LIFTjournal 5/2020

GBA Aufzugkomponenten e.K. Marienstraße 34 · D-45307 Essen fon: +49 (201) 59 80 420 fax: +49 (201) 59 80 421 gba@aufzugkomponenten.de Intelligente Lösungen. Optimale Handhabung. Vereinfachte Arbeitsabläufe. BELEUCHTUNGEN KABEL & LEITUNGEN VERDRAHTUNGSSYSTEME VIDEO-ÜBERWACHUNG STEUERUNGSERGÄNZUNGEN Are you familiar with the Theremin? It is an almost forgotten musical instrument with a special property: you can play it without touching it. The solution from Hy-Line is intended to facilitate precisely this – touchless operation of lifts. T he system consists of two parts: an in- frared touch screen that records touch events and gestures with an invisible IR curtain and a picture that is projected hologra- phically into the air. Although this does not in fact involve a hologram in a physical sense, but instead a special material property that is ex- ploited to make light beams converge as a virtual image, the term “holography” will be used. An infrared sensor is suitable for touchless operation, whether with protective gloves, cre- dit cards or pens. It reacts to the reflection of the light. Figure 1 shows a cross-section of the functional principle The holographic image appears to hover freely in the air. Thanks to the optical 3D panel (see Fi- gure 2), a virtual image is created that seems close enough to touch to the user. If you now mount an infrared sensor at the image level that overlooks the picture surface, touch events and gestures can be drawn “in the air”, recognised and evaluated without any touching of parts being required. HOLOGRAPHIC PROJECTION Since there is a fixed angle relationship between the display, the projection panel and final image, the installation geometry of display and projec- tion panel determines the orientation of the virtu- al image. Figure 3 shows two common installation situations of a projection system. A vertical image is mapped by a horizontally mounted display and a 45° panel, while a horizontal projection panel generates a 45° inclined image. The graphical user interface (GUI) should be adjusted ergonomically to the operational cir- cumstances, as with all touch applications. The haptics of an interface are completely absent in holographic operation. Consequently, after tou- ching a button, the hand has to move completely freely. Designers of software interfaces have to take this into account in the arrangement and size of the operating elements. When using ge- stures, care should be taken in making selections to avoid triggering an operating gesture by mi- stake by a lateral misalignment while accessing an element. APPLICATIONS Locations and devices used by large numbers of people are predestined for contactless applica- tions. These are lift controllers in public. These are frequently made in stainless steel to make them easy to clean and resistant to vandalism, but still permit accumulation of bacteria and germs. To simplify the installation of this novel tech- nology, a complete module is available that is mechanically easy to integrate in the car. The ap- pearance is already adjusted to the installation position; it links up with the typical lift interfaces. CONCLUSION The combination of a virtual image projected into the air with a touch sensor that operates touch-free provides great potential when it co- mes to avoiding the transmission of viruses and bacteria by direct contact. As a result, operating elements like lift controls are eliminated as multipliers. The user understands the use directly, since he “touches” icons and entry fields as usual. On top of this, operation is possible with any object that interrupts the beam projection; this could also be your credit card or gloved hand. ⇤ RUDOLF SOSNOWSKY hy-line.de The author is head of technology at Hy-Line Computer Components Vertriebs GmbH. Abb. 3: / Fig. 3 29 PRODUKTE  PRODUCTS