AMT Touch Sensor Solutions with Built-in Heater or EMC Protection

Transcription

1 Spring 2012 AMT Touch Sensor Solutions with Built-in Heater or EMC Protection In order to overcome temperature challenges in harsh environments like very cold outdoor applications AMT has introduced a resistive touch sensor with built in heater feature. The purpose is to heat the LCD to a temperature at its operating temperature or with purpose of defogging/deicing the LCD. Read more on page 04, 05 and 06. This issue is about: 02 New employees joining the M-Comp Denmark team. Support Competence on products Solutions Competence within networking Sales Competence on market & segments 03 RAYSTAR a new display supplier at M-Comp 05 ELCARD - a new communications supplier at M-Comp 06 Flexsolutions using EDT displays with Unified Interface 07 F + S introduces Freescale QuadCore embedded PC A/D board for AUO panels M-Comp in-house developed A/D board for TFT panels now available. Read more on page 03. PSU for the IMPC monitor Resolving customer requirements with new developments and modules. Read more on page 08. Flexsolutions Flexsolutions using EDT Unified Interface for easier display size changes. Read more on page 06.

2 M-Comp enjoys the trust of our customers Moment M-Comp A/S Hecovej Hedensted Denmark Tlf Editor Lars Nordberg-Hansen Tlf lnh@m-comp.dk Editorial employees Erik Sandholm Carsten Birch Sune Meyer Lars Agerberg Michael Friis Jespersen Layout and print Stormes Grafisk Printed in 4,000 copies By: Lars Nordberg-Hansen, lnh@m-comp.dk During the last year we have enjoyed a growth of more than 30%, and when we talk to our customers they tell us we provide value. Some of our partners are on the product design aspect, some on the logistic aspect and some on the product aspect all we are happy to serve. System integration factory In order for us to increase the design and integration aspect we have bought a 1500 square meter factory, producing LCD Monitors from our customer North Invent A/S. This gives us the ability New colleagues joined M-Comp to manufacture large scale customer solutions which more and more customers wants us to do. Sometimes complete units and sometimes subassemblies. ISO9000:2008 In the same breath we have decided to qualify our complete organization to ISO9000:2008. The challenge is headed by David Teis Sørensen, our dedicated Q/A technician. The certification is expected to be completed by July New distribution partners From March 1st we have entered into a distribution agreement with ELCARD WIRELESS M-Comp have over the last months been seeing new people joining the organisation below you will find their pictures and also short facts and position in the company. We hope you will join us in welcoming them on board. SYSTEMS, who are experts on WLAN, GSM, 3G UMTS and much more. Our wish is to support our customers in their desire to become Wireless with out endless technical issues. We have since February 1st been appointed Nordic distribution Partner for InnoDisk, with the focus on industrial memory and Solid State Disc s. The market is growing rapidly and many players are coming into this field, we decided to go with a vendor well known in the industry and whom have had a impressive growth during the last years. Z-Communications Inc, made us their distributor for Voltage controlled Oscillators (VCOs) and Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs). The company makes very nice low noise products, at affordable cost and with the possibility to customize for almost any application. Supply qty is from 10 pcs. to pcs. Jens Holst Andersen, Controller 49 years old, married and have 2 children Education: Finance Previous positions: Controller at Chemitallic A/S, AVC A/S and EMR A/S My competences are within the daily running of the finance routines, using my 25 years of experience. I am open-minded and extrovert and I am looking forward to interact with the M- Comp customers. Pia Hedegaard Rasmussen, Internal Office & Logistics 46 years old, married and have 2 children Education: Technical assistant and commercial exam Previous positions: Administration assistant, Trestjernet A/S and sales/ logistics at DK International Care I am used to handle orders and logistics in connection with previous positions and is used to be having many different tasks during the day. I am looking very much forward to be working with the customers to M-Comp. Michael Friis Jespersen, Area Manager Denmark and Norway 46 years old, married and have a daughter Education: Electronics Technician Previous positions: Sales Director AVNET Abacus Denmark, Export Manager MIGATRONIC A/S, Technical Director Audiovox Communications Corp. New York I have been positively surprised to get to know the M-Comp customers and suppliers, and see that the product mix and related customer interest is very positive indeed. From my side I am also looking forward to be working and meeting with the M-Comp customers. In our display area, we have recently entered into a distribution agreement with Raystar Optronics Inc, a very well established manufacturer in the OLED market with several standard OLED modules, replacing older character displays. Lately they decided to steps into 12,1 XGA high brightness TFTs. Seeing is believing One of our key offers to all customers is to see our different products. We think most products are best understood by seeing a demonstration. We therefore encourage you to either visit our offices to have a demonstration of the products you have interest in or ask us to visit your facility. 2

