Super thin OLED keypad with changing icon buttons

People from Potsdam University of Applied Sciences, University of the Arts HfK in Bremen, Neuruppin-based Company TES-Frontdesign GmbH, Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP in Golm have worked in collaboration to develop a keypad that is based on organic light-emitting diodes (OLED). It features illuminated symbols which can change and are also switches themselves. These icons indicate their use. Like, if on a coffee machine, someone presses espresso button then the selected button show half-filled cup icon instead of empty cup; and if the button is pressed twice for double espresso, then icon will change to full cup.

oleds used in keypads img

Dr. Armin Wedel, HoD IPA said,

The novel OLED keypad has numerous advantages – and that applies equally to the control panels of large machines used in industrial production and the buttons even show the user whether the machine is switched on and which application is running – even in very dark rooms.

The keypad is made of two different superimposed layers, flat OLED display and thin-film keypad. This superimposition needs to be done with great accuracy because even a slight error can hamper the working of this machine. Another problem that threatens the practicality of this device is the rigidity of OLEDs. Due to this rigidity, finger pressure applied by the user is evenly distributed across the keypad which can cause inaccurate results. Wedel adds:

To ensure that the finger pressure on the appropriate button really does trigger the desired function, we have slightly raised the top of the switching element to focus the pressure on the button.

There already is a 2 millimeter working prototype of this keypad in a coffee machine.

Via: MedGadget