heat without any problems and that both abrupt and extreme temperature changes have no effect on the functionality of the touchscreens.
More info Touchscreens for extreme temperatures
Mechanical stress in touch screens can occur in the form of vibration or mechanical shock.
Depending on the touch technology, type and cause of vibration or mechanical shock, different test procedures are required. Interelectronix 's environmental simulation specialists analyze the use of a touchscreen and the expected environmental influences over the entire product life cycle and determine the appropriate test procedures.
Environmental simulation tests for vibration in touchscreens
These are possible for
Vibrations can occur during the transport of the touchscreen as well as in numerous applications such as printing presses, electronic control units in vehicles or marine engine control during normal operation. Portable devices such as handhelds are also exposed to shocks and vibrations during normal use.
The nature of the vibrations and oscillations depends on the polluter. For example, the type of vibrations that occur during transport with a truck, an airplane or a ship is different from vibrations caused by a printing press or in a vehicle wash.
A mechanical shock is a short-lasting, one-time acceleration impulse in one direction. Shock tests are of particular importance in touch screens, especially for outdoor applications such as ticket machines or ATMs. The problem of vandalism is particularly evident with these devices. A special construction with Impactinator® glass as monolithic glass or laminated glass creates particularly robust and impact-resistant touchscreens.
Climatic stress is caused by the impact of a variety of environmental influences on a touchscreen. Stress factors can be caused by the
- natural climate,
- climatic influences caused by civilization,
- as well as high humidity.
Closely related to the environmental simulation of climatic influences is the thermal stress, which can be caused by the climate as well as by internal issues in the touch system.
Climatic test for special use
Climatic tests for touchscreens that simulate the natural climate recreate the characteristic processes in the atmosphere for the specific location of a touchscreen.
Natural Device Stressors
The natural climatic stressors acting on a device are:
-Rain
CIVILIZATION-INDUCED CLIMATE STRESS Of the natural climate influences, with regard to the environmental simulation and the species of the tests to be carried out, the climatic stress factors caused by civilization distinguish. These are industrial influences, i.e. artificial Stress factors that have only arisen as a result of people's technical activities. The loads that occur on the touchscreen are very different and depend on whether: a touch system • • in an enclosed space or outdoors is used.
Humidity as a stress factor
High humidity can be caused by natural climatic conditions as well as by artificial, civilization-related situations.
High humidity caused by civilization-related situations occurs, among other things, in numerous industrial applications, in swimming pools or in canteen kitchens. The temperature determines the amount of water bound in the air. The moisture content in the air is therefore given as relative humidity. The relative humidity indicates the percentage to which the absolute humidity exhausts the maximum value.
A touch system can be subject to numerous thermal stress factors that have different causes.
While in most cases the development of a touch system pays special attention to the exposure to heat, error mechanisms caused by cold or a permanent alternation of heat and cold are not sufficiently taken into account in the design.
Thermal stress factors can be differentiated into:
High-temperature stress
Delaying or preventing material embrittlement
The continuous operation of a system at a constantly high temperature is a very common requirement for the design. High temperatures have an influence on the electronics as well as on the materials.
Surfaces and housing parts that are made of plastic are particularly affected by high temperatures. In the case of thermoplastics and elastomers, high temperatures cause the material to become brittle over a long period of time due to outgassing of the plasticizers.
Many touch applications are subject to sudden temperature shocks or very strong climatic temperature fluctuations. These include, for example, handhelds that are used in cold stores or out-door devices that are used in climatically extreme climates.
For all these applications, an environmental simulation test is recommended, which simulates the special environmental influences in the real conditions.
The use of tailor-made Environmental Stress Screening (ESS) procedures serves to significantly reduce early failures of touch screens. The Environmental Stress Screening procedure is used to identify manufacturing defects that could possibly lead to the failure of a touchscreen at an early stage. As part of the Environmental Stress Screening, every single touchscreen is fully tested.