Hidden Challenges to Outdoor Digital Signage – Sunlight

Outdoor digital signage provides many challenges. Most of these are fairly obvious. Any screen functioning in an outdoor environment requires protection from the elements such as waterproofing and the ability to function in variable and extreme temperatures. Outdoor digital signage needs also to be tough and rugged, able to withstand impacts and attempts at vandalism.

There are, however, other less obvious challenges to installing outdoor digital signage, all of which are just as important:

Sunlight provides difficulties for outdoor screens and in several ways. Firstly, sunlight causes reflections. This is something many of us have experienced at home when bright sunlight shining through the window makes it difficult to view the television, forcing us to close the curtains. In outdoor environments, where the screen is fixed, the sun’s reflection can neutralise a screen’s image during certain times of the day. Similarly, on a very bright day, the sun’s brightness can overpower the image on a screen, washing it out and making it appear invisible.

To cope with these problems, high brightness screens are the best option for outdoor digital signage, the extra brightness of the screens enough to counter the effect of the sun’s brightness. To counter the effects of reflection, outdoor digital signage displays can use anti-reflective surfaces over the screen face, which prevents the glare.

The sun also causes other problems. If a screen faces the direct line of the sun’s path, sunlight can also cause overheating of the screen face possibly leading to a scorch or burn mark. While most outdoor digital signage displays keep the display cool using cooling, few provide any measures to carry the heat away from the face itself.

Armagard’s air-curtain system provides a unique method of preventing screen burn caused by direct sunlight by blowing a continuous stream of cool air over the surface of the display, transferring away any heat.