May. 13, 2024
Industry 4.0 is here, and the demand for “smart” equipment and HMI is booming. Engineers, designers, and operations teams across the globe have been tasked with reimagining everything from factory floors, equipment controls, fluid dispensing equipment, handheld devices, and more. While modernizing production for increased safety, efficiency, and reliability can be a game changer, this is no small task.
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The days of resistive film-front touchscreens and flimsy button pads that wear out prematurely are fading fast. Projected Capacitive (PCAP) touchscreens have made it from our smartphones and tablets to the factory floor. Multi-touch, gesture, and bezel-free designs have grown from top-shelf luxury to standard expectations. If refrigerators can have giant bezel-free touchscreens, why shouldn’t an expensive piece of industrial equipment?
Heavy-duty applications and harsh environments pose unique challenges for sensitive electronics and fragile materials like glass or plastic that you would typically find in a capacitive touchscreen device. Operators are commonly required to go from tough, hands-on labor to careful interface controls, sometimes hundreds of times a day. Devices may get cleaned with the harshest of chemicals or never cleaned at all. So how can we design touch displays to help companies deploy this new wave of Industry? Let’s cover the big 3.
With the development of AI and industrial automation, industries are increasingly moving towards advanced automation and edge applications. However, industries require an efficient interface between operators and automated machines to manage their ongoing operations. Rugged display monitors serve as interactive solutions, efficiently handling sequential tasks and controlling multiple functions to ensure a systematic process. This article aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of rugged LCD monitors and their impact on Industry 4.0 and edge applications.
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) technology utilizes the light modulating properties of liquid crystals and polarizers. Industrial LCD monitors are robust computer displays that use this technology to connect to a computer or machine as an interface. These rugged monitors are carefully designed to withstand the harshest industrial environments while maintaining durability, longevity, and reliability.
The primary difference between industrial rugged LCD monitors and standard LCD monitors is their brightness. Standard monitors offer up to 350 nits, which is insufficient for outdoor use. In comparison, rugged LCD monitors can provide up to 1000 nits, significantly enhancing readability under direct sunlight. This technology is widely used in outdoor kiosks, retail displays, intelligent transportation, and even in more extreme environments like mining.
Rugged LCD monitors play a crucial role in HMI (Human Machine Interface) deployment for industrial control systems, efficiently managing ongoing tasks and controlling multiple functions. HMIs allow industrial operators to select and achieve pre-planned outcomes from machinery and applications, typically involving complex networks of sensors, alarms, and on/off switches. The proper setup of an HMI framework improves productivity and operational efficiency. With features like anti-glare technology, tough scratch-resistant glass, and optical bonding, rugged LCD monitors are essential for ensuring reliable, streamlined operations in harsh industrial environments.
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A rugged display monitor plays a crucial role in ensuring and informing the whole operation processes to the field operators. For instance, industrial LCD monitors allow the operator to maintain smooth operations and easily detect any detrimental error that occurs in the system. Therefore, industries must make sure that the display monitor they use is reliable, durable, and flexible to resist the most challenging industrial deployments. Thus, rugged display LCD monitors offer numerous benefits, such as:
Typically, a rugged LCD display means it is fanless. Fanless designs eliminate the need for a thermoelectric fan (TEC) to cool down the internal heat-generating components and utilize heatsink and heat pipes instead. The elimination of fans from the system allows extra durability, reliability, and longevity. Here, fanless designs manage to prevent the inflow of dust and water particles from jeopardizing the computer’s components because of the removal of ventilation holes required with active fan cooling. In addition, fanless design dissipates heat by utilizing heatsink and heat pipes, made up of ultra-conductive material, such as aluminum and copper, to effectively control the computer’s temperature.
