Ruggedized Touchscreen Display for an Outdoor Kiosk

Customized Airflow Cooling System / Water Run-Off Bezel Design

Our client had been placing their kiosks outside convenience stores, restaurants, gas stations, etc. and the touchscreen display for the user interface commonly developed black spotting, rendering the display useless. This is a common problem involving LCDs used in outdoor environments due to prolonged direct sunlight exposure and heat buildup within the unit. Black spotting does not always recover once conditions have returned to a nominal environment, therefore the displays would need to be replaced by technicians at various locations throughout the United States when these failures happened.

Another problem was rain and snow. Water pooling on the display was affecting touchscreen functionality and would render the kiosks inoperable due to buildup of water droplets along the bottom edge of the display. A cloth flap was used as a clumsy workaround, to block both rain and sunlight, before Promate developed our Ruggedised Touchscreen Display to help solve these problems permanently.

Promate Solutions’ Ruggedized Touchscreen Display first aim was to insulate the LCD and maintain the display panel within a stable environment even while direct sunlight is glaring down onto it and raising temperatures well over 75 celsius. This was achieved by using special Optical films on the front touchscreen glass and integrating a vertical airflow system that keeps air flowing uniformly over the entire rear surface of the display panel. In addition to this, temperature sensors were incorporated inside the unit to monitor conditions and dynamically adapt the speed and airflow of the turbine based on ambient conditions. This feature extended the life of the airflow system and reduced power consumption of the entire unit tremendously.

To counter water buildup, a specially sloped bezel was designed and integrated with the touchscreen glass to ensure smooth water run off and prevent water pooling along the edge.

In addition to solving the direct sunlight, temperature, and liquid pooling problems, Promate Solutions’ Ruggedized Touchscreen Display has one of the highest serviceability designs that can be found in the market. When the unit is installed in the Kiosk, all key parts and components can be serviced separately, namely:

The airflow turbine system can be serviced separately.
The LCD and driving circuitry can be serviced separately .
The rear of the unit can open and latch at a 60 degree angle which enables customer service operators to easily and quickly perform routine cleaning of the backside of the touchscreen glass to maintain optimal clarity in outdoor and dusty locations.