Essential Features of Tablets Used for Industrial Applications
When it comes to industrial usage, a consumer-grade smartphone or tablet won’t last long and would succumb in a relatively short period of time. Businesses, these days, depend largely on automation to operate efficiently and profitably. If a computer breaks down even for a small amount of time, business operations can be badly affected, and production slow down or even stop. Therefore, for seamless and efficient operations, rugged tablets or computer devices are essential for industrial use. And, touch screens are crucial in deciding the ruggedness of tablets or other computing devices. For example, A D Metro’s ULTRA resistive touch screens are specially designed for rugged applications.
Since mobile computing is widely used in the industrial sector, there are various aspects to understand before selecting touch screens for industrial applications.
Ability to Handle Industrial Environments
Many believe that putting their smartphone or tablet in a sturdy case will keep it safe. But even when protected by a hard covering, consumer-grade tablets or phones can be damaged by moisture, dirt, dust, and high temperatures.
Industrial-grade tablets or other computing applications are built to sustain extreme conditions like sudden temperature changes, excessive heat or cold, rain, snow, dirt, and dust as well as surface damage.
Touch Operations
Consumer-grade tablets and phones mostly use projective capacitive (PCAP) touch screens, but those are not ideal for extreme settings. This is due to the fact that PCAP touch screens cannot be operated with thick industry gloves. On the other hand, water and electrical currents might interfere with the touch screen, causing the touch application to malfunction. That is why manufacturers of industrial tablets rely on ULTRA resistive touch screens.
ULTRA offers performance characteristics that are essential for a wide range of commercial, industrial, and military applications where rugged durability and reliability are required for optimum functionality. As a pressure-activated touch screen, it can be smoothly operated by a bare finger, gloved finger, or stylus; and even with contaminants on the screen, such as rain, oil, grease, food, dirt, and dust.
Ruggedness
Tablets for industrial applications used for mobile computing and data capture, are typically carried on-person continuously. Industrial type tablets are designed to sustain drops and shocks. They’re also intended to be installed on machinery such as a forklift, which may impart jolts and vibrations to the tablet that would damage a consumer-grade tablet. A D Metro’s ULTRA resistive touch screens are built with a durable glass surface that is scratch, abrasion, and chemical resistant. They offer unparalleled reliability having been tested over 230 million operations over a single touch point. These characteristics make ULTRA resistive touch screens ideal for reliable operations in harsh environments, including rugged, outdoor, and unattended kiosk applications.
Waterproof Design
In many industries, equipment has to be often cleaned using water or some chemicals. Sometimes, there are excessive wet conditions that can be damaging for consumer-grade tablets. ULTRA resistive touch screens designed by A D Metro are the only touch sensor that can operate indefinitely and reliably, even underwater.
ULTRA resistive touch screens are immune to water exposure. Their external glass layer is water and moisture-proof and there’s no possibility for moisture to migrate through ULTRA’s PET/Glass switch layer, making this touch screen resistant to scratches and abrasion, impervious to almost all chemicals, and is completely waterproof.
Conclusion
ULTRA resistive touch screens offer essential performance features required to fulfill every aspect of ruggedized applications. Thus, it is crucial to determine what touch screen technology is used in tablets intended for industrial applications.
