Fujitsu Expands Resistive Touch Panel Offering; Factory Production Ramps up

Following the November 2001 opening of its new touch panel factory in Taiwan, Fujitsu Components Asia, Limited (FCAL) has now doubled its capacity. It has also added more panel sizes and configurations to its standard and non-standard resistive touch panel (RTP) product line.

Fujitsu’s 4-wire and 7-wire panel offerings now include more than 200 different configurations of 2.8 to 17.3-inch (diagonal) panels. Primary RTP applications include desktop, notebook and palmtop PCs; intelligent kiosks; portable instrumentation; voting machines; process control; medical and financial equipment; and Point-of-Sale terminals.

Fujitsu’s 7-wire technology is its competitive solution to the industry’s 5-wire concept. It introduces diode current switching of voltages applied to the glass to enable faster switching and more detections per second.

Faster switching results in higher measuring speed or faster reaction time, which is conducive to high-reliability applications and handwriting detection. Using the top film only as a voltage probe provides the same reliability relative to physical operation as 5-wire types.

The added advantage of the 7-wire panels are the 4 voltage sense lines that monitor the voltage fields on the glass, compensating for any variation caused by physical or environmental changes, such as temperature and aging, thus assuring the highest possible accuracy is maintained over the life of the product. A Fujitsu microcontroller chip is necessary to take full advantage of this feature. Typical writing life is ten million words (minimum).

Fujitsu offers customized versions of all its standard and non-standard touch panels. For specific application requirements, Fujitsu also develops custom panel designs. Technical, product and application information is accessible from the company’s web site at http://www.fcal.fujitsu.com.

Fujitsu touch panels are available immediately from stock. MSRPs range from $20.00 to $110.00 for standard products in single quantities.