One area of transparent electronics in which the membrane keypad and touch system manufacturer Kundisch is experiencing growing demand is smart heating using transparent membrane heaters. Compared to conventional heating systems, foil heaters heat up more quickly as they work by means of a fan and heating wire and primarily heat up the ambient air, which means they take considerably longer and consume significantly more energy.

When manufacturing transparent foil heaters, the challenge is to use a material that is both sufficiently conductive and transparent. Kundisch relies on metal mesh technology for this. It is used to produce homogeneous transparent conductive films as printed layers that can be used as heaters for transparent surfaces. As a rule, two silver conductors are printed into the film. These conduct the current into the film. Between the two silver-printed lines is a transparent coating consisting of a mixture of copper and carbon, which is highly conductive and highly transparent. It is possible to structure the material according to customer requirements using printing techniques.

The transparent electrical heating foil is typically incorporated by 'sandwiching' a conductive material between layers of glass or clear plastic, traditionally polycarbonate or acrylic. The advantage of this method is particularly evident when transparent heating foils need to be produced for large surfaces such as windscreens. The state of the art for heatable windscreens is the laying of wires by robots: a robot lays a thin wire at a centimeter distance and has to travel to every position. With metal mesh technology, Kundisch says it can print the square meter of heating homogeneously in seconds, while a robot takes several minutes to lay it.

The main driver of this technology is the automotive industry, as the heating foils are not only transparent to the eye, but also to laser and radar systems. The transparent heating foils support the functionality of distance measuring devices in vehicles, for example, even when the vehicle is iced over. Whether robots that unload trucks, autonomous forklift trucks or agricultural vehicles - areas that are characterized by a high degree of automation in particular benefit from the transparent heaters. They are also used in medicine, for example in incubators for newborn babies. They can also be installed in various displays.

Hall 8 Stand 331