Sunlight Readable Display Technology

Lighting Condition Ambient Brightness Recommended Display Brightness Application Recommended solutions Notes
Full Dark environment 0 nits Up to 50 nits Marine Bridge and System Monitor Industrial LCD with Wide Dimming Knob Should be able to turn the display to really dark without flickering
Indoor without Lighting Less than 500 nits Can be turned down to 200 nits Monitor Works in Darker Rooms Industrial LCD with Brightness Adjustment Knob Can be adjusted to lower brightness condition easily
Indoor Lighting Less than 1000 nits Up to 300 nits PC Desktop Monitor, Lab Equipment Industrial LCD Normal brightness and contrast ratio level
Bright shop lighting; Overcast skies, no shadows present 1000- 3000 nits 300 – 500 nits POS Terminal, Industrial Display Industrial LCD with Higher Brightness Industrial panel with higher brightness and also high contrast ratio
Thin high overcast skies, indirect sunlight, shadows are visible 3000-7000 nits 500 – 800 nits Shopping Windows, Public Areas: Stations, Airports Transflective Series Transflective is the right choice for such conditions
Full sunlight with blue sky 7,000-10,000 nits 800 – 1000 nits Outdoors: Kiosks, Gas Stations High Brightness Series When you absolutely have to see the display in sunlight conditions

What is it?

Transflective LCD Technology can be applied to certain selected regular TFT LCDs to introduce an LCD with a reflective function. This modified LCD can reflect ambient light passing the LCD cell, and utilize the reflected light beams as its illumination. The stronger the ambient light is, the brighter the LCD will appear. As a result, the modified LCD is viewable under lighting conditions including direct sunlight. The advantages of transflective LCD Technology is illustrated below:

sunlight

How does it work?

Transflective LCD modules hold both transmissive and reflective properties, and the method of image display depends upon the conditions of the ambient environment. The display uses a backlight with a transmissive property in dark environments, and uses external light with a reflective property in bright environments. Our improved transflective method allows for better color performance, which provides excellent color characteristics similar to the transmissive mode. The net reflectance rate of our transflective LCD solution is from 0.9% to 1.3%, varied from panels selected. For example, with 1.3% net reflectance rate and under 10,000 ambient sunlight conditions, the brightness gain would be approximately 130 nits added to the original backlight brightness.

Technology/Function Diagrams

Handling Cautions

Keep temperature at 0~50XC (32-121XF) and Avoid direct sunlight on the display.

Although transflective LCDs are mainly used in outdoor applications and can increase the effectiveness of lights under sunlight, it is suggested that users should keep the LCD in proper temperature for operation and storage to ensure performance stability.

Arrange proper contrast ratio to ambient light

Contrast ratio is a critical factor that can influence readability. For example: if the LCD is located in a very high ambient lighting environment the brightness of the display will be high; the contrast between the ambient light and the display light will be too low. As a result, we may not be able to see the clear LCD screen image. In order to be sunlight readable, the contrast ratio of ambient lighting to display lighting must be set within a proper range.

Use SAW/ IR touch or Low reflectance rate Glass

If there is a need for built-in protection glass, it is required that the material used has a reflectance rate of less than 1%.

Benefits

  • Readable under all lighting conditions to include direct Sunlight
  • Enhanced contrast ratio for both indoor and outdoor conditions
  • Utmost indoor color saturation, brightness, and viewing angle
  • Full mechanical and electrical compliance with the existent system
  • Power saving and backlight life preserving in outdoor applications
  • No extra heat generation even when viewed at higher brightness

Applications

The market demands for outdoor LCD applications are expanding, such as mobile navigation/video systems, table PC, KIOSK, POS, LCD TV. Transflective LCD truly offers a convenient and affordable solution for your various outdoor LCD applications.

Products

A full range of sunlight readable LCD display products are available, from 6.4” to 42”, including transflective, high brightness 12.1″~15″, and other Panel PCs.