Musical instrument with one sided thin film capacitive touch sensors
Touch sensitive musical instruments are described herein including embodiments having: one-sided capacitive touch sensors with conductive ground planes, one-sided capacitive touch sensors with air gaps, one-sided capacitive touch sensors with separating material, and/or one-sided capacitive touch sensors including a combination of conductive ground planes, air gaps, and/or separating material. Embodiments of touch sensitive musical instruments simulating string instruments such as guitars are described.
1. A touch sensitive musical instrument comprising:
a capacitive touch sensor layer comprising conductive ink printed on a thin film substrate, further comprising a capacitive element with a conductive ink grid having less than complete conductive ink coverage, wherein a user touching or coming close to the capacitive touch sensor layer changes the capacitive element's effective capacitance by combining the person's capacitance with the capacitance of the capacitive element;
a separation layer adjacent the capacitive touch sensor layer; and
a conductive ground plane layer adjacent the separation layer configured to shield a backside of the capacitive touch sensor layer.
2. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 1 , the separation layer further comprising a dielectric material at least approximately 0.5 mm thick.
3. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 1 , the conductive ink grid further having 50% or greater coverage.
4. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 1 , the conductive ink grid further having 35% or greater coverage.
5. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 1 further comprising a printed art layer adjacent the capacitive touch sensor layer and opposite the separation layer.
6. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 5 wherein the capacitive touch sensor layer is integrally formed in the printed art layer.
7. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 6 , the printed art layer further comprising an opaque layer disposed between printed artwork and the capacitive touch sensor layer.
8. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 1 , the capacitive touch sensor layer further comprising a substantially one-sided capacitive touch sensor layer shielded by the conductive ground plane layer.
9. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 8 , the one-sided capacitive touch sensor layer configured to substantially prevent sensing a touch on the backside of the touch sensitive musical instrument.
10. The touch sensitive musical instrument of claim 1 , the conductive ground plane layer further comprising a metal foil.