Safety Certified Capacitive Touchscreen Controllers to Meet Functional Safety Requirements in Touch-Enabled Home Appliances

18 November 2020 - 0 Comments

maXTouch MXT336UD-MAUHA1 Capacitive Touchscreen Controllers from Microchip — maXTouch Capacitive Touchscreen Controllers from Microchip

Microchip Technology has introduced the maXTouch MXT336UD-MAUHA1 capacitive touchscreen controller family for helping designers meet safety requirements in touchscreen-enabled applications. The family of devices includes three pre-certified, class B controllers - MXT112UD-MAUHA1, MXT228UD-MAUHA1, and MXT336UD-MAUHA1. These controllers were designed to fulfill different screen size needs ranging from 2 to 8 inches.

The class B controllers allow the system to shut off through an intuitive soft button on a touch screen. These eliminate the need for an external safety certified stop or cancel button and the associated microcontroller (MCU). The device can detect a touchscreen or appliance failure and shut down automatically through a variety of self-testing capabilities. As the number of touch-enabled home appliances continues to increase, the MXT336UD-MAUHA1 family shifts the required safety functionality to a simplified single touchscreen interface, thereby helping OEMs reduce costs and improve time to market.

The new family has been designed with a high signal to noise ratio (SNR) design and proprietary differential mutual acquisition scheme for allowing the machines to reliably detect and track multiple fingers on surfaces exposed to moisture, water, grease, and more. The users can leverage software tools like maXTouch Studio and maXTouch Analyzer and hardware. The MXT336UD-MAUHA1 family is available in volume production starting at $1.82 in 10,000-unit quantities.