Rugged Digital Signage

Few people are unaware of the growth of digital signage. You only have to look around your local shopping mall, airport, or even convenience store or gas station to see one of these advertising screens in action.

And digital signage is still a growing industry with more and more outdoor digital signage displays cropping up and more and more businesses getting involved.

Digital screens are being erected and run successfully even in locations where the use of display devices had been hitherto not suitable due to the environment and conditions,.

Whether it’s for information, advertising or another form of messaging, using display screens has many more advantages over other messaging systems, which explains the prevalence and demand for digital signage.

Some of these more hostile locations contain elements and conditions that can disable a conventional screen, which means a more rugged solution is required in these areas.

All sorts of locations are too hostile for a standard digital signage display, even an outdoor one, used to coping with rain. Industrial locations for instance have high levels of dust, grime, grease and liquids.

All these elements need to be kept away from the screen as all can lead to overheating, short circuits and permanent damage to the screen that could put it out of action. Temperature too can be disabling for a digital signage display. Very cold temperatures, such as sub zero conditions found in chillers and freezers can damage a screen by freezing any condensation of humidity in the screen, while temperatures above the screens optimum recommended range will cause the screen to overheat and ultimately fail.

Other locations where digital signage can struggle to operate in are those areas where there is risk of physical damage to the display. Often unsupervised screens in public locations can fall foul of vandalism, while in some locations such as factories where machinery like forklift trucks are running about, they can fall victim to accidental impacts too.

In these types of locations, a rugged form of protection for digital signage is required. In many instances, normal commercial grade screens are deployed but are kept protected by rugged LCD enclosures.

LCD enclosures are protective steel cabinets, often waterproof and often able to keep dust, grime and other liquids away form the screen. Being steel, they are also physically strong and often they are equipped with shatterproof screens for added screen protection.

Furthermore, LCD enclosures contain fans, heaters and other climatic elements to ensure a constant temperature for the screen regardless of the ambient conditions.