How much pressure/force to push a mobile phone key

[James1986]

Homework Statement

This isn't homework, I just can't find any information on the internet, and I don't have the neccesary equipment available to perform a test.

Just wondering if anyone knows an average amount, or at least a link to a paper that has done something as mundain as this. How much force or pressure is required to depress a key on a mobile phone?

Thanks!

 

[DaveC426913]

You could try writing directly to various manufacturers.

 

[James1986]

Yeah, I thought about it, but I'd be shocked if they even gave my email any consideration. Plus finding the paper trail to the right person would take weeks of backwards and forwards communication.

I just hoped someone 'knew' a place where they had seen it before.

 

[MATLABdude]

Homework Statement

This isn't homework, I just can't find any information on the internet, and I don't have the neccesary equipment available to perform a test.

Just wondering if anyone knows an average amount, or at least a link to a paper that has done something as mundain as this. How much force or pressure is required to depress a key on a mobile phone?

Thanks!

MODS: Please move this thread to the EE subforum. To the submitter, that's where such non-homework questions belong.

In any case, you don't need to do studies on how much force is required to actuate a cell phone key. This varies by cell phone model (and sometimes, even within models). However, the reason you don't need to do a study (for any given model) is that every button is designed (specified) to have a certain actuation force. For instance, you can go to Omron (one of the companies that makes these things) and order membrane tactile switches that actuate with, say, 5 Newtons (or 1.12 lbs) of force.

But yeah, short of measuring this information yourself, you'd have to contact the manufacturer. That or this might be in the manual under technical specifications.

 

[James1986]

Thanks Matalab, that's exactly what I was looking for. Didn't think about companies purchasing generic buttons for their phones ^_^.