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Do your LCD Displays suffer from Fogging or Condensation?

Fogging or condensation on LCD Displays can make the displays unusable. And can be a real pain. Luckily we have some options to prevent fogging or condensation from occurring on LCD Displays. At the minute the most popular, and cost effective way is anti-fogging glass. As it’s about half the price of optical bonding. And the process for anti-fogging glass doesn’t take as long.

We can help with any applications. That require LCD panels to be exposed to changes in air temp or humidity. Then you may experience condensation and fogging on your LCD Panel. If you’re interested in purchasing an LCD monitor with Optical Bonding. Then please give one of our team a call on 01782 567979, and they will be happy to help!

Optical Bonding

Optical bonding refers to a protective glass. That is then glued using resin in front of a display. This is to enhance its readability. When installed in high humidity outdoor environments. When a normal display is used in an outdoor environment, there are some factors that affect its readability.

We often use 3 – 5 mm toughened glass to protect the screen. The LCD display is then stuck to the glass using resin. The resin get’s rid of the gap between the LCD display, and the protective glass so no condensation can occur.

To the left is an example of how optical bonding works. And also a comparison of a display that doesn’t use optical bonding.

You can see how the air gap allows for air to create condensation. And fog up the glass, making the visibility poor. The resin layer eliminates the gap where air would be. So it cannot create any condensation.

Below are some examples of monitors that have not had the optical bonding treatment, you can see the difference between when the monitor has no condensation and when condensation has formed.

No Condensation / Fogging

You can roughly see what the image quality should look like. This is from a standard LCD monitor without the Optical Bonding treatment. The picture isn’t the best but you can clearly see the monitor displaying some information for one of our clients. This monitor hasn’t been optically bonded but no condensation has formed but this monitor is at risk of fogging and condensation.

Fogging Plume

This monitor also hasn’t received any optical bonding and there for a fogging plume has formed under the protective glass. As you can see this has really affected the visibility and the image on the display. Due to condensation, this can no longer be seen.

Anti-Fogging Glass

Anti-fogging glass is standard glass that has been treated with an anti-fog agent. This prevents the condensation of water in the form of small droplets, on a surface which resemble fog. This results in a clear screen with no fogging what so ever.

The treatments work by minimising surface tension. Resulting in a non-scattering film of water instead of single droplets. This works by altering the degree of wetting. Anti-fogging is very inexpensive compared to other alternatives. Such as; optically bonding, which is a more lengthy process and more expensive.

The video to the left is a test we did to demonstrate the effectiveness of the anti-fog treatment on our LCD monitors and displays. We took two pieces of glass. Then we also treated one piece with anti-fog treatment.

We then got some boiling water at 100°C and put the glass over the water to create condensation. You can see from the video that the half that is left untreated immediately starts to fog up due to the condensation. The other half that has been treated is completely clear and no condensation has formed what so ever.

We will always suggest optically bonding a monitor if we know the application will be outside. This is mainly because if it isn’t and condensation does form then it can cause issue’s.

If you have an application for an LCD monitor that’s outside or requires optical bonding please give us a call. On 01782 567979 and one of our friendly team will be more than happy to help.

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