Retrofittable Components for Improved Switching Performance

The basic design of low power switches has not changed substantially over many years. However the advent of QTC now allows switch manufacturers to easily add new functionality to existing switch designs or to develop new, simpler, more reliable designs.

Making Contact

Most mechanical switch designs involve the physical coming together of two contacts to complete the circuit. QTC allows a different approach to be taken. QTC is essentially a non-conductor in its normal state. However, under pressure, QTC starts to conduct and under sufficient pressure its resistance drops to less than 1 ohm.

This property allows switches to be constructed that essentially have no contacts. However, it also allows for improvement to existing designs by interposing QTC Pills between the existing contacts in a switch.

Soft Start

Because QTC’s resistance doesn’t drop instantly but drops away exponentially as pressure increases, this enables the current through the switch to slowly increase as the switch is closed, giving a soft start.

No Arcing

The same mechanism, combined with the fact that there is no physical contact gap required, serves to ensure that there is reduced possibility of arcing, which improves safety and contact life.

Proportional Control

The gradual drop in resistance described earlier allows for a standard switch to offer full proportional control of a load. An existing momentary spring-loaded switch can be ‘upgraded’ to provide proportional control simply by inserting a QTC Pill between the existing contacts. Direct uses therefore include, for instance, controlling the speed of a motor or brightness of a lamp.

Handling Tough Environments

QTC Pills are inherently resilient to tough environmental conditions, easily surpassing IP65 standards. Moreover, switches comprising two connectors and a Pill can be embedded in any suitable elastomeric compound to provide fully sealed switches with no internal moving parts. Indeed QTC itself can be used as the medium in which the connectors are embedded.

Reliability and Reduced Cost

QTC Pills are reliable, having been tested to over 1 million switch operations with no degradation. Overall switch reliability can be improved because switches can be designed that are simpler, with fewer moving parts. This additional simplicity is also reflected in reduced product cost and simpler manufacturing.

A Pill for Everything

Peratech offers standard pills that meet most needs but can also develop custom pill variants to meet more specific switching needs. You can be sure that there is a pill to help create new, innovative products to win new markets.

SWITCHING PERFORMANCE

SPECIFICATIONS