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IP (Ingress Protection) rating measures the level of resistance an industrial LCD monitor has against dust and water; therefore, a rugged industrial monitor with an IP rating helps to ensure durability and longevity when exposed to volatile environments. The display monitor’s IP rating usually ranges from IP65 to the maximum level of IP69K. The first digit with the highest rating of 6 refers to the solid ingress protection against tiny dust particles. The second digit with the highest rating of 9K refers to the protection against powerful high-temperature water jets and water immersion. An IP rating is crucial in automation lines that often require regular hygienic washdown with high-pressure and high-temperature water jets and cleaning chemicals.
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A weather-resistant LCD monitor enables flexibility for the computers to be deployed in any industrial environment, indoors or outdoors. Freezing weather can be detrimental to the LCD monitor since it utilizes liquid crystal display technology. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that the LCD monitor is safe when deployed in freezing or hot operating temperatures. For example, Premio’s industrial rugged LCD monitors are specifically engineered to operate in all weather conditions with temperatures ranging from -20°C to 60°C, while maintaining reliability, longevity, and durability.
Mounting a rugged LCD monitor on a moving vehicle subjected to constant vibrations and shock can be detrimental to the display monitor. Therefore, our panel mounts LCD monitor has been carefully tested and validated to endure 20G of shock and 1.5 Grms, 5-500 Hz of vibrations due to its capabilities in minimizing moving parts and achieving fanless architecture. As a result, these rugged LCD monitors have proven their durability and reliability when deployed in the most challenging industrial environments.
A rugged industrial display monitor manages various tasks and ongoing functions, requiring an extensive range of I/O ports to enable expandability and capacity to fulfill workloads. Therefore, rugged LCD monitors come with rich I/O ports, such as serial ports, USB, VGA, Display Port, SIM, antenna hole, DIO, M12 ports, and much more. I/O flexibility is crucial for delivering versatile and flexible features for different industrial workloads.
Mounting an industrial display monitor onto a system or machine increases the chance of getting exposed to voltage fluctuations. Therefore, the ruggedized display monitor comes with a wide range of power input, ranging from 9-50VDC, Over Current Protection (OCP), and Over Voltage Protection (OVP) to prevent power inputs that spike above 50V. As a result, industrial rugged LCD monitors protect the motherboard from over-voltage burn and prevent downtime.
Rugged LCD monitors offer highly responsive touchscreens that allow higher interface quality between the operators and automated machines. Additionally, a touch LCD monitor provides two features to choose from, such as resistive and capacitive touch.
Resistive touchscreen display monitor consists of several thin layers. It works by applying pressure on the outer layer, which is pushed onto the next layer, allowing the display to sense pressure and register input. Resistive touch enables input objects, such as fingers, fingernails, stylus, or gloves. To enhance durability, reliability, and longevity, Premio applies additional PET film (polyester film) on the resistive touchscreen LCD. PET film is a high-performance, transparent thermoplastic with low moisture absorption, UV resistance, and a higher tensile strength. Premio PET film touchscreen LCD monitor has been tested and validated to pass the knock test by receiving 10 million keystrokes. As a result, heavy industry sectors like mining, heavy transportation, or agriculture prefer to use resistive touchscreen over the capacitive touchscreen.
A capacitive touchscreen display monitor utilizes electrical conductivity instead of pressure to detect input. Capacitive touchscreens sense conductive properties, such as a fingertip or conductive gloves. Using conductivity to detect touch increases responsiveness and sensitivity, allowing up to 10 register touch points and gestures, thus providing more options for users based on different industrial applications, like zoom, pinch, or multi-touch. Capacitive touchscreens have been widely used in industrial deployments, such as kiosks and retail, in which it requires high sensitivity touchscreen for better end-user experiences.
Optical bonding technology applies an additional thin resin layer between the glass or touchscreen and the TFT LCD layers. The resin layer is a plastic layer molded with a liquid synthetic resin; therefore, this resin layer bonds the glass and TFT layers to eliminate the air gaps between the two layers. As a result, this technology allows additional protection suitable for military, medical, transportation, and heavy industry applications. This technology provides several benefits, such as:
Sunlight Readability / High Optical Clarity: resin layer reduces refractions on the screen since light cannot pass through under the screen’s surface, enabling a brighter and easy-to-read display, especially when exposed to sunlight.
