Description
| Authors: Cornelius Welker, Technischer Berater der ALGRA AG in Merenschwand/Schweiz und Dipl.-Phys. Gert Breidenbach, Leiter Entwicklung und Marketing bei GeBE Elektronik und Feinwerktechnik GmH. | |
| Food-safe operating systems and keyboards | |
| The constant increase in IPCs in food production and processing also requires suitable control panels and keyboards. Due to the ever-increasing demands of consumers with regard to origin, control and quality, additional tasks such as e.g. B. the complete documentation of food processing. A major hygienic weak point in the production of food is the data input unit as the interface between man and machine. | |
| Membrane keyboard or touchscreen? | |
| In modern meat production, IPCs are used in the entire process chain: delivery (goods receipt), slaughterhouse, meat inspection, cutting, processing/refining, packaging, storage, logistics, etc. To date, the IPCs have been operated via input systems using a wide variety of technologies, such as e.g. B. Membrane, short-stroke, long-stroke, sensor keyboards and touch screens, which can hardly meet today's hygiene requirements. | |
| Membrane keyboard or stainless steel keyboard? | |
| Unfortunately, considerable compromises have to be made when using these technologies: membrane keyboards have the disadvantage that the surface almost has to be regarded as a breeding ground for bacteria. The contamination of the surface with acids, which are contained in milk and meat, for example, makes the films brittle over time and encourages dissolution tendencies. In addition, the surface is heavily stressed during operation or cleaning, e.g. by steam jets and sterilizing agents, even to the point of destruction. Membrane keyboards are therefore to be classified as bacteriologically questionable in this field of application. The lifting keyboards made of stainless steel, for example, are mechanically much more robust and, as far as the surface is concerned, less harmful to hygiene, but the open design acts like a "bacterial pump": When the keys are pressed, positive and negative pressure is generated under the key, which bacteria in transported to the interior and/or from there to the surface. In addition, edges, crevices, cracks and cavities offer a suitable nesting place for bacteria and make cleaning more difficult, so that adequate hygiene is not guaranteed over the long term. | |
| Ergonomics are in demand | |
| The use z. B. of capacitive and infrared sensor keyboards with easy-to-clean glass on the surface prove to be problematic insofar as dirt on the operating surface can lead to uncontrolled operations and on the other hand they cannot be operated with gloves. With touchscreens, the situation is similar to that of membrane and sensor keyboards. In addition, the ergonomic requirements are not optimally met when entering increasingly individual amounts of data. | |
| Stainless steel scores | |
| For this problem area, the company GeBE Computer und Periphery GmbH (www.keyboards.com) from Germering now offers a cost-effective PC-compatible stainless steel keyboard, which is based on the cost-effective “Dynasim” technology newly developed by the Swiss keyboard specialist ALGRA AG. Piezo technology based on organic material makes it possible to cost-effectively implement keypads on a consistently homogeneous stainless steel operating surface. The button evaluation electronics react to the touch of a finger. With its flat and closed stainless steel surface, the PC-compatible keyboard now offered by GeBE avoids all of the disadvantages of conventional technology listed above. Your electronics are completely encapsulated in stainless steel, without critical edges or cracks. It can therefore be sterilely cleaned easily and even with "heavy equipment", i.e. steam jets, and is therefore particularly suitable for use in food production. The button layout is lasered onto the stainless steel surface. Since actuation is based on pressure, visually controlled operation is possible without any problems and safely. To compensate for the lack of tactile feedback - an advantage when operating long-travel and membrane keyboards - the keyboard is equipped with a beeper. | |
| Force creates counterforce | |
| For applications in which, on the one hand, passive tactile feedback is an indispensable feature and, on the other hand, bidirectional, tactile communication can also offer advantages, ALGRA works on human-machine interfaces with active tactile feedback using the piezo technology described above. With this revolutionary Re-Action technology it will be possible to report machine states and information directly to the commanding/executing organ (e.g. to the individual finger). For example, accepted inputs are acknowledged by touch and feel, while commands that are not accepted are not acknowledged. In this context, for example, force feedback can be implemented, which makes it possible to dynamically change the actuating forces on the operating system in proportion to the force required by a machine. In the future, machines and processes will certainly use such information more and more, since it is also indispensable for natural, human perception and sensory processing. As a side effect, a relief of the visual communication is desirable, because with today's human-machine interfaces this is sometimes completely overloaded. |
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