Safeguarding Out-of-doors Electronic Signage From Sunlight

When LCD and plasma TVs are installed outside in the open, employed for outdoor dynamic marketing, passenger information or just for entertainment, usually in an outdoor LCD enclosure, some displays are left vulnerable

Sunlight will cause many challenges, each being linked to the varying radiation emitted from it. The 3 styles of radiation that is there in sunlight is visible light, ultra violet and infra red and all cause challenges with out of home televisions.

The most comon we detect is visable light, the intense, bright light over powers the backlight of the Television, making the display appear washed out, with low contract and low quality makes the TV not easy to see even in high light conditions.

High brightness monitors are being rolled out to ensure that outdoor tv's are still readable - irrelevant of the lighting condition. To do this they either use high power backlights that are in surplus of three times the standard Industrial grade lcd monitor, alternatively transflective technology that utilizes the sunlights own light to strengthen the picture. Both work well but the first solution uses more power and is less green.

With the sun, heat is created and causes issues with outside Monitors. Infra red radiation is the heat we get from the sun, this heat creates heat built up adding to the heat made by the monitor.

So how do you counteract the challenge of undue heat build up made by the sun? An out-of-doors LCD cabinet with the adequate thermal management system, it is paramount that the cooling system is controlled without human intervention by thermostats.

Ultra violet radiation is the very last headache for outside displays. Ultra violet radiation will discolour a monitor when the sun is in the direct path of the display causing the tv to go either yellow or grey, the perfect solution is to have a special tint on the front of the window and to make sure the screen is not too near the front window as this will trap hot air and will cause pixels to fail.

Over the past 20 years the author has developed a range of outdoor digital signage protective enclosures and founded LCD Enclosure Global who are the leading manufacturer of LCD monitor enclosures, they also offer anti vandal LCD enclosures that provides all the protection and security needed for outdoor use.