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Braving the Great Outdoors part 2: 2 key components of outdoor kiosk deployment

January 10, 2012 by Michael Ionescu — President, Ionescu Technologies

My last blog focused on the idea of using more conventional equipment to build an effective, yet somewhat affordable outdoor kiosk. In that blog, I spoke about the benefits of using a sealed kiosk outfitted with a heating/air unit for effective outdoor kiosks. As I continue my series on building outdoor kiosks, I want to go into a few more recommendations based on our experiences, things that are likely to be overlooked until you make the mistake.

First, let me clarify that my recommendations are for touch-enabled digital kiosks that are rugged enough to survive in hot and cold climates for at least three years. Here are two very important factors to consider when building outdoor kiosks.

Sunlight Readable screens: Let me explain what this means, and you'll understand that buying screens that are sunlight readable are a must. Traditional LCD screens have a max brightness that is appropriate for viewing with indoor lighting. Outdoor LCD panels need to have a much brighter screen because the sunlight will wash out indoor screens rendering them unreadable.

Another issue that occurs is burnout. Most LCD screens burn out if the sun is directly shining on the screen. The direct sunlight overheats parts of the screen resulting in large spots that make viewing screen content impossible. Sunlight readable displays are built to be able to overcome these limitations of traditional screens. If you don't get sunlight readable screens, there's no guarantee they will work outdoors. And unless you specifically look for sunlight readable, some manufacturers will give you a regular LCD screen and not tell you the difference.

I learned this lesson the hard way, unfortunately, which will be a story for another blog. One method that some manufacturers use to avoid potential burnout is putting a glass panel over your display that has a small gap between the glass and the screen where air can circulate. Fans are then placed around the borders of the screen that blow air into the gap to keep any potential overheating to a minimum.

Aluminum chassis: Building your kiosks out of aluminum is important, especially if you're building kiosks in environments with cold/hot temperatures. The main reason is because aluminum doesn't suffer from the rust issues that occur with steel. The likelihood of steel rusting completely depends on the quality of the steel that you have, and I believe it's fairly difficult to ascertain the quality of the steel that you have by any conventional method.

My first outdoor kiosks rusted within the first two months of being deployed, which forced me to replace them almost immediately. A rust-proof powder coat can help to alleviate some problems, but the kiosks will probably still rust at some point, especially if the coating is not thick enough or if it peels or scratches off. If you live in a dry region with infrequent climate changes then you're a lot safer, and issues like rust will be more rare. But high levels of humidity coupled with hot/cold day night cycles with consistent amounts of morning dew are the arch enemies of outdoor kiosks, especially because all that moisture always finds a way to get in the tiniest of cracks and crevices.

Has anyone had any significant experiences with outdoor kiosks you'd like to discuss? Leave your comments below.

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