TFT screens have dominated the visualization industry for a long time. TFT LCDs are widely used in our daily lives, including in communication equipment, household appliances, industrial automation goods, consumer and automotive applications, corporate settings, and healthcare. Although there are many LCD products on the market right now, not all of them are appropriate for all applications. For industrial LCD monitors, this is especially true. It's critical to comprehend your target market and any particular design challenges in order to choose the ideal LCD display for your application.
1. Product Dependability
Most LCD displays are created for consumer electronics like smartphones, cameras, tablets, and game consoles. However, their requirements are significantly different from those for industrial uses. Consumer display modules frequently lack the sturdiness, dependability, and cutting-edge features necessary to endure in an industrial setting due to intense price competition and short production cycles. Consumer applications also frequently have substantially shorter product life cycles. In most cases, screens made for these applications are only available for one or two years.
In contrast, industrial applications for display modules call for long product life cycles, frequently of at least ten years. A replacement product should also be backward-compatible in order to fit into the current enclosure when an industrial module is discontinued by the manufacturer, saving time and money on system redesign.
2. Operational Setting
When choosing displays for today's industrial applications, it's also important to take temperature changes, shock, and vibration, into account. They must be tough enough to survive repeated bumps or jiggles from surrounding machinery and operator motion, as well as be able to withstand a range of operating temperatures.
A variety of operating temperatures
Industrial displays are frequently enclosed as a component of a bigger piece of machinery. In these circumstances, the heat produced by the equipment in the immediate area becomes trapped inside the enclosure, which may be harmful to many displays. Because of this, it's critical to consider the actual storage and operation temperature needs when selecting a display. The most effective way to ensure compliance with the storage and operating temperature requirements is to choose a display that is optimized for these types of environments. While steps can be taken to dissipate the generated heat, such as using fans inside the enclosure, this is not the most effective solution. Fortunately, advances in liquid-crystal materials have allowed LCD working temperatures to be increased from their current range of -30 to 80°C.
Mechanical damage, EMI, shock, and vibration
In comparison to conventional equipment, industrial devices should generally be more durable. To increase shock and vibration resistance, one method is to use chip-on-glass semiconductors instead of as many pin and socket connectors. Additionally, using metal bezels rather than plastic cabinets enhances the unit's mechanical resistance and EMI properties. In order to prevent scuffs and blemishes on the user surface, front glass has been chemically reinforced.
3. Readability
Brightness
Displays used in industrial applications must offer clear and accurate viewing from a variety of angles and ambient light situations. It can be more challenging to view a normal transmissive LCD panel with an usual brightness of 250 to 300 cd/m2 in a bright setting. By incorporating high-efficiency LEDs for the backlight unit—if necessary, in conjunction with specific brightness enhancement films—NVD has created displays that can operate in the 800-cd/m2-and-higher range.
Comparison ratio
Another efficient method for display producers to enhance display readability in bright situations is to increase the display's contrast ratio. When a machine operator is watching the display from a distance and the contrast ratio is in the 200:1 to 300:1 range, it might not be sufficient. For industrial settings, displays with contrast ratios of 500:1 or higher are preferable. The fact that this approach doesn't increase power usage is another advantage.
Transparent LCDs
For settings with changing illumination, reflective LCDs are a suitable option. Transflective LCDs can use a backlight in low light (transmissive mode) and reflect light in high light because they have both transmissive and reflecting features (reflective mode). As the backlight isn't being used, this lowers power usage and heat output in reflecting mode.
Angles of view
Another important selection factor is readability from multiple angles. A machine operator is more likely to be positioned off-angle than directly in front of the screen in a typical industrial setting. Since there is visual distortion and color shifting when viewed at an angle in this condition, implementing a display made for consumer applications often doesn't perform well. However, a number of technologies have been used to enhance displays' off-angle viewing, making them appropriate for industrial applications. Viewing angles of 160 degrees horizontally and 140 degrees vertically are produced by various film-based technologies, but in some circumstances this is still insufficient. Alternatives include fringe field switching (FFS), multi-domain vertical alignment (MVA), and in-plane switching technology (IPS). With no color shift, these exclusive technologies may attain viewing angles of over 90 degrees in all four directions.
Size and resolution improvements
Overall readability is also influenced by size and resolution. The most popular display sizes for industrial applications are those with a diagonal size between 2 and 15 inches. Without taking up too much space on a piece of equipment, these sizes offer enough space to examine figures, waveforms, and other graphical data.
Industrial displays are transitioning to wide formats with WVGA to WXGA resolutions from an original aspect ratio of 4:3. Users may observe longer waveforms and more data on a single display thanks to the wide-aspect format. Incorporating touch-key features into these display modules also enables equipment manufacturers to do away with physical switches and buttons and create HMIs that are more software-based than hardware-based.
The professionals at New Vision Display are available to help define suitable solutions for any application and discover the ideal compromise between manufacturing cost and performance.
Contact the NISIN Optoelectronics today for more details on our services.