The Difference Between Capacitive, Resistive And Infrared Touch Screens
The Difference Between Capacitive, Resistive and Infrared Touch Screens
Customers often ask which is better among resistive touch screen, Capacitive Touch screen and infrared touch screen. Let's compare the differences between the three mainstream touch technologies of resistive touch screen, capacitive touch screen and infrared touch screen in detail and their typical application scenarios.
Core principle difference (determines characteristics and applicability)
Resistive touch screens are composed of two conductive layers (usually plastic film and glass coated with conductive coating), separated by tiny isolation points. When a finger or stylus presses the screen surface, the two conductive layers touch at the pressure point, and the controller determines the coordinates by measuring the voltage change at the contact point. Key features: Physical pressure is required to trigger. Any object (finger, gloved hand, stylus, nail) can operate.
The screen surface of the capacitive touch screen is covered with a layer of transparent conductive material. When a conductive object (usually a finger) touches the screen, it changes the electrostatic field on the surface of the screen. The controller calculates the location of the touch point by detecting the change in the electric field (current change or capacitance change). Key features: Depends on human conductivity or a special capacitive pen. Ordinary insulators (plastic pens, hands wearing ordinary gloves) cannot operate. Supports multi-touch.
Infrared touch screens install dense infrared transmitting and receiving tubes on the frame of the screen, forming a criss-crossing infrared grid on the surface of the screen. When an object (finger, pen, glove, or any other opaque object) touches the screen, it blocks some of the infrared light in the horizontal and vertical directions. The controller can determine the coordinates of the touch point by detecting which light beams are blocked (which pair of transmitting and receiving tubes have interrupted the signal). Key features: Detect touch by blocking light. Almost any opaque object can trigger it. The surface is usually a piece of pure glass, which is very strong.
| Features | Resistive touch screen | Capacitive touch screen | Infrared touch screen |
| Trigger method | Physical pressure | Electrostatic induction (conductive object required) | Light blocking (needs opaque objects) |
| Input object | Any object (finger, glove, pen, nail) | Bare fingers, special capacitive stylus | Any opaque objects (fingers, gloves, pens, cards) |
| Multi-touch | Usually only single point (a few support 2 points) | Excellent (supports multi-point gestures) | Good (supports multiple points, accuracy and speed are inferior to capacitance) |
| Transmittance/clarity | Poor (multi-layer structure) | Very good (single or multi-layer structure, but high light transmittance) | Excellent (surface is only glass) |
| Accuracy | Better | Very good | Very good (depends on the density of infrared tubes) |
| Response speed | Slower | Very fast | Fast |
| Surface durability | Poor (plastic film is easily scratched and aged) | Good (hard and wear-resistant glass surface) | Excellent (pure glass surface, most resistant to scratches and impacts) |
| Environmental resistance | Better (operation is not affected by water, oil, dust) | Very susceptible to water stains and oil stains (may cause accidental touches) | May touch by mistake under strong light (flying insects, water droplets reflect light) |
| Temperature adaptability | Poor (plastic layer is easily affected by temperature) | Good | Very good |
| Cost | Low (small size) | Medium to high (small/medium size) | The larger the size, the higher the cost performance (large size has the best cost) |
| Edge touch | Good | Good | The border area may have blind spots or reduced accuracy |
| Power consumption | Low | Low | High (needs to continuously emit infrared rays) |
Typical application scenarios
Resistive touch screens are more used in industrial control panels because of their low cost, resistance to harsh environments (water, oil, dust), and can be operated with any object (especially wearing gloves or requiring a stylus). Workers need to wear gloves to operate, but with the development of technology, even factory workshops rarely use resistive touch screens.
Capacitive touch screens are widely used in tablet computers, electricity electronic products, self-service terminals, in-vehicle entertainment systems, home appliance control panels, interactive digital signage, etc. due to their smooth operation, support for multi-touch and complex gestures.
The surface of the infrared touch screen is extremely durable (pure glass), can be operated with any opaque object (no problem wearing thick gloves), has the best light transmittance, is easy to achieve oversized, is resistant to harsh surface environments (water, oil, and dust do not affect detection), and supports multi-touch. Therefore, it is mainly used in large interactive whiteboards/smart blackboards (education, conferences), oversized information Display Screens/digital signage, industrial environments that require thick gloves to operate, etc.
Therefore, the choice of what kind of touch screen needs to be based on the customer's actual use environment and cost requirements to select the appropriate touch screen product. DEWO focuses on all kinds of touch all-in-one computers and supports customization, OEM/ODM.
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