In this age of the digital revolution, were technology is advancing so quickly whilst the purchase prices for electronic devices are dropping are unbelievable. Just look at sites such as Amazon and you will see a wealth of electronic bargains, to be had at give away prices.
With these electronic devices being so affordable, it puts in the reach of almost every buyer. Hence the reason why the digital signage market is using LCD and plasma television displays. Especially since plasma displays have over come their initial problems of image burn and over heating, now they are more cost effective than LCD displays however they are a lot bulkier than an LCD display.
More and more businesses are using them for different applications, due to the low prices. From infomercials through to product training. If you ever go to a major motor manufacturer, you can bet they have a large display in the reception area, that shows the range of vehicles they manufacture and the high quality level of the build and then on the factory floor you may also see them used to monitor production. These displays show a flow chart of the production line, if and when an alarm is raised by stopped production this can be pin pointed almost immediately by glancing at the display. Then the relevant action can be taken to remove the bottleneck.
Now the only real problem with putting an LCD display on the factory production line is the amount of dust and fluid that will come in contact with the display. If for example the factory uses any coolant that will be present in the air and will cause corrosion over a period of time, so you would certainly be looking to protect the display from coolant as it would corrode the internal circuit boards of the display rendering it useless. The ideal choice would be a protective case that would let the display breath and at the same time protect the display from knocks and bands.
The best option is an IP65 (waterproof) LCD enclosures (also called NEMA 4X, the USA standard) these are a specially manufactured protective case, that protect the electronic devices inside from dust and water. They have various cooling or heating modules depending upon the application, budget and location of local services. Now we are seeing the use of these cases increasing as LCD and plasma television displays increase in size up to a whopping 108 inches.
There are only a handful of LCD enclosure manufacturers in the world one in particular has reported a sharp rise in bespoke shipbuilders who have realised the opportunity with large displays and are installing them on billion dollar yachts, the only problem is they need to be very robust, to protect from the highly corrosive salt water. The solution supplied was an aluminium LCD enclosure that was then coated with a special waterproof plastic coating.
Waterproof LCD enclosures are also used on ships that search for oil, these are used as giant computer monitors and allow the operator to pin point a potential oil field, below the sea bed.