One region with a growing demand for digital signage is the Middle East. Countries like Dubai and Bahrain have burgeoning middle-classes, and as digital signage is a growing advertising medium, employed by many big name retailers, its growth is expected is understandable in such locations.
Placing a screen in a deserted area provides extreme challenges.
The Middle East is not an easy place to deploy out of home screens in, however, especially in outdoor locations. As many cities in these areas are surrounded by desert, ambient temperatures can rise extremely high during the day, while at night, temperatures can fall to well-below freezing.
Dust is a common problem too, especially in regions near deserted regions, and dust is just as damaging to a screen as liquid, able to cause overheating and short circuits, so needs keeping out of the display.
Several Middle Eastern companies have turned to Armagard for a solution for outdoor digital signage helping to help keep their screens functioning in such difficult conditions.
Armagard’s LCD enclosures have the advantage of being modular, which enables customization of the enclosures to fit each specific location. And for the Middle East this requires protection from dust, heat and cold conditions.
To cope with dust, an Armagard LCD enclosure is manufactured to IP65, which means the design prevents any small particles from getting inside the enclosure. This is important as dust can clog up fans, cause overheating and even cover a screen preventing clarity of viewing.
Because f the extremely high heat levels experienced in the Middle East, several options have been utilized; air conditioning, an expensive means of preventing excessive heat-build up in the enclosure; cooling fans, which keep the air moving from around the screen, transferring it away, and an air-curtain, which blows a curtain of air across the screen to keep it cool.
At night, the opposite problems occur and the screens needs keeping warm. Insulation is not an option in these locations, as this would inhibit the cooling properties during the day. Heaters, which are thermostatically controlled, provide a solution and come on when the internal temperatures fall below the operating range.
Desert locations provide a real challenge for outdoor digital signage but a customized LCD enclosure enables each location’s demands to be.
