Control panel for an appliance and a method for producing a control panel for an appliance
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsRaja Gopal Varhabhatla, Sudhaker Rao Veldhi, Derrick Douglas Little
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A control panel for an appliance is provided. The control panel can be produced by providing a dielectric substrate having a front surface and a back surface, printing a conductive ink onto the back surface of the dielectric substrate, curing the conductive ink such that the conductive ink forms a plurality of capacitive sensors on the back surface of the dielectric substrate, and positioning the dielectric substrate on the appliance such that the front surface of the dielectric substrate faces outwardly.
Claims20
A method for producing a control panel for an appliance, comprising:
- providing a dielectric substrate having a front surface and a back surface, the front and back surfaces positioned opposite each other on the dielectric substrate;
- printing a conductive ink onto the back surface of the dielectric substrate;
- curing the conductive ink such that the conductive ink forms a plurality of capacitive sensors on the back surface of the dielectric substrate;
- and
- positioning the dielectric substrate on the appliance such that the front surface of the dielectric substrate faces outwardly and at least one of the capacitive sensors on the back surface of the dielectric substrate is triggered when a user touches the front surface of the dielectric substrate.
An appliance comprising:
- a cabinet;
- a control panel mounted to said cabinet, said control panel comprising
- a dielectric substrate having a front surface and a back surface, the front and back surfaces positioned opposite each other on said dielectric substrate;
- a plurality of capacitive sensors printed onto the back surface of said dielectric substrate;
- wherein said dielectric substrate is positioned on said cabinet such that the front surface of said dielectric substrate faces outwardly and at least one of said capacitive sensors is triggered when a user touches the front surface of the dielectric substrate.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.