What Is a Reliable LED Digital Display? Knowledge and Technology Explained

When purchasing an LED digital display, reliability is a crucial factor, as it directly impacts performance stability and lifespan. A highly reliable display reduces maintenance frequency and costs while ensuring long-term usability. In certain regions, reliability tests, such as EMC (Electromagnetic Compatibility) testing, are even mandatory for installation approval.

How to Evaluate Screen Reliability

Reliability assessment of LED digital displays typically revolves around several key dimensions:

1. LED Lifespan

The lifespan of an LED digital display refers to the duration until its luminous efficiency declines to a point where performance no longer meets operational needs. Usually, the light decay phenomenon is used as a key metric.

When an LED’s brightness drops to a certain percentage (typically 70% or 50%) of its original level, it is considered to have reached the end of its lifespan. Such an LED no longer meets usage requirements with its poor display performance caused by the increased light degradation.

Factors affecting LED lifespan in physical environments include:

• Manufacturing Quality: High-quality materials and advanced manufacturing processes significantly extend LED lifespan.
• Heat Dissipation: Effective cooling designs reduce operating temperatures, slowing light decay.
• Protective Design: Features like waterproofing, dust resistance, and impact resistance safeguard the display from harsh environmental elements. Generally, the basic protection rating for outdoor LED display screens should be IP65.
• Environmental Conditions: Compared to indoor displays, outdoor displays face more challenges, such as extreme weather and UV exposure.
• Usage Habits: Proper usage habits, such as avoiding prolonged full-white display and appropriately adjusting brightness, can enhance LED digital displays’ longevity.

2. Display Stability

The display stability of an LED screen refers to its ability to maintain high-quality, consistent, and fault-free image and video output over extended use. A stable LED digital display can ensure clear and accurate visual effects under various environmental conditions. It is particularly important for applications such as commercial advertising, public information displays, and stage performances.

Its key indicators include:

• Brightness Stability: Measures the consistency of brightness over time, which is related to the extent of light decay.
• Color Consistency: Ensures colors remain consistent across different sections and times.
• Gray Scale Levels: Determines the number of distinguishable brightness levels from the darkest to the brightest within the same brightness grade.
• Refresh Rate: Indicates how often the display updates per second.
• Viewing Angle Consistency: Evaluates brightness and color uniformity from different angles.
• Failure Rate: Tracks the percentage of malfunctioning LEDs.

3. Durability

Durability refers to the screen’s ability to withstand external physical damage. Specifically, it indicates the LED digital display’s capacity to maintain structural integrity and normal functionality when subjected to impacts, vibrations, and other physical stresses.

4. Environmental Adaptability

Environmental adaptability means the screen’s ability to operate normally and maintain good performance under various environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, light, vibration, and dust.

Generally, LED digital displays undergo several tests before leaving the factory to ensure they can withstand actual harsh environments, such as high and low-temperature resistance tests, IP dustproof and waterproof tests, and vibration tests.

Figure 1: High and Low-Temperature Test Chamber

Figure 2: UV Test Chamber

5. Resistance to Interference

The interference resistance of an LED display indicates its ability to maintain smooth operation and display quality when facing various types of electromagnetic interference, signal interference, and environmental interference. Good interference resistance is crucial for ensuring the stability and reliability of LED displays, and EMC testing is commonly used to evaluate this aspect.

Figure 3: EMC Test

How LOB Technology Enhances Screen Reliability

Lens On Board (LOB) technology installs or integrates micro-lenses directly onto the LED substrate. These lenses are typically positioned above each LED and are designed with precise optical engineering to optimize light direction and distribution. Typically, LOB technology has the following benefits:

1. Improved Light Efficiency

LOB technology, through precise reflection and refraction design, can focus the light emitted by the LED in a specific direction. This not only increases the utilization of light, resulting in a significant boost in display brightness, but also reduces light decay caused by heat accumulation, which greatly extends the service life of the LED display.

2. Extended Service Life

The service life of an LED digital display is generally defined as the time it takes for the light flux to decay by 30% to 50%. The light efficiency improvement by LOB technology means less power consumption for the LED to achieve the same brightness. It helps minimize the formation of hotspots in the LED, slow down the aging of the LEDs, and reduce light decay. This way, the LOB technology can effectively extend the service life of LED displays.

Figure 4: Relationship Curve Between LED Light Decay and Temperature

Sourced from Industry Public Information

3. Physical Protection

Additionally, LOB technology provides an additional protective layer for LED chips, shielding them from dust, moisture, and chemical exposure, reducing degradation, and increasing durability.

Conclusion

Reliability assessment is essential in selecting an LED digital display that is worth your investment. A reliable LED digital display has a long lifespan, stable display, durability, and the ability to withstand harsh environmental changes and complex interference factors.

Moreover, LOB technology significantly enhances the screen’s reliability. By providing physical protection for LED chips and optimizing light efficiency, it reduces heat generation in the screen and extends its service life.

As a leading LED display manufacturer, Chainzone is a pioneer in LOB technology. We boast over a decade of experience in the field and have emerged as one of the first companies to apply LOB technology to outdoor LED screens. With exceptional screen quality and technological innovation, Chainzone offers different LED screen solutions, including LOB screens, indoor displays, and outdoor displays.

If you’re interested in LOB displays, contact Chainzone for the latest product catalog and expert recommendations!