3 Spring 2012 Competence on products Support A/D board from M-Comp to drive AUO TFT panels By Carsten Birch, RAYSTAR new supplier to M-Comp By Sune Meyer, With M-Comp s A/D board we can drive LVDS TFT panels from 640x480 to 1920x1080. AUO has very nice TFT panels from 6.5 to 24 with long term support and designed for industrial use. M-Comp delivers a kit encompassing A/D board, cables (in specified lengths) and TFT panel. We offer the A/D board in different configurations so it is possible to choose between VGA or VGA + DVI.. etc. Our A/D board support both analog dimming and PWM. This is done simply by changing some jumpers. Since this board is a product developed and manufactured by M-Comp we have full control of the firmware and can therefore modify the firmware to customers specifications. It is possible to modify the OSD menu or changing to power saving settings etc. Raystar Optronics. Inc., located at Central Taiwan Science Park, is one of the leading display suppliers in the world, founded by a group of display professionals being in the related field for more than 10 years. The product line includes small to medium size LCD, TFT, and OLED modules for a variety of industrial and consumable application. Raystar is one of the leading display providers of monochrome character LCD modules, graphic LCD modules, alphanumeric LCD panel & TFT modules. High-quality LCD modules are made based on indepth engineering knowledge, well-managed supply chain and assembly lines. Latest addition to the Raystar product line is a 12 TFT XGAmodule (RFM1210A-AIW-L) for a wide range of different applications and products. Industrial memory and Storage from Innodisk By Carsten Birch, cb@m-comp.dk Innodisk is a leading manufacturer of memory and storage modules for industrial use. Innodisk has a very close cooperation with the manufactures of the FLASH controllers and they adapt the firmware of the FLASH controller to be used in the industry. For very demanding applications it is recommended to use SLC based FLASH products - this is because SLC FLASH can withstand a lot more write cycles than MLC FLASH. The downside of SLC FLASH is the price which is much higher than MLC FLASH, so for this reason Innodisk has optimized a controller for MLC FLASH and created a new costoptimised product line called Evergreen. The new firmware architecture is called L2 and this new architecture provides two different versions where the EverGreen Plus includes icell which is a capacitor based UPS that prevents data loss during a power failure. Evergreen Plus is optimized for long life so Innodisk has added 20% extra FLASH memory which will extend the lifetime of the FLASH disk. The firmware is also different and because of this performance is a little lower than Evergreen. Innodisk has long term availability of their products which is essential for industrial use and with both SLC and MLC FLASH products Innodisk covers the complete range from low end to high end. 3

4 AMT touch sensor solutions, EMC and heater By Erik Sandholm, The increased requirements for improved touch solutions keep pushing development of new touch sensors. Projected capacitive touch solutions has been very much in focus over the past 18 months in which the technology has matured from being a technology widely adopted in the consumer segment also to become widely accepted as technology used in various industrial segments. trial segments and with AMT, M-COMP continue to offer new an improved touch sensor solutions. Touch sensors with built-in heating capability To overcome challenges in harsh environments like very cold outdoor applications AMT has introduced a resistive touch sensor with built in heater feature. defogging/deicing the LCD. Another advantage is that the LCD can reach operating temperature and thereby avoid a LCD panel with slow response time due the crystal liquid not being able to react fast enough due to low temperature. With the heater feature the TFT panel with a touch solution can be used in systems like: 1) Outdoor open vehicles 2) Exposed self serving kiosk systems (ATM s or similar) 3) Military applications used in sub zero environment 4) Food industry with the need for HMI s being operated in sub zero environment However the well known resistive touch technology is still very much in demand for indus- The purpose is to heat the LCD to a temperature at its operating temperature or with purpose of Side view of touch sensor layers. Touch sensors with built-in EMI filter By Erik Sandholm, es@m-comp.dk Being a preferred supplier of touch solutions to a wide range of applications and customers AMT continue to offer new improved versions of existing technologies. One of the most recent improvements to their resistive touch sensors are EMI filter option. EMI filters for TFT has been around for a long time, but these have so far been made as a metal mesh film with less transparency than compared with the ITO technology developed and manufactured by AMT. Depending on the integration and the related electronics, extra EMI shielding can be needed for the solution to pass certain approval criteria. As regards to EMC/EMI. To pass such criteria in a system with a TFT and touch solution an EMI shield on the TFT may become necessary. AMT has addressed this issue and offers EMI shielded touch sensors, adding the EMI shielding layer into the touch sensor. By doing this, AMT offers easy integration and thereby a complete EMI shielded touch sensor no different from a standard resistive touch sensor. Touch sensors with EMI shielding can be used in: Medico approved equipment Measurement equipment Military and related intelligence equipment -.. Or other related areas in which electrical noise is a problem to resolve Specifications: 5 Ω/sq, 15 Ω/sq available Available size up to 15, bigger size requested up on request 10dB 30 db reduced (dependable on actual integration etc) M-COMP together with AMT offers a complete range of touch sensors to meet customers demands. This range includes standard touch sensors and custom made solutions in which a whole range of AMT s technologies can be incorporated to satisfy the increasing demand for touchsolutions. Side-view of the layers in touch sensor with build in EMI filter 4

