An indicator is a device that shows some information. It is used for visual control of certain events, signals, processes. There are many different types of indicators: electronic, mechanical, etc. Electronic devices have gained popularity.
An electronic indicator is a device that allows you to display any information. Such devices are installed on all household appliances, in industrial equipment, etc. The indicator helps the operator in production or the layman at home, in the car, quickly, and most importantly, visually assess the required parameters (for example, a battery indicator), especially those that he is not able to determine with his senses. In cases where high accuracy of assessment is needed, digital multi-digit indicators are used, and when it is enough to see the absence or presence of a signal, indicators of a single type are used.
There are many display options. In addition to specialized indicators, such as mechanical dial, electronic digital or matrix, household electronic elements are often used. So, for example, a conventional incandescent lamp or a semiconductor LED can serve asdisplay element in warning systems or control panels.
And a specialized matrix-type indicator can be used for domestic purposes, for example, to create billboards. That is, depending on the use, both the lamp and the diode, and the electronic matrix can have a general purpose. His name is an indicator. This allows us to draw the following conclusion: the indicator is determined not so much by its purpose and design features, but by its use in a particular device or device.
Classification of indicators
1. By appointment - group and individual.
2. By imaging method:
- passive: liquid crystal, electrochromic, electrophoretic, ferro-ceramic;
- active: LED, cathodoluminescent, gas discharge, incandescent.
3. By the nature of the displayed information:
- numeric - displays numeric information;
- single - conveys the state with color, brightness;
- scale - performed in the form of several single indicators, displays the level or value of the value (for example, a charge indicator);
- mnemonic - in the form of a geometric figure or image;
- alphanumeric - displays data in the form of letters, numbers and signs;
- graphic - transmits both character data and pictures;
- combined - combines two or more options.
4. According to the design of the information field:
- Familiarizing. To this typeinclude vacuum, gas discharge, incandescent indicators.
- Synthesizing signs. These include matrix, segment, seven-segment indicators.
5. According to the capacity of information: single-charged and multi-charged.
6. According to the imaging method: dynamic (multiplex) and static.
7. By color: single color and full color.
8. According to the method of information transmission: analog and discrete.
We have listed the main types of indicators, but there are a number of parameters (overall dimensions, brightness of elements, viewing angles, response time, voltage, etc.) that divide these devices into subgroups.
Summarizing, let's say that an indicator is a device that displays information about the level, the value of various data, such as voltage, current, temperature, battery charge, etc. Indicators greatly simplify the work of a person with various devices, they save time, help to avoid emergency situations, etc.