LCD Protection: resin layer in optical bonding allows the more rugged LCD monitor to absorb better shock and vibration, increasing the durability and reliability of the display.
Dust and Liquid Ingress Protection: optical bonding physically blocks dust and liquid particles from entering the gap between the screen’s layers. Additionally, moisture from condensation might trap inside the gap for a long time which causes blurry images and even leads to irreversible damage.
Increase Touch Accuracy: resin layer within the gap maintains the same pressure through the substrate, eliminating touch deviation caused by an air gap.
Industrial LCD monitors have various mounting options to best match different industrial applications. Mounting options allow the display monitor to perform in different positions and arrangements, increasing versatility, flexibility, and ergonomics during deployments. Therefore, various mounting options are panel mount, VESA mount, and Yoke mount LCD monitors.
The SIO series offers an IP66/69K washdown touchscreen LCD monitor built from ultra-durable and anti-corrosion stainless steel. Tightly sealed with IP66/69K and M12 connectors enable full water protection against close-range high pressure and high-temperature water jet up to 80°C. Additionally, stainless steel SUS316 construction provides increased corrosion resistance, specifically against chloride commonly used in water purifiers and antiseptics. The SIO series offers LCD dimensions from 12.1” (4:3) up to a thin bezel of 23.8” (16:9). Here are some key features of this series:
Resistive/Projective Capacitive Touch
Touch-China supply professional and honest service.
ON/OFF Switches
Direct AC Power
-20°C to 60°C Operating Temperature
Mounting Options: VESA Mount, Yoke Mount, and Panel Mount
Food and Beverage
Pharmaceutical
Clean Rooms
The WIO series waterproof touchscreen LCD monitor offers the best features to enable deployment in the most challenging environments. The WIO series is built from type 304 stainless steel to improve robustness and anti-corrosion resistance against water and chemical gases. Additionally, the IP66 waterproof touchscreen display is resistant to dust particles and protects against high-pressure jets. As a result, the WIO series is known for its ruggedized and robust industrial designs, suitable for extreme and heavy industry sectors. Here are the key features of the WIO series:
Projected Capacitive Touch
Optical Bonding Available
Power Protection
-10°C to 60°C operating temperature
Mounting Options: VESA Mount
Agriculture
Mining
Livestock
The VIO series merges a power computing solution with a durable touchscreen LCD that supports modular solutions with different configurations and upgrades. In addition, the VIO series utilized Multi-Mode Display Module (MDM) technology that allows configuring the LCD as a monitor or a panel PC for different industrial deployments. This technology allows easy maintenance and cost reductions when replacing or upgrading the LCD or the module itself. Sealed with IP65, The VIO series touchscreen display monitor protects computers from water jets and tiny dust intrusion. Furthermore, it offers LCD dimensions from 12.1” (4:3) up to a thin bezel of 23.8” (16:9) to choose from. Here are the key features of the VIO series:
Resistive/Projective Capacitive Touch
Optical Bonding Available
Power Protection
-10°C to 60°C operating temperature
Mounting Options: VESA Mount
Intelligent Transportation
Kiosk and Retail
Factory Automation
Premio is a global solution provider that has been manufacturing and designing industrial rugged display monitors for over 30 years in the United States. Our solutions are carefully designed to operate reliably and optimally in the most challenging industrial deployments. In addition, Premio helps tailor and provide a wide range of options for customers to match different industrial requirements. As a result, Premio offers our customers the most high-end and robust industrial LCD monitor. If you need assistance finding the best industrial display monitor, don’t hesitate to contact us. One of our industrial computing professionals will assist your best display monitor based on your specific needs.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Customized Industrial Touch Monitors.
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