5 Spring 2012 ELCARD a new product line at M-Comp By Michael Friis Jespersen, mfj@m-comp.dk Elcard Wireless Systems Ltd designs and creates flexible and fast wireless data communication and display solutions for extreme environments. All Elcard s solutions are always ready to endure extreme conditions like vibrations, dust, moisture and very high as well as low temperatures. Elcard put strong emphasis on the continuous development of their own technological knowhow and the recognition of contemporary market and technology trends. In addition to the wireless components and solutions, Elcard s product palette also include rugged displays for harsh environments as well as toughened cables, antennas and amplifiers for both of the main product groups. Thanks to the technology strategy chosen by Elcard, Elcard s solutions can be used with all major operating systems and software platforms all over the world. Get the best TFT picture in outdoor environment By Erik Sandholm, es@m-comp.dk Tri-M an old new member of the M-Comp family By Lars Agerbergs, lag@m-comp.se Direct sunlight on a TFT panel can make it extremely difficult to read the information displayed. With TFT screens used for outdoor application and with touch interface for the operator it is quite common that it becomes very hard to read the display if exposed to sunlight. M-COMP offers TFT modules and solutions suited to cope with these challenges in bright sunlight. The two major improvements that can be made are: Hi-bright TFT panels, optical bonding if touch /cover lens Principle of Optical Bonded front are involved, or a combination of both. Optical bonding of the front glass/touch sensor is one of the best methods that can ensure that a TFT panel remains readable in sunlight conditions. Optical bonding reduces reflections and loss of light. The front glass can furthermore be enhanced with anti reflective AR coating and built-in filter to avoid discoloring (UV) and reduce surface heat on the TFT panel (IR filter) M-Comp always strives to build long term and tight relationships with its suppliers, and Tri- M is a good example of that. Tri- M have been cooperating with M-Comp AB for almost 20 years and have now appointed M- Comp as distributor in the Nordic countries in Europe opening new possibilities to serve customers with both off the shelf and customized DC/DC products for the embedded market. High quality, reliability and ruggedness is a perfect match with the M-Comp product line. With Tri- M products we can support a wide range of applications. Tri-M targeted areas Tri-M develops and manufactures power solutions as well as single board computers for embedded applications. Tri- M s solutions are designed to withstand harsh environments where exposure to shock, vibration, dust, moisture and extreme temperatures can impede the performance of all but the most hardened systems. Solutions include DC-to-DC converters, CPU boards, hardened PC enclosures, I/O modules, GPS products, and development boards. Tri-M specialize also in providing short or long term backup power and UPS solutions for embedded applications. Tri-M makes a wide range of technologies including Ultra-capacitors for long-term backup up power or for high frequency discharge cycles. Customization - a standard procedure If you can t find the product you re looking for, ask for a customization that can include: Utility level Software Development Loading of OS, drivers and configuration Extended Warranty Programs Coating of boards Connector usage to your specifications BIOS changes for customer compatibility Component customizations Custom finishes on enclosures 5

