The capacitive switch developed by Mentor and available from Erntec , belongs to a family of sensors. As the capacitive switch has been conceived for ‘no contact’ or ‘soft touch’ switches, where depressing a mechanical button is no longer required, it can be integrated without any difficulty inside casings or can be covered by a plastic, glass or ceramic panel and screened from the triggering object.
The separation from the latter and the ease of concealed construction create new and extended possibilities for application as vandal resistant and design independent components. The robustness of the capacitive switch plays a leading role where critical environmental influences can occur. The integrated intelligence automatically adapts the capacitive switch to changed environmental influences.
Two separate sensitivity levels (distance from switch of about 0 or 8mm) can be set on the switch itself directly by the user, and furthermore the sensitivity is self regulating. The capacitive switch has been subject to climatic testing as per HPF/DIN 40040, and has a temperature range from -40 °C up to +85 °C. The capacitive switch is set up for fully automatic insertion into printed circuit boards.