From Skyscrapers to Outdoor Digital Signage: The Story of Laminated Glass
Brief
The invention of laminated glass transformed urban landscapes, enabling glass-covered buildings that define modern cities. Laminated glass is not only crucial for architecture but also essential for outdoor digital signage. It combines strength and safety, protecting displays and ensuring clarity in all conditions. Learn more the lamination process, its advantages, and its applications in digital signage.
What is laminated glass?
Laminated glass consists of two or more sheets of glass permanently bonded together with one or more polymer interlayers using heat and pressure. It provides high mechanical resistance and security benefits, making it ideal for architectural applications and public furniture. Primarily used for safety or structural reasons, laminated glass is considered safety glass when it meets the requirements of various code organizations that set standards for safety.
There are usually two types of safety glass: tempered and laminated. Tempered glass breaks into small pieces upon impact, while the pieces of laminated glass stay adhered to the interlayer and remain in the frame. At Infinitus, we have perfected this craft by combining both methods. The safety glasses used in imotion outdoor digital signage are both tempered and laminated.
Two lites of glass permanently bonded together. Image from Guardian Glass.
Why is safety glass a must in outdoor digital signage?
To protect the LCD panel: Heat-strengthened and tempered glass is incorporated into laminated glass units to enhance impact resistance. Only with this procedure can safety glass be IK10 certified, which is the highest possible degree of protection and is highly recommended for outdoor LCD systems.
To protect people from glass breakage: Under sufficient impact force, laminated glass will break. However, glass fragments tend to adhere to the plastic interlayer and remain largely intact, reducing the risk of injury.
To protect the LCD panel from UV rays: Laminated glass absorbs up to 99% of damaging UV rays.
What about the reflection and transparency?
Safety glass can be incredibly tough, but if it’s not transparent and has high reflection, it’s useless. This is especially true for outdoor digital signs, where the integrated glass is exposed to two light sources: the sun and the LCD panel.
Transparency is achieved with a special surface treatment procedure added into the structure of the glass at an extremely high temperature. This anti-reflective treatment reduces the reflection of the glass down to 0.9% and it maintains excellent light transmittance, which is important in order for LCD picture to be fully visible in high ambient light environments.
It is advisable to use an anti-reflective (AR) coating on both pre-laminated glass lites, as reflection is created by both the sun and the LCD panel. Reflection from the LCD panel can be avoided by optically bonding the LCD panel to the safety glass, but this is not advisable because in the event of glass breakage, both the glass and bonded LCD panel must be replaced, resulting in very high costs. More about this can be found in our previous article: Why Optically Bonded Glass Should Be Avoided.
Broken glass can be easily replaced in all-in-motion outdoor signage.
How are safety glasses in imotion signs different?
Even if the safety glass used in architectural applications can technically be the same as that used in outdoor digital signage, the quality and margin for error are completely different. Imagine a tiny, 5mm imperfection in the glass. If this glass is used as a large energy-efficient window, the imperfection might not be visible. However, the same glass used as safety glass in outdoor digital signage wouldn't be acceptable. Because of this, at Infinitus, we control each step of the tempering and lamination process:
Guardian Glass supplies Infinitus with 4 mm thick large sheets with AR coating.
The lites cut the sheets to the needed dimensions and check for any imperfections.
Glass sheets are heated to extremely high temperatures and thermally toughened.
If needed, the sheets are ceramically printed.
Lamination process: Two 4mm glass sheets are passed through a series of rollers and vacuum bagging systems to expel any air pockets. The glass is then heated for the initial melt. After that, the glass is heated again under pressure in an autoclave (oven) to achieve the final bonded product.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the integration of tempered and laminated glass in outdoor digital signage is essential for both safety and performance. Infinitus ensures the highest quality by meticulously controlling each step of the production process. This results in safety glass that not only protects the LCD panels and reduces injury risks but also maintains optimal transparency and minimal reflection. The rigorous standards and attention to detail make the safety glass used in imotion outdoor signs the best choice for reliable and effective outdoor digital displays.