6 Competence on markets and segments Sales Increasing versatility in the EDT TFT portfolio By: By Sune Meyer, As the market requirement for displays with specific characteristics is on the rise, Emerging Display Technologies meets these demands with more and more TFT displays in known sizes, but optimized to answer the particular needs of customers: 4,3 Wide Viewing Area TFT There are many different designations, when talking about display panels with enhanced viewing areas and optical qualities, such as IPS and MVA. Emerging Display Technologies refers to this as WVA, which is an abbreviation for Wide Viewing Area, but the principles remain the same. In doing so they are offering an alternative to the more commonly used TN based panels, and so far ET043007DMA has been introduced, which is a 4,3 sized TFT display. Extended temperature range and backlight lifetime Further supplements to the existing TFT range, include extended temperature and backlight specifications in sizes 5,7 and 7. More precisely this translates to an increase in tolerated operating temperature, going from -20ºC to +70ºC and increasing it to -30ºC to +80ºC. Additionally lifetime until reaching half brightness on backlight is increased from typically 30-40K hours to a minimum of 70K hours. The following table lists the new display types with these extended features: Description Without touch With resistive touch 5.7 QVGA ET057011DN6 ET057011DQ6 5.7 VGA ET057010DNU ET057010DQU 7.0 WVGA ET070006DN6 ET070006DQ6 Lower cost 7 TFT Conversely, there may be projects that require cost saving above all else. For these circumstances compromises may be reached mainly by utilizing panels with a decreased backlight lifetime specification of 10K hours. At present time 7 sized TFT displays with and without resistive touch are available, along with versions with and without DC/DC and Vcom support for onboard voltage regulation, depending on onboard requirements: Description Without touch With resistive touch 7.0 low cost WVGA, with DC/DC + Vcom ET07003DM6 ET07003DH6 7.0 low cost WVGA, without DC/DC + Vcom ET07005DM6 ET07005DH6 OEM products from Flexsolutions By: By Sune Meyer, sm@m-comp.dk Flexsolutions has developed a platform that can be used for different display sizes with only an adjustment to the display driver. This is possible because Flexsolutions has choosen EDT Unified Interface. EDT produces Unified Interface displays in sizes from 3.5 to 7 TFT with or without touch sensor. Flextab28 is an example of a handheld device with the following features: Two SD-card sockets 1 int. USB 2.0 OTG and USB 2.0 Host 1 int. 5 or 7 TFT with touch (800x480) SGTL5000 audio codec RS485, CANBUS, 8 I/O 128 MB RAM/FLASH VDC Power supply by USB-OTG or power jack Flexsolutions offers custom solutions in both hardware and software. The Flextab28 can be used in f. ex. transportation and logistics solutions, courier services, monitoring applications and more. 6

7 Spring 2012 Projected Capacitive Touch Screen and Controllers By: Lars Agerberg, F+S Quad Core Embedded PC By: Michael Friis Jespersen, AMT develops and manufactuers Projected Capacitive Input (PCI) touch screens. The controllers are from PenMount, a well-known brand in the touch controller industry. AMT also provide drivers and software for general applications. The controllers come in two solutions: PCI Control Board Solution The first approach is to mount the controller on a separate PCB. The analog signals will transfer from touch sensor through FPC to the PCB. The firmware in the controller will convert the capacitance analog data from the touch sensor into digital data.. The digital data will be transferred further to the host computer via an on-board serial interface such as USB, SPI, I2C or RS-232C. This gives: Higher design and integration flexibility due to separate control board and touch screen. Faster prototyping with lower tooling and production cost. PCI Controller COF Solution The second approach is Chip on Flex, with mounting of the controller on the sensor FPC. The analog capacitance data from the touch sensor will be converted on the FPC. This will be transferred to the host computer by the serial interface on the FPC (such as USB, SPI, I2C, RS-232C, etc.). The advantages are: High integration of the controller IC and sensor requires less space, an advantage for applications with space constraints, such as hand-held devices Digital interface is almost immune to noise and require only limited extra circuitry, which make long and slim FPC design possible for easy product integration Analog capacitance signal traces of COF FPC are shorter in length to prevent noise interference. M-COMP introduces new highperformance Cortex A9 Quad- Core Qseven module from F + S QBlissA9 is the first Qseven module from R & S with a CortexA9 Quad Core CPU. The imx6 processor is the latest development from Freescale, which offers the ultimate in e.g. multimedia performance. With a Qseven CPU module based on Freescale s imx6 Quad-Core ARM Cortex A9 1.2GHz, it is now possible to design a very powerful platform in a very compact size. The powerful CPU provides superior 3D graphics (100MTri/s, 1000Mpx/s) and hardware encode/decode in resolutions up to 1080p. Other features include: H264 HP, HDMI v1.4, ARMv7, NEON, VFPv3, 2 GByte of DDR3 SDRAM, 32 GB of flash Additional I/O: SATA-II Gigabit Ethernet CAN-BUS USB Host I2C SPI AC97 SDIO, a serial interface 2 channel LVDS (up to WUXGA 1920x1200) DVI (up to HD1080) The two LVDS channels can support two monitors simultaneously, for example, multimedia-heavy applications such as digital signage mm. In developing the new chip, Freescale has focused a lot on power efficiency resulting in optimsed performance compared to power consumption. The imx6 series offers a variety of multi-core platforms including single, dual and quad core CPU versions. M-Comp markets various identical QBlissA9 modules from F + S - Dual-Core and Single-Core CPUs with identical hardware. The latest Quad-Core product in the family of QBliss modules - the QblissA9 series enables the possibility to quickly come to market with new products/ applications, while minimizing costs of development, when the series of modules allows for scalable performance without having to redesign the underlying HW platform (baseboard) In connection with the Freescale Product Life Time program for supported availability of the CPUs, each type of the CPU model can be supported for up to 15 years. Since all QBliss modules from F + S are hardware and software compatible, you can choose between inexpensive modules or high-performance versions as needed. F + S experienced software department also offers customized solutions such as Windows Embedded Compact 7 (Silverlight, IE, Media Player) and Linux (uboot, buildroot, GStreamer, QT...) For multimedia-heavy applications, there are additional hardware devices to iimx6 (OpenGL / ES 2.x, 3D with OpenCL, Open- VG 1.1). This reduces the CPU load significantly, resulting in a smoother running of graphics, and keeps power consumption to a minimum. 7

