KEMET, the world’s leading Electronic component supplier under Yageo, announced the launch of an innovative haptic solution: piezoelectric polymer film haptic actuators. When embedded directly into a product surface, this actuator acts as a haptic skin, providing localized body sensations and haptic effects not available with other haptic solutions currently on the market. KEMET’s thin-film actuators enable design engineers to utilize high-performance actuators to implement a variety of advanced touch solutions, including remote controls, smart buttons, medical devices, AR/VR, and touchscreens with hands, fingers, head, and lips. needed for a wide range of applications, including any item.

While piezo haptic solutions are used in many applications, they are often large and heavy, thus causing the entire device to vibrate. In contrast, KEMET’s haptic actuators are thin (150μm), flexible, and consistent in nature, and are made from a proprietary, patent-protected, paper-thin material, an electroactive polymer A thin film of material can be used to simulate the sense of touch using the piezoelectric effect. Unlike Eccentric Rotating Mass (ERM) technology often used in haptic devices, KEMET haptic actuators do not shake the entire device. KEMET’s lightweight piezoelectric polymer film actuators provide superior performance with various displacement and force combinations, as well as fast response times for high-definition haptic feedback.

Such haptic actuators can convey specific material textures and familiar sensations, such as button clicks and raindrops, through localized sensations on the surface of consumer devices. Combining the device’s high bandwidth with physiology such as haptics enables a richer user experience for many consumer devices, including game controllers, virtual reality (VR) haptic gloves, and devices with touch user interfaces. This haptic actuator uses haptics to increase immersion and user satisfaction for deep interaction with consumer devices.

The haptic technology market is growing exponentially and is expected to be worth nearly $5 billion by 2025, according to a report by IDTechEx Research, a Cambridge, UK-based consultancy. Its growing application on smartphones will drive this growth. Nonetheless, this technology is also starting to emerge in other industries and products, where newer, more advanced haptic technologies can be used to achieve dramatic improvements in performance and versatility.

KEMET haptic actuators are available upon request through KEMET distributors.

source:

“Haptics 2020-2030: Technologies, Markets and Players,” James Hayward, IDTechEx Research