Latest Insights in the Evolving Digital World

Switch Membranes Save the Day

Disaster is looming: your four-year-old, after becoming bored with making finger paintings on the wall with chocolate pudding, has found his way up onto the couch beneath the thermostat. Thinking the thermostat membrane switch pad bears a striking resemblance to an electronic talking/singing alphabet toy he likes to play with, he decides to mash the keypads in hopes of eliciting his favorite alphabet song (C is for Cantaloupe). When that fails, he toddles off to destroy something else. When you return from work, after firing the babysitter you’ve got your work cut out for you. But at least the thermostat isn’t ruined; because it’s covered with a switch membrane, you can just sponge it off and move on to the next mess.

This is just one of the many benefits of switch membranes compared to other electronic switch varieties. Unless the membrane is somehow penetrated, there is no way to get dirt, dust or other kinds of contaminants into the switch mechanism because the membrane completely covers it. This may not seem like a very remarkable quality, but consider this scenario: you’re a technician in a repair garage. You’ve just finished a task that involves a lot of grease, and you need to lower the hydraulic lift on which the car you’ve repaired is mounted. Luckily for you, the switch that controls the lift is covered with a membrane instead of single, exposed switches. Once you’ve finished your day’s work, you can simply wash the switch membrane off without fear that the switch has been contaminated by grease in a way that could affect performance or lead to erratic lift function.

There are infinite variations of this idea, and for that reason certain scenarios within industry, commerce and even in consumer products contexts are suited for switch membrane use over other switch configurations.