8 Competent cooperations Competence within networking Solutions When Solutions need a solution By Carsten Birch, cb@m-comp.dk Our Solutions part of M-COMP is to offer custom- design solutions. This can be a very basic electronic design, like a simple OSD board for a display kit incl. A/D board, cables etc. In a recent Solution project we needed a power supply suited for an electronic bus-sign. When it comes to the power supplies and vehicle specifications New DRO Series VCOs with Electrical Tuning 8 to 12 GHz from Z-Communications Low Phase Noise ( khz offset) Low Power Consumption (100 mw) Surface Mount Package or Connectorized Metal Enclosure By: Lars Nordberg-Hansen, lnh@m-comp.dk we have used a partner within our network who had the knowledge on how to build an efficient power supply that could be used in a vehicle application. IMPC Solutions knows the key ingredients to a successful power supply design and understands the environmental challenges. For the M-COMP bus sign we are now able to offer a PSU unit with following specifications: Input 18-40V DC operating, Contact us 50V continued withstanding Output 12V within temperature range from -25 to +65 Ultra low ripple Load dump protected (250mSec, 150V) Protection against incorrect polarity and cranking Small footprint: 50x 110 x 20mm Different connector options available, Molex, Phoenix etc. Z-Communications, Inc., the has raised performance standards to new heights through the introduction of the DRO Series of high performance oscillators, ranging from 8 to 12 GHz. The electrical tuning provides ±3 MHz of frequency control allowing the oscillator to be quickly and easily phase-locked. DRO Series oscillators provide a low phase noise and an exceptional spectral purity as good as -110 dbc/hz, typically, at 10 khz from the carrier. They are available in a surface mount packages measuring 0.91 x 0.91 x 0.40 inches. For rugged applications, DROs are available in a connectorized metal enclosure measuring 1.25 x 1.25 x 0.85 inches. DROs are designed to operate over the industrial temperature range of -40 to 85 C making them a good fit for the toughest environmental applications. Denmark M-Comp A/S Hecovej Hedensted Denmark Tlf info@m-comp.dk Sverige M-Comp AB Kyrkogatan Sundbyberg Sweden Tel.: info@m-comp.se Finland M-Comp Finland Malminkaari 23 A FI Helsinki Finland Tel.: info@m-comp.fi We are a Nordic based company, which is driven by and based on the knowledge and experience of our colleagues, partners and our international network. Our over all aim is to provide our customers the best solutions and easy access to the newest know-how through modular electronic component combined with effective logistics. ADVICE DEVELOPMENT PURCHASING KITTING ASSEMBLING STOCKING