CHAPTER 3 : HARDWARE

3.2- Input / Output

devices
Input Devices
Barcode Scanners
Quick Response (QR) Code
Digital Cameras
Keyboards
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zleriY4czBI&t=5s
Microphones
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OateU2w6yjY&t=7s
Optical Mouse
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eccSwn9QVxo&t=5s
2D and 3D Scanners
Applications :
3D Scanners
Applications of 3D Scanners
Touch Screen
 Resistive
Capacitive Infrared
(Common)

Surface Capacitive Projective Capacitive

Screen Screen
 Capacitive Touch Screens
Composed of :
• Layer of glass (Protective layer)
• Transparent electrode (Conductive layer)
• Glass substrate
 How it works ?

• Human skin is a good conductor of electricity, when bare fingers

or special stylus touch the screen, the electrostatic field of the
conductive layer is changed.

• The installed microcontroller is able to calculate where this

change took place and hence determine the coordinates of the
point of touching.
 Capacitive touch screen
Two methods:
• Surface Capacitive Screens

• Projective Capacitive Screens

 Surface Capacitive screens
• Sensors are placed at the corners of screen with small voltages
creating an electric field .
• A finger touching the screen surface draws current from each
corner and creates a change in the electric field.
• The microcontroller determines the coordinates.
• This system works only with bare figure or stylus.
 Projective Capacitive screens
• The transparent conductive layer is in the form of X-Y matrix
pattern .
• Creates a 3-D electrostatic field.
• When a finger touches the screen, it disturbs the electrostatic
field.
• The microcontroller determines the coordinates.
• This system works with bare figure , stylus and thin surgical or
cotton gloves.
• It allows multi-touch facility (for example, pinching or sliding)
 Infrared touch screens

Use a glass screen with :

• An array of sensors
• Infrared transmitters
 How it works ?

• The sensors detect the infrared radiation.

• When the finger touches, the infrared radiation is broken.
• The installed microcontroller is able to calculate where this
change took place and hence determine the coordinates of the
point of touching.
 Resistive touch screens

Uses two layers of electrically resistive material with a voltage

applied them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFvh7qM6LdA&t=1s
Output Devices
 Actuators

Solenoid Motors
Relay
• An actuator is a mechanical or electro-
mechanical device .
• When a computer is used to control devices,
such as conveyer belt or a value, it is usually
necessary to use an actuator.
• Eg: start / stop the conveyer belt or open/close
the valve.
• A solenoid converts an electrical signal into magnetic
field producing linear motion.
• This linear motion is used to operate a valve or switch.
• In case of rotatory motion, a rotatory solenoid with
cylindrical coil is used. When current is supplied to the
coil, it would cause a rotational movement.
 Light Projectors
• Projectors are used to project computer output onto larger
screens or even onto interactive whiteboards.
 Digital Light Projectors (DLPs)
• They use millions of micro mirrors on a
small digital micromirror device (DMD chip).
• The number of micro mirrors and the way they are
arranged on the DMD chip determines the resolution of
the digital image.
• When the micro mirrors tilt towards the light source, they
are ON.
• When the micro mirrors tilt away from the light source,
they are OFF.
• This creates light or dark pixel on the projection
screen.
• The micromirrors can switch ON or OFF several
thousand times a second creating various grey
shades- typically 1024.
• For examples, if the mirror switches ON more
often than it switches off , it will produce a
lighter shade of grey. Also known as greyscale
image.
 How it works ?
• A bright white light source ( Eg: xenon bulb) passes through a
colour filter on its way to the DMD chip.
• The white light is split into the primary colours – red, green and
blue – the DLP projector can create over 16 million different
colours.
• The ON and OFF states of each micro mirror are linked with
colours from the filter to produce the coloured image.
 Liquid crystal display (LCD) Projectors
• These are older technology than DLP.
• A high-intensity beam of light passes through an LCD display and
then onto the screen.
 How it works ?
• A powerful beam of white light is generated from a
bulb or LED inside the projector body.
• This beam of light is sent to group of chromatic-coated
mirrors (known as dichromic mirrors) which reflect
light back at different wavelengths corresponding to
red, green and blue light components.
• These three different colour components pass through
three LCD screens (each screen is composed of
thousands of tiny pixels which can either block light or
let it through producing a monochromatic image).
• Consequently, three different versions of the same image are
produced – one is the whole image in different shades of red,
one is the whole image in different shades of green and one is
the whole image in different shades of blue.
• These images are then re-combined using a special prism to
produce a full colour image.
• Finally, the image passes through the projector lens onto a
screen.
Ink Jet Printers
The ink droplets are produced currently using two different
technologies: (i) Thermal bubble (ii) Piezoelectric
Laser Printer
3D Printers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqQAjkZOBeY&t=1s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YEVcPNrQfM&t=25s
LCD and LED Screens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVEaKWDrpXE&t=1s
LCD Screens:
 LCD Screens are made of tiny liquid crystals.
 These tiny crystals make up an array of pixels that are affected by
changes in applied electric field.
 LCD screens require some form of backlighting as they do not produce
any light.
 CCFL (Cold Cathode fluorescent lamp) back-lit method:
 Used in old LCD screens.
 Uses two fluorescent tubes behind the LCD screen which supply
the light source.
 Now-a-days they use Light emitting diode (LED) as back-lit method.
 When LEDs are used, a matrix of tiny blue-white LEDs is used
behind the LCD screen.
LED Screens:
 LED Screens are made of tiny light emitting diodes (LEDs).
 Each LED is either red, green or blue in colour.
 By varying the electric current sent to each LED, its brightness can be
controlled, producing a vast range of colours.
 This type of screen tends to be used for large outdoor displays due to
the brilliance of the colours produced.
OLED :
OLED :
Loudspeakers
Sensors
Describe how sensors are used in real-life scenarios