Sealed Medical Control Panel With Tactile Topography
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing control panels for medical diagnostic equipment, such as ultrasound systems, lack the ability to allow users to locate controls by touch, leading to repetitive stress injuries and erroneous selections due to the instantaneous activation of touch controls, and mechanical controls pose challenges in cleaning and sterilization.
Innovation Solution
A control panel with a pressure-sensitive capacitive touch layer and a sealing layer featuring topographical features, allowing users to locate controls by touch without immediate activation, and maintaining a sealed environment for easy disinfection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a flat touch control panel surface is used, then the panel is easy to clean and maintain a sealed environment, but users cannot locate controls by touch and may experience repetitive stress injuries
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing layer incorporates localized topographical features (raised or recessed areas) at specific control locations while maintaining an otherwise smooth flat surface. This allows users to tactilely locate controls through the sealed surface without compromising the overall ease of cleaning and sealed environment.
Solution Approach 2:
A sealing layer (thin film) is used to cover the entire control panel surface, providing a continuous sealed barrier that is easy to clean while incorporating topographical features that enable tactile control location. The flexible nature of the sealing layer allows it to conform to the underlying control structure.
2Ease of operation
If traditional mechanical controls are used, then users can locate controls by touch, but the control panel cannot be easily cleaned and sterilized
Solution Approach 1:
Traditional mechanical controls (buttons, switches with moving parts) are replaced with a capacitive touch sensing system beneath the sealing layer. This eliminates mechanical components that would compromise the sealed surface, while the topographical features on the sealing layer provide tactile feedback for control location.
Solution Approach 2:
The topographical features on the sealing layer create tactile copies or representations of the underlying control locations. Users interact with the sealed surface features rather than direct mechanical controls, maintaining tactile locatability while preserving the sealed environment.
3Speed
If touch controls are configured to activate immediately upon contact, then control response is fast, but users cannot locate controls by sight before activation and may make erroneous selections
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows users to preliminarily locate and prepare control activation by sight while the sealing layer's topographical features enable preliminary tactile location. The control can then be activated with a deliberate press action, allowing proper timing and preventing premature activation.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing layer with topographical features serves as an intermediary between the user's finger and the underlying capacitive touch sensor. It allows tactile exploration and visual localization without triggering immediate activation, mediating between the user's intent and the control activation.
4Ease of manufacture
If a sealed control panel surface is used, then cleaning and sterilization are easier, but tactile feedback for control location is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The sealing layer incorporates localized topographical features (raised or recessed areas) at specific control locations while maintaining an otherwise smooth flat surface. This allows users to tactilely locate controls through the sealed surface without compromising the overall ease of cleaning and sealed environment.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution enables users to tactilely locate controls without premature activation, reducing the risk of repetitive stress injuries and enhancing the ease of cleaning and sterilization by maintaining a sealed surface.
Implementation Method 1
a pressure-sensitive capacitive touch layer below the sealing layer and located at the least one user control area, wherein the pressure-sensitive capacitive touch layer is configured to detect a touch associated with an amount of pressure applied to the control surface
Data Source
AI summary
A control panel may include a control surface and a plurality of user control areas at fixed locations along the control surface, a sealing layer extending continuously over the user control areas, wherein the sealing layer includes at least one topographical feature associated with at least one of the user control areas, and a pressure-sensitive capacitive touch layer provided at the at least one user control area, the a pressure-sensitive capacitive touch layer configured to detect a touch associated with an amount of pressure applied to the control surface at the at least one user control area and invoke a user control function associated with the at least one user control area responsive to the touch only if the amount of pressure exceeds a threshold amount.